he Grade 8 cohort have settled into their second year of high school with a focus on our school values; Connection, Courage, Growth, Respect, and Responsibility. Pastoral Care lessons and Home Group sessions this year are being utilised to gain an understanding of what our values are and how we can embed them through our ways of working. Grade 8 class captains were chosen after students made values-based speeches to their Home Groups.  

In Grade 8, students participate in three Option Subjects per Semester; Digital Technologies, Sports, Fitness, Outdoor Education, Music, Visual Art, Drama, and MDT. Students also have access to an array of Alternative Learning Programs.  

In Health, students have been exploring the 7 essential nutrients that the body needs to stay healthy; learning how each nutrient contributes to overall wellbeing and how to make balanced food choices. In Physical Education, students have engaged in minor games focused on fair play, inclusion, and teamwork, to develop important skills such as communication, cooperation, and respect for others in a fun and active environment. They ended the term with fitness testing. 

In Math, students have been learning about negative numbers, including going on a hypothetical plane trip from the tropical heat of Honolulu to the cold of Alaska. In Science, students have been learning about the Rock Cycle--this photo shows them playing a boardgame that models the changes that rocks go through. Also, they have learned about Plate Tectonics. The Week 9 excursion to Fossil Bluff showed students evidence of how Tasmania used to be joined to Antarctica. 

English classes have been reading the novel Ironbark and developing their skills in structuring their writing, using evidence to support and expand on their ideas. History classes learned about Medieval Europe, discussing the social structure of the time and the power of the church. They have also worked on identifying and analysing primary and secondary sources. Civics and Citizenship classes have explored democracy and levels of government, including what it means to be an active citizen.