The Auracle - Issue 61 November 2022

From the Principals desk

On Thursday of last week, I had the great pleasure of meeting up with some of our Year 6 students at the Department of Education’s State Office in Parramatta. Our Year 6 students and their teachers, Ms Hodson, Ms Roy and Mrs McLean had all made their way to Parramatta to compete in the grand final of the Game Changer Challenge 2022.

The Game Changer Challenge is an award-winning design thinking challenge, open to all public schools across NSW, and centres on exploring solutions for a real-world ‘wicked problem’. Nearly 300 submissions from schools all around NSW were received for this year's Game Changer Challenge. Competition was extremely high, and 11 teams from Aurora were among 180 teams who competed in the semi-final stage of the competition. Aurora’s Team MAJAM and Team PIE were among 36 teams to progress to the grand final.

At the grand final, Team MAJAM and Team PIE delivered inspired final pitches to the judges. Both teams brought great credit to themselves, their families and their schools. I am thrilled to announce that Team MAJAM was awarded first place in the Primary School division.

Congratulations to:

· Team MAJAM - Amelie McPhee, Michael Hanratty, Abby Pincott, Justin Nisbet and Maxim Savchenko-Ray

· Team PIE - Cian Gollner, Nicholas Wood, Emmerson Miller, Logan Doig and Rowan Thomas.

Read all about our teams’ success at the Game Changer Challenge 2022 here.

Another Aurora team achieving great success is our Debating Team. Ana Risteska, Sophie Webb, Seth Toohill-Sargeant and Ella Davies will travel to Sydney to participate in the State Finals at Sydney University on 7 to 9 December. Our reserves for the team are Emma King, Soham Ghosh, Darcy Palmer and Laura McNeil, and the Team Manager is Ms Etheridge. Read about this team's path to glory later in this edition of The Auracle. We wish our team the very best of luck in the finals!

This edition of The Auracle is filled with wonderful images and stories from the recent Residential School held in Canberra on the lands of the traditional custodians, the Ngunnawal people. As tired as we all were by the end of the ‘res’, I can say with confidence that a great time was had by all. Following is my address at the final assembly.

In 2023, we will again welcome a record number of new students to our school. Last week, we hosted a livestreamed ‘meet and greet’ for our new Year 7 to 10 (2023) students and their families, providing important information and insights into how our school operates. In the coming weeks, we will also welcome via livestream:

· over 100 incoming Year 11 students, with each student studying one or more subjects.

· more than 100 incoming Year 5 students who will form our third cohort of the Aurora College Opportunity Class.

On behalf of the entire Aurora College community, I welcome our new (2023) students and their families to our school. We all look forward to working with you in the years ahead.

In the coming weeks, our new students will also have the opportunity to meet some of their future classmates and teachers as they explore the virtual learning environment. Advice has been provided via email to all new Aurora families. Please contact the coordinating office on 1300 287 629 if you have any questions or concerns.

Enjoy another great edition of The Auracle.

Chris Robertson | Principal

Deputy Principals report

Canberra residential

Finally, we were able to have a residential again! Students and staff were excited to descend on Canberra and meet face to face for a week which looked something like this:

Attended by 420 students from Years 5-10 and 70 staff
Transport via 10 buses and numerous flights
Accommodation in 2 locations in Canberra – Canberra Park and Ibis Styles Eaglehawk
Activities, including lessons, AIS, Questacon, Powerkart, National Film and Archive, Zoo, The Arboretum, Deep Space Complex, disco, CSIRO, Young Change Agents, Science Fair, a bookshop, Careers Carnivale, author talk, annual trivia competition, board games, flying kites, Aboriginal Cultural Workshop, live streamed final assembly + much more.

Please have a look at the fantastic time had by all on the school FaceBook page.

Student attendance

Students need to attend school regularly to meet the course requirements of the ROSA, Preliminary HSC and HSC. Student attendance is recorded in each lesson at Aurora.

Student absences

The parents/caregivers are required to inform the coordinating office of Aurora College within seven days if the student is sick, or:

has an unavoidable medical or dental appointment
is required to attend a recognised religious holiday
is required to attend an exceptional or urgent family circumstance

The Aurora College Coordinators are required to inform the coordinating office of Aurora College if the student:

has a home school commitment, including school excursions, school carnivals etc.
arrives late or leaves early from an Aurora lesson at a time that has not been negotiated and does not appear on his/her timetable.

Attendance of students in Term 4

The NSW Department of Education requires all students to attend school until Friday 16 December, the last day of teaching for Term 4 2022. Prior to this date, students in all year groups will be engaged in meaningful work based on the curriculum and syllabus requirements.

Preparations for 2023

We continue to work with our partner schools in preparation for 2023. With our support, this term our partners will:

appoint a science teacher to deliver the science practical program in 2023
appoint a teacher to undertake the role of Aurora College Coordinator in 2023
construct their school timetable to:
ensure each Year 7 to 10 student is timetabled to attend all Aurora lessons in English, mathematics, and science; have one timetabled science practical period per fortnight per Stage; is able to attend all partner school lessons; and have the allocated recess and lunch breaks at the home school
ensure each Year 11 and 12 student is timetabled to attend all their Aurora lessons; is able to attend all partner school lessons; and have the allocated recess and lunch breaks at the home school
‘room’ each student in a suitable area of the school where they are able to connect to Aurora’s virtual learning environment on a department computer (connected to the network via an ethernet cable) and connect to the department’s wi-fi network on their Aurora-supplied personal device
‘room’ science practical periods for each stage in a laboratory
complete each student's integrated timetable showing clearly when they attend Aurora College lessons and lessons at their ‘home’ school.

Further information can be viewed by all community members on the Partner School Information page of our website.

What’s coming up this term?

Year 11 reports issued Friday 11 November 2022
Year 5-10 reports issued Wednesday 14 December 2022
New Year 5 Orientation Program Session 1 Wednesday November 7, 2-3pm
New Year 5 Orientation Program Session 2 Thursday November 8, 2-3pm
New Year 7 Orientation Program Session 1 Wednesday 23 November, 2-3 pm
New Year 8-11 Orientation Program Thursday 24 November, 2-3 pm
New Year 7 Orientation Session 2 Program Friday 25 November, 2-3 pm

Save the date 2023

The first residential next year will be held in Term 2 from Monday 1 May to Friday 5 May 2022. All Years 6 to 10 students must attend.

Carolyn McMurtrie | Deputy Principal, Secondary

Support - Technology

Introducing the Parents Portal

At the recent P&C meeting, we revealed the new Aurora College Parents Portal, available to the parents of all current Aurora students. The portal has been developed in-house specifically for Aurora College, and provides parents with valuable information on their students progress in our school.

Access to the system has been secured with a "Magic Link" login, which does not require parents to set up or remember a new username or password. Parents can simply enter their email address, and we will send you an automatic email with a link that logs you directly in to the system. Links expire after 10 minutes, or after they are first used, to help prevent unauthorised access to the system.

You can access the portal from the following link: https://acos.aurora.nsw.edu.au/parents

We have categorised the portal into five major sections. There is a menu on the left of the screen (on computers and tablets), or available using the menu button at the top right of the screen (on mobile phones). The sections are:

Attendance
Allows parents to download Attendance Reports for their child by fortnight, and to review all absences, whether they are whole or partial, explained or unexplained. Parents also have the opportunity to submit an explanation for whole absences.
Awards
View an overall tally of awards per student, and review the last ten awards issued.
Reports
Parents can download any report issued by Aurora College at any time during the student's enrollment.
Timetable
View a copy of a daily timetable for a student, or download the entire timetable as a PDF file that can be emailed or printed.
Contacts
View a list of support contacts for each student, including a phone number or email address to help you get in contact with them. This list includes:
- Administration Office
- Technology Support
- Careers Advisor
- Learning Support Teacher
- School Counsellor
- and each classroom teacher for your child's classes.

In the coming weeks, the automatic attendance emails will be updated to include a link to the new Parent Portal, instead of the old absence explanation system.

We are always interested in your feedback when using the system. If you have a suggestion for a new feature, or if you experience any isssues logging in or using the system, please send us the details at support@aurora.nsw.edu.au and we will do our best to assist.

Ben Hillsley | Learning Technologies Support Officer

Events

Masterclasses

Not only have we enjoyed a Masterclass with Karen Young around Managing Anxiety we have also enjoyed The Secrets of the Universe with Macquarie Uni’s Professor Andrew Hopkins. Masterclasses continue to be a way to share great content with students from experts in their fields. Our fantastic run of Masterclasses has continued with an Engineering Masterclass with Dr Yijiao Jiang from Macquarie University. Dr Yijiao Jiang is an Associate Professor in the School of Engineering at Macquarie University. She received her doctoral degree at University of Stuttgart (Germany) and worked as research fellow at ETH Zürich (Word Ranking 6). She took our students through how to convert carbon dioxide into solar fuels which was exciting work.

Debating

Debating Champions!

Our Year 7 & 8 Premier’s Debating Challenge team are Riverina champions! We won our last debate against Barham High School. It was an incredibly close debate and Barham challenged our students to argue their case as effectively as possible. They argued “that delivery drivers such as Ubereats and Deliveroo should be banned.” It was an incredibly challenging debate that was argued thoughtfully by both sides. Ana set up a strong argument by explaining the dangers of delivery driving as a job and the harms of obesity, and Sophie explained the environmental and economic harms of the delivery economy. Seth offered strong rebuttal with some wonderful examples.

Now our students will travel to Sydney to participate in the State Finals at Sydney University from December 7th- 9th.

Marnie Etheridge | Rlg Head Teacher Teaching and Learning

Bright Lights

State Schools Choral Concert

Two Aurora students, Emma Skinner and Amelie Lynch both performed in the The Festival of Choral Music at Sydney Opera House.

The 2022 Festival of Choral Music is an annual showcase of NSW public school students in a combined choir. This magnificient series of four concerts (Argyle, Australis, Bennelong and Endeavour) involves hundreds of schools and students from across NSW. This concert series is one of the core state level arts programs managed by The Arts Unit of the NSW Department of Education. The choirs sing a repertoire which is specificially arranged and composed for them. The series also provides a unique opportunity for schools to access targeted high quality repertoire and professional learning opportunities. This festival will also feature the NSW Public Schools Sinfonia, NSW Public Schools Stage Band and the NSW Public Schools State choir.

Congratulations to both Emma and Amelie!

2022-23 Curious Minds Program

Hayley Fraser, who is currently in Year 10, has been accepted into the 2022-23 Curious Minds program. She will attend a virtual summer camp and the girls from the East Coast of Australia will meet up in Canberra next winter.

By participating in the Curious Minds program, Hayley will be one of 120 female secondary students coming together for an exciting program of learning in biology, chemistry, earth and environmental science, engineering, digital technologies, mathematics, and physics.   

Hayley will hear talks from prominent women in STEM, engage in hands-on supercharged sessions, undertake investigations, participate in communication workshops, STEM coaching sessions and, most importantly, grow in confidence in a fun, supportive and encouraging environment.

Hayley will get a great head-start to further her studies in STEM subjects, and forge friendships with like-minded students from around Australia. 

Congratulations, Hayley!

Connect Locally, Learn Globally

Meet Krzysztof in Year 10

Where is your 'home school'?

My home school is Willyama High School in Broken Hill. I didn't grow up here. I moved to Broken Hill three and a bit years ago.

What is it like growing up in your town?

At first it seemed like there was nothing much to do, but as time passed more and more opportunities arose. I still hate that there's still no bowling alley.

What is your favourite subject/s?

Music or Science or Maths or English. Different aspects of each make them very fun.

What do you like most about learning at Aurora?

The community, like that meeting that we held at lunch about the trivia night at res, that was so fun. It'd be fun if there were opportunities where you could talk to your friends from Aurora that isn't res or class time.

What are your other interests?

Music, soccer, mountain biking, random knowledge and comedy.

Do you have any career aspirations or ideas of what you might like to do in the future?

Working in health care is a big option as my dad is an anaesthetist, but also engineering is very appealing.

Student Support - Library

Oliver Phommervahn Visit

On Wednesday night at Residential School, Years 5 and 6 were treated to an author visit by stand-up comedian/author/teacher Oliver Phommervahn.

Oliver Phommavanh loves to make people laugh, whether it’s on the page writing humour for kids or on stage as a stand-up comedian. He also shares his passion for writing with kids, using his experience as a primary school teacher. Oliver has performed at various comedy and writers festivals around Australia and Asia. Oliver’s recent books include: Brain Freeze; Don’t Follow Vee; and Natural Born Loser. He is probably best known for: Thai-riffic!; Con-nerd; and The Other Christy.

Throughout the week, 10 students won book prizes from their teachers and were able to choose Oliver's books and have them signed by him. Others brought money to purchase their own books.

The children learnt about writing stories from their own lives, what to do when you get writers block and how to make normal events hilarious!

50 Story Word Competition

The 50 word story competition has been running for a number of years now at Aurora College. This year, we had over 80 entries across the 5 categories.

Writing a 50 word story is harder than it may seem and the judges and I had much discussion about who to award the prizes too. This year’s winners will have their stories published not only in the Aurora College Year Book, The Bright Lights, but also the Land Newspaper. They also received prizes from Buy From the Bush, and book vouchers from Booktopia, as well as hats, bags, lunch boxes and stationary! These prizes were awarded at the Residential School assembly.

Junior division (Years 5 & 6)

1st place: A mistake and Guilt 

Guilt follows me everywhere I go, dragging its heavy footsteps behind me. It comes happy as ever when I’m facing the hardest times, nudging me on the shoulder. It scrapes at my door, leaving me awake in the darkness of the night. Why did I name my dog guilt. 

Clementine Campbell

Year 6 - Robertson

2nd place: The Hedge

It stood. Encircling the old house. A leafy, rectangular hedge, that had been there since the beginning of time. This was in the past. Now, it’s gone. A bare dirt ring marks where it was. Through the dirt lies tens of footballs, soccer balls, rugby balls from the adjacent fields

Edward Byles

Year 6 - Albury

Middle division (Years 7-9)

1st place: An Old Man’s Wrinkles 

Life lines his eyes,  

rolling down his cheeks and crimping at his mouth.  

Rivers of past smiles, 

Lines showing deepest regrets.  

A map of battles lost and won. 

A canvas of a long life lived. 

His past on full display, 

To those who care to look. 

Chloe Ward

Year 8 - Bowral

2nd place: Beast Escape

Crack! Smash! The silvery sphere is breaking; the monstrous creature inside breaking free. It smashes against its cage. A terrible cawing screech fills the air as the thing finally pushes itself out into the open air. Its slimy wings spray liquid at the little ants below. A bird is born.

Elizabeth Butcherine

Year 8 - Dubbo

Senior division (Years 10-12)

1st place: Childhood promise

To many, it was only a child’s promise, to be forgotten with the changing seasons. At first, I myself believed that, thinking this friendship would not last. So to be standing here, in a beautiful white gown, with you before me as we finally came together. Forever united as one.

Sariann Andrews

Year 10 - Walcha

2nd place: Lamenting Smoke

“There’s nothing I can do for you.” I leave the clinic, my son knows to wait outside until I finish my smoke. "C’mon Oliver." My voice is hoarse. How did I fail him? 9 years later, I’m begging my son to take the same advice that was given to me.

Gwen Rumbel

Year 11 - Dungog

Teacher division

1st place: The Decision

The old man glances around, then bat down, faces the bowler. A quick delivery, and thud! Shouts of ‘howzat’, and all eyes are on me. Slowly, my finger points high. Jubilant cheers fill the air as the saddened old man trudges past me. I whisper, just for him, ‘Sorry Dad.’ 

Scott Preskett

Sydney – Mathematics Teacher

2nd place: New England Summer  

After the frost froze the banks of the Aspley, after jonquils appeared in butternut sunset at the vicarage, only then then were we gifted a few weeks of cicada screeching summer. Sunlight on water when Coog opened the public pool- chlorine stinging, stars majestic, bindis biting, walking dripping wet-home. 

Jowen Hillyer

Black Head – English Teacher

Parent division

1st place: Hooked 

The evening magic, when the surface boils with the emerging nymphs taking wing.  Beneath lurks the insatiable hunger, locked on to its next meal.  Unchecked acceleration, bursting through the surface, swallowing its prey.  A terrible mistake, realised too late, as the angler strikes and smiles.

Andrew Coombe - Barrington

2nd place: Fifty words 

Fifty words (give or take ten percent). 

Is that a lot of words or too few? 

Only thirty-four left, now thirty if we’re being pedantic. 

Two dozen words, if only they were bakers dozens. 

Thirteen words, an actual bakers dozen.  

That’s worrying. 

Once upon a time…. 

Mat Campbell - Robertson

Lisa Lieschke | Teacher Librarian

Student Support - Wellbeing

SRC Fundraising at Residential

On Thursday 23 October, the Aurora College SRC held a WEAR YELLOW day at residential.

Students and staff dressed up in their best yellow outfits and made donations to Ardoch, a children's education charity, and Givit flood relief. We are happy to announce that Aurora College raised:

$247.75 for Ardoch https://www.ardoch.org.au

$261.65 for Givit https://www.givit.org.au/

Well done, Aurora College SRC and thank you to our Aurora College community for their generous donations.

Residential School Assembly - High School

On Thursday 24 November, the Aurora College SRC held our first end of year assembly for high school students.

Successfully led by Kit Hardy and Esther Wenham and supported by Matild Dunford and Koko Hardy, it was a wonderful night of celebration of our students.

We also took the opportunity to welcome our new SRC team for 2022/2023:

Year 6 2023: Nellie Baker; Myra Doherty
Year 7 2023: Logan Doig; Roseanna Marsh; Summer-Lee Taylor
Year 8 2023: Matilda Dunford; Kit Hardy; Koko Hardy
Year 9 2023: Emma King; Eva Wood McGuire; Bethany Owens-Roberts
Year 10 2023: Caitlyn Thew; Esther Wenham

We congratulate all award recipients and SRC representatives and thank our special guests: Cheyne Halloran who delivered his Welcome to Country; and Harry Bottero and Neve Lawson who are our 2021 student alumni representatives.

Julie Ruming | Head Teacher Welfare

Student Support - Careers

UNSW Gateway Program

Three Aurora students from Year 11, Alleah Docena, Heidi Parkin, and Genevieve Bland participated in the October school holidays UNSW Residential program as part of the university Gateway Pathway Program.

Here is Genevieve’s report:

I thought I'd get back to you about the residential program we just came back from, it was so fun! I'd recommend it to anyone. 

There were about 35 kids from regional and rural areas who attended, and then with the on-campus day there were over 400 students from other areas with Gateway schools for UNSW.

We were with ambassadors the whole time, who were students of varying years and degrees, and we were able to talk to them and get to know them over the three days, as well as the other students. A really great experience. 

We stayed on campus at the new college postgraduate village, but we visited all the accommodation options at some point to learn more about uni life. We had breakfast at New College and chatted to other non-ambassador students over breakfast about their degrees and what uni was like.

On the on-campus day we had a tour of the uni, then a student panel, which was an open Q&A with the ambassadors. We were also able to participate in a faculty experience of our choosing - I know Heidi found her hands on part of the day really ‘cool’ in medicine and health where they used wires and a computer to make her hand move. I picked science so we did a couple of problem-solving challenges and then had a competition to design a bottle rocket which we then went outside and launched. The atmosphere on campus was so ‘cool’ to be a part of and really gave me a good taste of what uni is like. We were also able to do other activities like a beach walk, dinner at a nice restaurant and we went to the Ritz to watch ‘Top Gun Maverick.”

It was just an all-round enjoyable, educational and confidence building trip, especially meeting lots of new people. So yeah, I'd absolutely recommend; it's part of the UNSW equity and access funding, so all completely free and just a really good experience for anyone.

Hope this was helpful or interesting :)

Genevieve

Please contact, Kim Morris, Careers Adviser, if any Year 10, 11, or 12 students are interested in being a part of this program.

Canberra University early entry awarded to Paulo Maribao

Congratulations to Paulo on his successful application for the Canberra University Early Entry ‘Fast Forward’ program. Each year, the University of Canberra accepts 25 students to receive the award which includes:

an early guaranteed offer into your preferred UC degree
careers workshops
activities with industry partners
exclusive access to UC on-campus events for secondary school students
$2,000 study grant

School Based Traineeship position for Lucinda Madden

Congratulations to Lucinda Madden in Year 10 who was successful with her School Based Traineeship application with NSW Health in Allied Health starting next year.

Lucinda will be paid to work 1 day per week at Young Hospital, complete a CERT III in Allied Health through TAFE and have it contribute toward her HSC ATAR. Allied Health assistants help health professionals in areas such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology and dietetics.

Anyone interested in finding out about SBAT’s, follow this link and contact me to discuss. https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/career-and-study-pathways/school-based-apprenticeships-and-traineeships

2023 Aboriginal School-Based Traineeships

What's involved?

A school-based traineeship allows you to complete a nationally recognised qualification and gain on-the-job experience with a host employer while completing your HSC studies!

Certificate II Conservation & Land Management

As a school-based Conservation and Land Management Trainee, you will:

conduct basic maintenance of trails, pathways, roads, and vegetation
support field workers and conservation tasks
conduct routine maintenance and servicing of parks and visitor facilities
map conservation values and identify vegetation

Certificate II Workplace Skills

As a school-based Workplace Skills Trainee, you will gain experience in:

Tourism 
Administration
Finance
Customer Relations
Land Management

 Northern Region

Conservation & Land Management - Newcastle, Coffs Harbour, Dubbo, Armidale, Walcha
Workplace Skills - Dubbo, Baradine, Kempsey, Mudgee

 Southern Region

Conservation & Land Management - Tumut, Tanja, Eden, Jindabyne, Shoalhaven, Queanbeyan
Workplace Skills – Albury

Register your interest at https://www.hvtc.com.au/Apprentices-and-Trainees/school-based-aboriginal-traineeship-program or contact me for further information.

StudyWorkGrow website

In addition to the familiar Aurora College Careers website, Aurora College students and families now have free access to the StudyWorkGrow website which has these additional features:

Weekly opportunity-packed newsletters
Access to free digital guides
Work Experience
Subject selection calculator
Scholarships
Money Matters
Resume Builder
University applications
Transferrable Skills
Job Spotlights

An invite link will be emailed directly to students and parents if interested in signing up for the Aurora Careers Hub with StudyWorkGrow.

Kim Morris | Careers Advisor

Faculty - OC

Aboriginal High Potential and Gifted Students Program

In Week 4, Aurora College welcomed 54 students joining us as part of the Aboriginal High Potential and Gifted Students Program. We are very excited to welcome our new students from across NSW. Their first challenge is navigating the virtual environment and learning about their classmates. Their second challenge will involve outer space, the Australian Space Agency and something to protect their hands ... we will keep you posted!

Newcastle Permanent Maths Competition – Aurora Winners!

The Newcastle Permanent Maths Competition is one of Australia’s longest running competitions of its kind. Since its inception, almost half a million students have entered. In 2022, 20 000 students entered.

Aurora College had two students who were local winners for their district, Chris and Peter, and also 1 student, Pin-Ling, who placed overall 2nd in the state. Below is a student led interview with the 3 students.

Matthew: Tell me about this maths competition?

Chris: I did this competition last year and came first in the District for Year 5. Schools all over NSW can enter; 20 000 entered this year.

Peter: It was very interesting. It started off with easy questions and they slowly got harder. For example, easy questions could be "work out the area of this rectangle", and the harder questions could be "This is an algorithm with words instead of numbers. What would the numbers be?". It was definitely hard, even for me. So I answered the easy questions first. But if there was a question asked that' was too hard, I'd probably skip it because I knew I just wouldn't be able to work it out.

Pin-Ling: It is a maths competition with problem solving. The first questions are easy but the ones you need to get right are the last ones. It is most important to get these ones correct. If you get these right, you have a chance of placing higher.

Matthew: What do you like about maths?

Chris: It’s interesting, you can get a lot of jobs if you are good at maths. There is always a fixed answer, I like it better than creative writing. It’s really interesting. So many possibilities and so many different learning paths.

Peter: How it's simple at front but it can lead to so many different ideas and difficult problems. Problems that are challenging even for adults to actually solve.

Pin-Ling: The fact that you can get your answers through a process, and you know its either going to be right or wrong.

Matthew: How did you become so skilled at these hard maths questions?

Chris: When I was a kid, Dad and I would watch the AFL, and he would make me add up the scores. It was 6 points for a goal, and I had to keep track and tell Dad the scores in the ads. Dad kept talking to me about maths and kept making me do Maths at home. Mum used to make me do my 6 x times tables as I went up the driveway to get the bus. In kindy, I already knew about negative numbers; Dad just kept on making me do maths at home. Kept on pushing me to do it – I liked it.

Peter: Well, I started off not knowing much, but I had a hunger for learning, for knowing more. I started off knowing more than the rest of my class, so I'd ask my parents, my teachers, anyone who knew about it, for new mathematics and I would learn it. Also, in class, I would be given harder questions because I already knew the basic stuff.

Pin-Ling: I just practised. That’s it. Once I found out about it last year, we got some practice papers to work on.

Matthew: What tips do you have for those who want to be better at maths.

Chris: Just keep trying, you will get the hang of it eventually.

Peter: That's a hard one because for me, I just do everything mentally and if I need to write down on paper, I just do it. Generally, I'll say try to learn something new. Aim to learn new things, as that is the only way you'll grow.

Pin-Ling: Don’t give up and even though it sounds boring but try practise it every day because your brain is like a muscle that you have to work out. START with the basics so you can go onto the advanced concepts.

Local news coverage – Chris and Peter, Pin-Ling

Residential Report

Beth Hodson | Rlg. Assistant Principal

Faculty - English, Languages, and HSIE

Residential for Dragons

This term, Year 7 are answering an inquiry question: “How can we create a residential for dragons?”

After experiencing residential for a whole week, they can now imagine creating one for mythical creatures!

Of course, this involves a deep dive into research - after all you can hardly room a Knucker water dragon from England with an ancient Turkish fire breathing shape shifter!

Dragons have been a feature of myths and legends from all countries in the world, a story which unites us despite language barriers, different beliefs and cultural practices. Uniting people from very different contexts is something Aurora students and teachers are passionate about, so studying such a universal idea makes perfect sense! Archaeologists and palaeontologists have been fascinated with dragons for centuries, trying to determine if they were actually real after all - at this stage, they are not sure, dinosaurs and megafauna could account for most legends but then if dragons existed before dinosaurs…maybe they haven’t dug deep enough yet.

To add to our cultural/historical research, we have been immersing ourselves in extracts from literary works dealing with Dragonology - from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Narnia series), the Hobbit all the way through to Eragon, Wings of Fire, Burn, Harry Potter and How to Train your Dragon. We even ventured into virtual worlds, short films and gaming to look at how such ancient mythology translates into contemporary times.

At our (human) residential, students were given a golden dragon egg. They needed to excavate their dragon, classify it according to a manual, then group with other students who uncovered the same baby dragon. From here they discussed and recorded what they already knew about dragons and what they would need to research in order to produce a poster outlining “How to care for your baby dragon”.

Ultimately, the students will present a portfolio of their learning including: A welcome speech for the dragon; a program of events and activities; a map for the dragons to find their way on site; and some creative activities like a blog post proving that they can indeed create a residential for dragons.

Jowen Hillyer | Head Teacher English, Languages, and HSIE

Faculty - Mathematics and Software Design & Development

Residential Activities

Year 7-10 students had some amazing mathematics lessons while on Residential School and enjoyed exploring concepts in a hands-on way.

Year 7 – Dragons Breath

Year 7 students had a lot of fun attaching a ruler to a bottle of soft drink and measuring the reaction when Mentos was added. They used a recording and scale to get accurate measurements, and then repeated the experiment with 3 different drinks. The collated data will be used in their end of year statistics topic.

Year 8 – Tetrahedrons

Year 8 students put their geometry skills to the test and created tetrahedrons using only a ruler and a compass! The end result was tetrahedrons upon tetrahedrons upon tetrahedrons!

Year 9 – Problem Solving

Year 9 students conquered a range of challenging mental activities, including a ‘clothesline’ of mathematics, where students crafted some complex equations then attached their working-out on the clothesline number line.

They also had a geometrical challenge folding paper into a variety of different shapes and then constructing tessellations.

Year 10 – Parabolic BBQ

Year 10 students worked diligently to trace out the equations, measure and build a parabolic BBQ. While the sun was only out for a short while, students enjoyed seeing their marshmallows warm up! When the sun disappeared, students resorted to the pizza oven, but regardless of how they melted, the toasty marshmallows were then used to create some much enjoyed smores.

Assessment Tasks

All assessment tasks have now been completed; thank you to all students for their efforts, and their families who supported them. Students will continue covering content until the end of the year, and classwork expectations will remain throughout the term.

Karen Bellamy | Rlg. Head Teacher Mathematics and Sofware Design & Development

Faculty - Science

The Science faculty is still on a high following a wonderful Residential School in Canberra.

Our teachers were exhausted, but very happy to see and share great experiences with their students and colleagues. We have made memories we will keep for a lifetime.

Personally, I want to thank all the science teachers for their dedication, effort and countless hours of work during the residential time. Someone told me that we walked more than 20,000 steps!

The highlights for our students were the kites made in the Arboretum excursion and the power karts as well. Along with the fun activities outside the campground, the science lessons and the science show (thanks Mr Rose and Mr Harrington) were very well received by all participants. Here are some of the great science activities enjoyed by students and staff:

Year 7: Arboretum kites – students made, decorated and flew their own kites.

Year 8: Science fair – students created a poster to scientifically communicate their research findings.

Year 9: Chemistry Escape Room – students visited 13 stations to solve problems and get codes to ‘escape’ from the chemistry room.

Year 10: Chemistry Jeopardise Game with Moly Mod Kits – students were given compounds, and under timed conditions, they built the molecule using molecular model kits.

Students in Years 8 and 10 presented their researched topics of interest. Their investigations and presentation skills were outstanding, showing the excellent work done by students and teachers in preparing for this important event in junior science.

The first, second and third prizes were awarded, based on the criteria of how the scientific process was applied in the investigation. Commendation and People's Choice awards were based on the communication skills used to explain the project. The prizes and results were announced in the final assembly. The awards recipients were:

Year 8 Science Fair

1st Place: Tayla DeMamiel - How does our sense of smell affect our ability to taste?

2nd Place: Flinders Bean - Human reflexes and age

3rd Place: Isabelle Berg - Can people guess the colour of a jellybean by eating while blindfolded?

Head Teacher Commendation: Eva Wood Maguire – Mind games – Does personality type affect how people decide between two options?

Principal’s Award: Chloe Ward – What is the most effective hand sanitizer?

People’s Choice: Seth Toohi-Sergant - Can a TEG on a car radiator transform waste heat energy to electrical energy?

Teachers' commendations

Sarang O’Neill: Which type of salt, or sugar can make ice melt the quickest?

Emily Caughey: Does music have an effect on the growth of a plant?

Josh McKay: What not to lick in public

Year 10 Symposium

1st Place: Daniel Francis - Fusion or Fission? Which is a more reliable and realistic solution to the world’s energy problem?

2nd Place: Harry Kerr - Methods of propulsion to reach another star within a century

3rd Place: Hayley Fraser – Computed tomography scans vs magnetic resonance imaging

Teachers' commendations:

Peter Jones: Platypus physiology and psychology in relation to other similar animals

Adibah Tasnim: Are the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation beneficial for human brain activity?

Leanne Adams: Is de-extinction an effective and beneficial method of conservation?

Luca Garcia-Kytola: False Vacuum Decay; What is that?

Faculty Meeting

It wasn't only our students who had fun with activities during Residential School. Science teachers enjoyed our time together and had the opportunity to develop ourselves professionally with some STEM activities to work on in teams. Teachers made boats with simple materials, they swapped them with another group to improve them (very competitive skills were observed here!) and the boats were then floated. Here are some photos:

Silvia Rudmann | Rlg. Head Teacher Science

Year 12

Welcome to Year 12 to all our students who are continuing with us and to all those new students who are joining Year 12 this term. Year 12 is going to be busy, so we want to give a few tips:

Be organised from the start with study notes.
Keep up with the pace of the lessons and homework.
If any issues arise, please contact the class teacher. We are here to help, and we want all students to have a successful HSC.

Here are some tips, rules and procedures for Year 12 2023:

The assessment Handbook with assessment schedules was sent to all students, parents and Aurora College Coordinators at the beginning of this term. To the right is a summary of the assessments that are due this term in each subject:

Practicals in science

Practicals in science continue this term for junior and senior high school students, run by your home school Science Practicals Teacher.

Booklets with the practical activities were sent to all the schools at the beginning of the term. Each practical must be completed in Stile at the end of the fortnight.

Students need to be proactive with the practical work by contacting the Science Practical Teacher and checking when the practical will run during the fortnight and by completing all the assigned work.

Contact Ms Boneham, our Practical Coordinator, if there are any issues.