Director’s Message
Welcome to our first Bradcast of 2016.
The first weeks of term 1 are always busy. Year 11 students are se ling into a new college and it takes me – just like se ling into a new job. 6 weeks is o en used as a benchmark and we are certainly seeing things star ng to se le now. Year 11 mock job interviews were held today. Thank you to parents and staff who par cipated. Congratula ons to year 11, you acted in a mature and professional manner and I'm sure the experience was worth while. Year 12 are gearing up for the big year ahead. Their Mid‐Year reports were uploaded to MyBradfield last week. The Year 12 Parent Teacher Student feedback evening on Wednesday was well a ended and I hope everyone understands what work needs to be done in prepara on for the mid‐year exams.
New Staff. We welcome new staff to Bradfield this year: Maddie Koster (English) Rachel Visser (English) Ben Tang (Maths), Angela Swadling (Visual Arts), Suzy Fraser (Photography). It’s really great to see the new ideas and energy that they are bringing to the college.
Bradfield and Vivid Ideas. As a school specialising in the crea ve industries, Bradfield is staging 2 major events as part of the Vivid Ideas program in June.
On Friday 10 June from 3‐5 we are holding a Crea vity In Educa on forum at the Museum of Contemporary Art for teachers and educators. It’s during the Vivid Light fes val of course so we are hoping to stay at the roo op venue and watch Sydney light up.
On Saturday 4 June from 9‐6 we are holding the Crea ve Careers day at Bradfield. It’s designed to provide informa on and inspira on for students to help navigate their own careers in the crea ve industries. There’ll be seminars on digital media, performance, design and visual arts, adver sing, marke ng, journalism, and entrepreneurship plus a wide range of immersive ac vi es such as interac ve art. There will be a pop up art market featuring emerging and established ar sts. As well as merchandise that students are crea ng for the event they are being invited to hold a stall of their own works. It’s a great opportunity. So place the date in your dairy and come along and be part of the big day.
How parents can help with managing stress. For those parents who were not able to come to Friends of Bradfield on 7 March, it was a very useful session by a psychologist from UTS on managing the HSC and the role parents can play in this. We’ll be talking with UTS about a session for year 11 as they transi on to year 12 at the end of the year. The biggest messages were:
Be their greatest supporter;
• Reassure your son/daughter that although you would like them to do their best they are more important than any academic result
Beware HSC Myths
• Myth 1: The HSC is a year of ceaseless toil: (Students shouldn’t study all the me as it can lead to burnout. They should lead a balanced lifestyle with study, socialising, exercise, good food and good sleep).
• Myth 2: Your ATAR determines your future success and worth as a person. (It doesn’t. There are many more pathways to success.)
Beware of nega ve self‐talk (in yourself as well as your child).
Avoid: “I can’t handle this”, or “He’s going to fail”, or “She’ll never get a good job.”
Finally, I’d like to thank all the wonderful staff at Bradfield for their dedica on, professionalism, and their caring approach to our great students. It is a pleasure to work with such a great team.
Meredith Melville‐Jones College Director
BRADFIELD SENIOR COLLEGE
BRADCAST
18 March 2016
College Calendar
18 March Year 11 IEP Mock Interviews 23 March Rewards & Recognition Assembly 25 March Good Friday Public Holiday 28 March Easter Monday Public Holiday 29 March 2017 Open Day 1 29 March HSC Mid Year Exams Start 01 April Mock Interview Catch-up 08 April HSC Mid Year Exams End 08 April Term 1 Ends 25 April ANZAC Day Public Holiday 26 April Term 2 classes commence
Bradfield Senior College has a Facebook account. Like us at www.facebook.com/BradfieldSeniorCollege
to find out about the latest happenings and news from the College.
HSC students can join a Bradfield Facebook Group, search in Facebook for “Year 12 2016 HSC Bradfield
Senior College” or “Year 11 2016 Bradfield Senior College”. These groups are designed to allow students to share
informa on and ask ques ons in a group with other students and staff.
TAFE Card
If you do not yet have your TAFE card, please make your
way over to the ground floor of the Cameraygal Building.
The friendly staff there will be happy to assist you.
You will need to have paid your fees and have your
receipt with you as proof.
Unique Student Identifier
Have you registered for your USI and given it to Admin?
IF NOT, please go to WWW.USI.GOV.AU and register. Give your USI number to the friendly Administra on staff
or email it to [email protected]
If you have any ques ons, please speak to Admin
This is a Federal Government requirement. You cannot
receive your TAFE records without it!
Pi Day - Pi-face a teacher
Bradfield celebrated Pi Day with pie sales and Pi‐Face. Students and staff voted on which teachers they would like to see get a cream pie in the face. Phillip, Maddie & Ben were the lucky recipients. Students purchased raffle ckets to see who would be the lucky ones to perform the act. The money raised will go to a charity of the student’s choice. A big thanks to Ben for arranging this great event.
Phillip h ps://www.instagram.com/p/BC6uXMqwQJC/?
taken‐by=bradfieldlife
Maddie h ps://www.instagram.com/p/BC6umqGwQJd/?taken‐by=bradfieldlife Ben h ps://www.instagram.com/p/BC6usX3QQJp/?taken‐by=bradfieldlife
This year we decided to add a weekly competition to the Bradfield routine. Each week song lyrics are put up on the fluro board in the foyer and posted to the Facebook pages. Students are asked to submit what they think the song is. At the end of each week a winner is selected from the total entries and that student wins a lucky dip.
So far this year the winners have been: Joshua Mosqueira Titanium Josh won a mushroom USB speaker Kayla Chandler Lets get it started Kayla won a fluro writing board Trisha Redwood Alive Trisha won some juggling balls Darcy Flick Hello Darcy won a stationery set Hayleigh Burman I can’t feel my face Hayleigh won the game Quoits Sarah Salib All of me Sarah won a set of elastics There are still plenty of prizes to be won.
Curriculum
Student Association
This semester the Student Associa on has been busy with a variety of events for our students. We have held two BBQs, served free ice‐creams at lunch me and hosted a healthy breakfast! We have also started our regular ‘Table Tennis Tuesdays’ and organised the 2016 HSC jersey orders which should arrive at the beginning of next term just in me for the cooler months.
We have some great events coming up soon such as our Thursday Relaxa on and Beginners Yoga which started on the 17th of March during lunch mes for only $5 a class. What a great way to relieve exam stress! If these sessions are popular we will be running them permanently throughout next term.
We hosted a Funky Hair Day on the 9th of March raising money as part of the World’s Greatest Shave. For a gold coin dona on students and teachers had their hair coloured, ate fairy bread and made a difference to the 60,000 Australians living with leukaemia, lymphoma and other blood disorders.
Finally we are very excited to announce that we have locked in a venue for the Year 12 Formal. We will be hos ng this event at the Star Room Darling Harbour on Thursday the 22nd of September. The Early bird price for paying in full or commi ng to a payment plan before the end of April is $95each for Members of the Student Associa on and their guest or $115 for non‐members. Permission slips will be out soon and remember it’s only $20 to join the Associa on and you will save $40 off two formal ckets!
The Design and Visual Arts Learning Area have been introducing the new Preliminary classes to our Art & Design studios and learning spaces. Students have been learning safe and prac cal industry standard knowledge of these working spaces.
It is also a me to establish base skills to then be able to explore their own themes in the future. These base skills are building confidence and knowledge of tradi onal and alternate crea ve prac ces.
The HSC classes have started to develop their major works from proposal to prototype to produc on. Conceptual and prac cal solu ons to problems are evolving through these processes.
The Design Visual Arts Industry Experience Program class went on an excursion to Balls Head whereby they were informed about the Aboriginal cultural heritage, the Coal Loader history and the Bush regenera on history of the area. Along with their ownresearch and gathering of resources they have brainstormed a number of interes ng possible ar s c responses to the area. The final works will be displayed in an exhibi on during Bradfield’s VIVID ideas event on Saturday 4th June 2016.
This is a wonderful opportunity for students to present their work in a public forum.
Some exhibi ons and talks to go and see:
Grayson Perry – My Pre y Li le Art Career
h p://www.mca.com.au/?gclid=Cj0KEQiA0sq2BRDRt6Scrqj71vQBEiQAg5bj01GVBnKuM8L1EByChIE2h3_1i6zKL7m271dVTU5NzncaAobi8P8HAQ
Living Art Weekend – St Leonards TWT Crea ve Arts Precinct
h ps://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/living‐art‐weekend‐the‐twt‐crea ve‐precinct‐ ckets‐21249872942
Crea ve Women – in conversa on – North Sydney Community Centre
h ps://www.northsydneycentre.com.au/courses/34/CLS106893/community‐programs/in‐conversa on‐crea ve‐women
Design & Visual Arts
Business Services
Business Services Learning Area
It has been a busy but exci ng term as we have welcomed new students into our Preliminary Courses and our HSC students are prepping themselves for upcoming assessments and Mid‐year examina ons.
HSC Society and Culture and HSC Community and Family Studies have submi ed the ini al research for their PIP (Personal Interest Project) and IRP (Independent Research Project) respec vely.
Tina Sarian and Tracie Griskai s are working with students to help them further develop ideas. There are a broad range of topics being explored: ‘Is social media fuelling our need to self‐promote?’; ‘How does compulsory femininity hurt wom‐en in the western world?’; ‘A study of the causes and effects of truancy’; ‘The social impact of online gambling’; ‘The study of media manipula on in television news repor ng’ are some examples.
Preliminary Legal Studies On Thursday 11th Feb, Preliminary Legal Studies led by Teacher Sally‐Anne Browner invited Ma Dimech to come and speak about young people and the criminal jus ce system. Ma is a Legal Aid Solicitor who works at both Parrama a Children's Court represen ng young people and as an Educa on Officer in schools. The students were taught about their rights under the Law Enforcement Powers and Responsibili es Act (2002) NSW and how they can ring the Legal Aid hot‐line for advice any me. Students asked plenty of ques ons and posed lots different of scenarios to Ma . The talk should help year 11 in their personal lives as well as contribu ng to their understanding of HSC Legal Studies syllabus!
Business Services
Our Hospitality students have been busy too, under the guidance of their teacher Aimee Stapleton. They have been comple ng their final two theory modules ready to start prac cal in the next few weeks.
Preliminary Food Technology students have been studying na ve foods and the cultural influences on food today. They have been managing very well in this extreme heat during prac cal tasks. They have used lemon myrtle, wa le seed, Kangaroo and this week worked with yeast to produce some very tasty pizza.
Michele McGrath A/Learning Coordinator Business and Service Industries
Performing Arts
Bradfield Senior College offers students the opportunity to par cipate in a series of Performing Arts events at a college, regional and state level.
At a College level the Performing Arts Learning Area puts on lunch me events that give students the opportunity to perform in front of peers in a casual environment. This year music students have performed at Lunch Box. Lunch Box performances occur monthly and are held in the Performance Space or “On the Green” (weather permi ng). All Performing Arts students are encouraged to par cipate and should contact Mervyn Sequeira or Kelvin Haisman if they are interested. Thank you to the musicians Isabella Augimeri, Noah Coleman, Kristo Langker, Alysha Percy and James Savva. Thanks also to Brendan Hirt and Sutassa Ratawaha for audio produc on.
There are several evening performances where parents and friends can have the opportunity to enjoy our talented students. Our first performance of the year was held in the Performance Space on Tuesday 15 March. “Autumn Show‐case” highlighted classwork by Music 1, Music Industry, Screen & Media and Dance students. Later in the year other evening performances will feature Drama, Dance and Musical Theatre works.
On December 7th the Performing Arts students will perform in our end of year musical at the Seymour Centre. Students will be invited to audi on for roles at the beginning of Term 3. I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate students who finished 2015 with an outstanding display of their talents in the Bradfield Senior College musical “It’s Not Easy Being Queen.” The performers sang, danced and acted with great skill and were supported by a very talented band. The dancers demonstrated great technical skill in a range of styles. Screen and Media students produced some very skilful film footage and the Entertainment students ran the show. A special men on goes to the Entertainment student Grant Perry who called the show and James Savva and Lucy Wheeler who compered.
At a regional level students have the opportunity to perform in ensembles at the Sydney North Dance and Drama fes vals. Interested actors and actors should see me in the staff room on Level 1.
At a regional level students have the opportunity to audi on for the State Dance Fes val and various music and film compe ons. These will be adver sed as they become available.
I would like to encourage parents to support their young people at these events. It is important that performing ar sts learn the skill of engaging an audience.
Congratula ons to Ruby Chapman and Holly Lipman for being selected to perform at Dance Callback. Callback showcases exemplary works from the 2015 HSC exams and was held at the Everest Theatre in the Seymour Centre. Holly was chosen to perform her Core Performance dance and Ruby was chosen to present her Core Composi on work which was danced by Solene Gaborit. This is a great achievement for these high achieving students who have been selected from a highly compe ve audi on process.
Janet Leigh Ashiabor Learning Coordinator Performing Arts
English & History
The English/History Learning Area is having a busy term. HSC English Advanced began the Term studying ‘Hamlet’ and has since moved on to a look at intertextual connec ons with ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘Le ers to Alice’.
HSC English Standard completed a Close Study of the novel ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night‐Time’ and is about to begin looking at ‘The Shoehorn Sonata’ in Week 7.
HSC English Studies has been inves ga ng ‘English and the Sciences’ and HSC Extension 1 and 2 have been looking at Roman cism and working on their wri ng projects, respec vely.
Preliminary Standard and Advanced are finishing a study ‘Of Mice and Men’, Preliminary Extension is coming to the end of the its Genre Study on the Fairy Tale, And Preliminary English Studies has recently handed in a crea ve wri ng task.
Preliminary Ancient History has comple ng a unit on the Boudicca and will then move on to History in Film, as will P r e l i m i n a r y Modern History, which is comple ng the Civil Rights units. HSC Modern History is concluding it study of the USA between the wars and looking to begin The Cold War. HSC Ancient History is finishing a look at the Emperor Augustus.
As usual the be er crea ve wri ng from Preliminary English course will be entering several wri ng compe ons, including the Stanton Library’s.
Cer ficate III in Informa on Digital Technology (Gaming)
We have started our new IDT Cert III Gaming course and the students are
really enjoying the challenge of learning new and exci ng 3D anima on
skills. This term students have been working with our new highly skilled
teachers Daniel, Ma hew and Jacob on developing 3D environments
using Maya, a 3D Anima on and Modelling so ware used by industry
like Pixar to create many academy award winners e.g. Monsters, Inc.,
The Matrix and Spider‐Man.
Industry Experience Program (IEP):
Guest Speaker
Conserva on gene cist Dr Linda Neaves from the
Australian Museum visited the STEM industry experi‐
ence group on Friday 12th Feb. Linda presented in‐
forma on on careers in research science, the fun
parts (like adventure and travel to exo c loca ons)
the challenges (security of work and living in the
field).
Linda herself has been involved in a range of pro‐
grams within Australia and interna onally everything
from the sequencing of the en re koala genome to
se ng up a conserva on gene cs program for the
UK.
The work her and other scien sts do at the museum
o en includes CSI style inves ga ons for border con‐
trol and aircra companies. Iden fying illegally im‐
ported species and their origins to assist conserva on
management programs in their na ve regions over‐
seas.
Probably the most unexpected work she has done is
help aircra companies iden fy species that are re‐
sponsible for damage to planes a er mid‐air colli‐
sions, collisions like this can cause costly damage to
aircra s and in worst case scenarios threaten travel‐
ler safety, an example of which was the passenger jet
that crashed into the Hudson river in New York a er
colliding with a flock of birds.
Balls Head Reserve Excursion
On Friday 19th Feb our IEP group went on an excursion to Balls Head
Reserve. Our guides
were knowledgeable
and engaging and took
us on walks around the
island explaining about
the ancient Aboriginal
rock pain ngs and carv‐
ings and the Coal Load‐
er which has operated for over 70 years before being decommis‐
sioned. It was dedicated as public open space in 1997 and formally
transferred to North Sydney Council in 2003.
Students went on this excursion to get inspira on for their real life
projects for the IEP program. Some ideas we are inves ga ng in‐
clude a mobile applica on for visitor to the island showing how to
get there and features like the aboriginal rock pain ngs to create a
3D model of a feature of Balls Head which will be printed using a 3D
printer.
Preliminary So ware Design
and Development
In the first Unit of Work
(Hardware and So ware) we
looked at computer systems
and conducted an analysis of
a supermarket system. In the
student’s first assignment, they work in pairs, to develop a mobile
applica on for a fic ous supermarket. The picture shows an exam‐
ple of a paper based prototype of their mobile applica on they will
create using HTML5 and JQuery Mobile.
Staff
We would like to welcome Ben who has joined us from Chris an Brothers
Lewisham teaching General Mathema cs and Prelim 2 Unit Mathema cs
as well as our 3D experts from NSI Daniel, Ma hew and Jacob.
We are also grateful to have Vijaya back joining us for HSC Mathema cs.
The course runs for one year and classes are 5 ½ hours per week. At the comple on of the course the students will receive a 2
Unit ATAR towards their BOS units and a full Cer ficate III in Informa on Digital Technology.
STEM
Library
Bowie and books, welcome to the Prelims The library has been busy welcoming the new Bradfield students and conduc ng library orienta on workshops. On the death of David Bowie the American Library Associa on (ALA) re‐issued its READ poster featuring a leaping David Bowie. This image started our presenta ons. The link we are making is that books and the wide variety of resources held in libraries fire the imagina‐on and foster crea vity ‐ something important to Bradfield.
During these library sessions, students were asked to tell us what music cd, dvd, fic on or graphic novel they would like to see in our collec on. If not already on the shelves the li‐brary will consider purchasing some of these.
And we are here for learning As well as hardcopy study guides, books and background material, students were given an overview of our online resources and our LibGuides. As the year progresses and assessments become due these data‐bases, eBooks and online videos will become more important to the students’ study needs.
To support and enrich Bradfield students’ learning, the library also has on display fairy tale genre and civil rights fic on/ literature of the American South materials.
Welcoming New Staff
Angela Swadling
Design & Visual
Arts
Ben Tang
STEM
Madeline Koster
English & History
Rachel Visser
English &
History
Susannah Fraser
Design & Visual
Arts
John Reilly
Customer Service
Student Development Unit
Assessing Core Skills: Literacy and Numeracy
At Bradfield we’ve always given Year 11 students literacy
assessments as a way of ge ng a ‘snapshot’ of students’ reading
comprehension and wri ng capabili es.
This year we have gone ‘high tech’ and are using an online test,
called Compass, developed by the Australian Centre for
Educa onal Research (ACER) designed to give teachers detailed
and useful diagnos cs that can inform teaching prac ce,
allowing focus on par cular literacy skills.
To increase the engagement of students the reading tasks in the assessment are based on a broad range of texts
designed or chosen for their authen city and relevance to the lives of senior students: think skateboards, graffi art and
music.
Compass is aligned to the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF), the common na onal reference point for describing
performance in the core skill areas necessary for diverse personal, community, work and training contexts.
So far we have assessed the reading comprehension core skills of purpose and complexity, predic on and prior
knowledge, cri cal reading and text analysis, text naviga on, comprehension strategies, syntax and language pa erns
and vocabulary.
Already this term students completed a crea ve wri ng sample demonstra ng amongst other things, their text
construc on, gramma cal knowledge, use of language and wri ng flair.
Next term Compass will point the way to core skills in numeracy.
The Learning Centre tutors offer in‐class support to students in subjects like Maths. Fiona Karren rou nely helps students in Ben Tang's Maths classes. Here's an extract from one such class:
Si ng in and helping out in Ben’s maths classes is always a great part of my day at Bradfield. Ben’s use of technology, lesson designs (and personality!) are really engaging our students. His sea ng plan in groups of 4, to encourage peer tutoring is also working. Spending me in his classroom is a great opportunity to keep up to date with how he is teaching the curriculum. It allows me to form rela onships with the students so that they are comfortable to seek out my help in the Learning Centre. I look forward to going to his classes when I can each week just to see what he is going to do next!