Years 5/6 Honours Class

commitments to the Honours Program. The students commenced their own History program this semester, with a focus on minority groups within Australian society during the 19th and 20th centuries. With the help of Mrs Schinckel, our resident Teacher Librarian, the curriculum has been specifically designed for the Senior Honours class and runs parallel to the other year levels.

Our Reading Buddies program continued with vigor in 2014 with our Honour students matched with a Year 1 pupil, spending 45 minutes a week engaging in fun reading, writing and literacy activities. Our Reading Buddies program gives the older students the opportunity to develop fluency as well as a sense of pride in the accomplishments achieved by their younger comrades. In addition, they have come to see the value of reading themselves, developing a love of reading and a greater motivation to read both at school and at home. We escalated the students’ teaching from learning to read to assisting them with the development of their writing and creating PowerPoint presentations. The boys seem to thoroughly enjoy their time with the little ones and have taken their responsibility to teach these boys very seriously. The students have shown great determination and commitment to their studies this year and should be very proud of their achievements. It has been a wonderful yet challenging year and I can’t wait to unleash bigger and better things for the Honours Program in 2015.

YEAR 5/6T HONOURS CLASS

SEATED ROW: O. DURHAM, V. WU, A. WIESE, S. LEDINGHAM, E. STANICH, D. SELBY, H. ALOYSIUS, L. FREE SECOND ROW: H. JEANES-GRANT, N. PHILLIPS, O. TAYLOR, G. COLLINS, P. SOPHIOS, H. BENNETT, J. BOX, Z. CIROCCO, MR F. TREVETHAN THIRD ROW: M. FUHRMANN, B. STEWART, K. KANEMURA, H. KNUDSEN, J. BROWN, N. MCKENZIE, L. CHABERT

6

JULIE WATTS

Year 6 Coordinator

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Another year has come and gone in what feels like a blink of the eye. Are they getting faster? It certainly feels that way. I remember being 10 years old and thinking that every year dragged on, yet the adults were always saying how fast the years went. When I talked to the boys in Year 6 about the speed of the year, they agreed. It had gone fast. It seems like no time at all since we were all sizing each other up and wondering what sort of year we were in for.

It never fails to amaze me how different each year on Year 6 can be. We take the same excursions, teach similar skills and concepts and have the same busy schedule of events, yet no two years feel the same and no two cohort of boys are the same or even similar. This year’s cohort was a unique blend of quirky, intelligent and easy-going characters. If last year was predominantly extroverts, this year was the opposite. If I was to then compare a description of our Year 6s to another school, I am once again struck by the strangeness that their cohort of 6s could be described the same way. I haven’t figured out yet what goes on in a year, or years, to make a group of students across a city so similar in their clusters. Being a more individual, introverted group meant that leadership positions were even more challenging for the students; but, as usual, it was fantastic to see boys put themselves forward and do a good job at handling all the roles. As a leader and a role model you are constantly ‘under the microscope’, so boys in Year 5 should think very carefully about themselves, and if they are ready for that pressure before putting their hat in the ring to become a leader. It can be a challenging journey if you are not prepared!

The 2014 cohort of Year 6 boys were sick of us saying, “You are the leaders of the School. You must act like one, as all eyes are on you” by about midFebruary of this year. Very quickly they settled into their role and began to mature before our very eyes. The biggest change this year seemed to be over the July holidays. We sent young boys away for the three-week holiday and were met with young men when they came back. These ‘young men’ demonstrated their newfound maturity and sense of responsibility when we went on the Canberra trip. They were fantastic. We proudly stood back and watched them respectfully speak to staff and public in each venue and walk through venues showing interest and knowledge in all they came across. We also got a lovely letter from the hotels to say that this group of boys were the tidiest, cleanest school group they had ever had.