Years 5/6 Honours

MR MARK HOPPE years 5/6 honours

The 5/6 Honours classroom was again a learning environment blossoming with drive and commitment, banter and mateship, curiosity and intrigue, and a genuine thirst to learn and grow throughout the course of 2018. Established with the idea to provide an opportunity for like-minded young students to thrive in a challenging and stimulating environment, the 5/6 Honours classroom was certainly a lively place to call home.

Several curriculum areas for the Honours program at TSS are adaptations of existing Year 5 and 6 curriculums and are aimed to challenge students to delve beyond the surface, to learn to ask insightful, discussionpromoting questions and to take greater responsibility for their own learning and organisation.

In science, the required content was curriculum compacted into two terms with the other two free for rich, inquiry-style learning. The boys of 5/6H didn’t disappoint, launching the first science fair at the Prep School. A range of questions were investigated from hydroelectricity and potato power, to testing memory, analysing sugar content in drinks and also, the science behind optical illusions. Each boy framed their own inquiry and presented to a packed house of the Prep Hall in Term Two. More recently, boys loved the opportunity to investigate pinball machines and attempt to create their own. In HASS, History took centre stage in Semester One in which the class investigated our multicultural past in Australia, focusing on five major ‘waves’ of immigration that have helped shape our modern day society. Many boys learnt about Australia’s dark past for the first time but also the opportunities it has given to so many over time. During Semester Two, the class engaged in a hugely successful look at the changing face of the Gold Coast, balancing the human and environmental needs of the region. Multiple excursions and opportunities to question, face-to-face, industry experts really had the boys invested in their local community. The Honours class is so much more than academics and the class has enjoyed the array of opportunities to learn and grow in a social-emotional sense as well as interpersonally. Our yoga skills unit saw boys challenge not only their body but their mind in weekly yoga sessions. The intention of the unit was to address an important obstacle that many boys can face in learning to be still and focus themselves. Upon reflection, boys commented on just how much they enjoyed the opportunity, even through feelings of awkwardness or selfconsciousness.

Our class play, bringing to life the works of the incredible Dr Seuss with The Lorax, was also another highlight for many of the boys and it highlighted just how close they had grown, not only in 2018 but, for many of them, over their time in the program.

Determining the success of the Honours program is often a tough question I receive from time to time. Fulfilling academic potential is certainly one facet of it and it is my hope that boys leave the Honours program with an innate drive to tackle and love the idea of learning. Development of selfawareness and self-belief is another goal in my mind. The Honours program is aimed at drawing ‘like-minded’ individuals together but, in fact, I have never taught a more diverse group of young men. Understanding and celebrating each boy’s quirks, talents and passions in a supportive space is an important element of the program. The last facet that it is hoped boys take from their time in the Honours program is that learning is ever-evolving and made to be fun. To laugh at ourselves and the world around us at the right time is, perhaps, one of life’s greatest lessons.

I thank each and every boy and their families for such a memorable experience this year. -Live Well, Love Much, Laugh Often-

YEAR 5-6 HONOURS

SEATED ROW: J. FRENKLAH, D. CARL, K. GRASSICK, A. BELLCHAMBERS, J. SUDARMANA, J. MORRISSEY, J. BEETON, J. PURZA-PAGE SECOND ROW: C. STONE, H. HOWARD, C. CHABERT, C. O’CONNOR, N. WILSON, E. ONG, J. ELL, T. STUCKEY, D. MATHESON THIRD ROW: H. SHEEHAN, P. MCNAB, B. DOMINIKOWSKI, C. MILLIGAN, N. HILL, A. AYRE, W. ZHANG, A. WICHAIDITH