HASS
Year 9 Civics & Citizenship
Year 9 students in Humanities have had a busy and engaging few months. At the end of Term 2, 50 students had the opportunity to visit Western Australia’s Parliament House. We always choose a non-sitting day as this gives students the experience to sit in the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council chambers, the very seats our law-makers get to sit in. They learnt about the chambers’ histories, the key processes of how our laws are made and how members could be ‘ejected’ from the chamber. Students also found it fascinating to view the hall of WA’s past premiers, see the amazing artifacts of our political history and enjoy the grandeur of the halls of power.
To further support their studies of Civics and Citizenship, they then visited the Electoral Education Centre and got to experience how our preferential voting system works using fast-food as their voting topic. Maccas and KFC would be running our state if students had their say!
Another 50 students visited the Perth law courts. Our open and transparent justice system meant students could witness a variety of cases in the District Court – breaches of restraining orders, repeat offenders and a convicted homeless person needing a judge’s authorisation to complete their sentence in a rural area. They spent time in Perth’s oldest building, the Old Perth Courthouse, where they donned the attire of legal professionals and participated in a scripted mock trial about a brutal one-punch attack.
Our access to these important institutions is just one example of why we should feel proud of our democracy and legal system. Our students come away from these experiences enriched and enlightened.
A massive thanks to Mr Jacob Pettit for organising and supervising both excursions, and to Ms Ganza, Ms Cattell, Mr Young, Mr Hart, Mrs Hampton-Grigg and Ms Hawkes for their supervision.
Year 9 Geography
This term, our Year 9s have been immersing themselves in a biome of their choice. They’ve been applying their data analysis skills and bringing together their research to create a geographical broadsheet of their particular biome. They then created a ‘biome in a bottle’ and creatively designed key features and adaptations of flora and fauna found in their biome. Can you identify which biome is which?
Year 11 Geography
The environment, economy and society combine in Geography, and our Year 11 General and ATAR Geography students appreciated this in their day out in the Swan Valley exploring the Sandalford Winery. They were given a guided tour of how the wine was made, viewing the vats that ferment the grapes, the bottling process and the barrel room used for aging the wine. They learnt about the economic importance of the wine industry to the Swan Valley and understood the environmental factors that influence wine production. No testers were given, but their visit to the Yahava Koffeeworks yielded not only an education on how coffee beans were roasted and marketed to tourists, but an all-important coffee in readiness for their next venture to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory, where students were treated to the undeniably crucial process of how chocolate was made and even more importantly, got to taste the end-product.
A massive thanks goes to Ms Gillett and Mr Pettit for organising and supervising this excursion.
Year 12 History
2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the end of Australia’s military involvement in Vietnam. Our Year 12 ATAR Modern History students have been studying Australian history this semester and have been investigating the Vietnam War. We are so fortunate to have Geof Irvin, a Vietnam Veteran and President of the Kalamunda RSL, regularly avail himself to provide first-hand insight into the war and its significant impact on Australia and our foreign policy. Geof was also our guest speaker for our ANZAC service this year and his stories are entertaining and enlightening for our students. They also really appreciated Geof showing them pictures of his red sports car!
Thanks goes to Ms Hawkes for liaising with Geof.
