Illalong Newsletter - 4 November 2022

Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Qualifying Camp - 29 & 30 October 2022

Last weekend, 24 Bronze students took part in a Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Qualifying Camp. Unlike the more traditional expedition orientated camps which have been based in the tropical rainforests surrounding the Gold Coast, this camp took place in the parklands and natural surrounds of Brisbane as part of an Urban Exploration.

Students explored the city environment working upon personal projects based around urban related topics. They carried out a comparative study of the predominantly manicured Brisbane Parks with the Gold Coast’s more natural untouched parklands. Topics included the impact of humans on the environment, how do cycle paths/designated pathways and footpaths etc impact on the natural features on the park and what is the impact of artificially designed parks on the natural environment (fauna and flora).

All students had a great time and the group dynamics, team spirit and enthusiastic approach to leadership tasks during the weekend activities was excellent. The weather, although hot was perfect for walking and exploring previously unknown parks and gardens. Students visited the most beautiful parks within Brisbane’s CBD. These included Roma Street Parklands, New Farm Park, Brisbane’s Southbank Gardens and Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens. Highlights of the Mount Coot-tha visit were the Japanese Gardens and Bonsai House. Students were also lucky enough to get the opportunity to visit the Brisbane Powerhouse complex at New Farm Park and view the exceptional artwork as part of the Brisbane Portrait Prize.

Andrew Sole | Head of Outdoor Education

Individual Age Championships Chess Tournament

On Monday 24 October, 41 very eager and enthusiastic members from our Junior and Senior Chess Clubs travelled to Emmanuel College for the final tournament for 2022. All students participated in seven competitive rounds of Chess within their respective aged groups, for the individual age championships of the Hinterland and Coastal district areas.

The bus ride to Emmanuel College was filled with lots of laughter and chatter, as students discussed strategic moves and sought advice from their fellow club members. Upon arriving, all students registered and began their first round. All students kept their cool within the nerves and excitement throughout the entire day.

All A.B. Paterson College Chess Club representatives did our College proud with their respect, superb chess manners and overall point score. It has been wonderful to watch all students participate in Chess Club this year and to watch each student grow and develop. Weekly training sessions will continue every Monday afternoon from 3:30pm to 4:30pm until Week 9 of this term, however, there are no further tournaments this year – stay tuned for future tournament details next year!

Parents, please note that Chess Club in Week 9 will be held on Tuesday 29 November (as a one-off session) due to the Academic Academy Gala Evening being held that Monday in the Winton Centre. Further details to be communicated closer to the time by Gardiner Chess.

I wish to thank Mrs Lena White, Mrs Renee Grosser and Mrs Helene Young for their support and assistance with Chess Club this year, as well as accompanying the students to Emmanuel College and helping to instil a love of learning within all students.

I would now like to leave you all with this quote:

Chess is a game of skill… all skill and nothing but total logic. It is an opportunity for two minds to meet and clash in a land of pure reason that is devoid of chance. (Chess Forum, 7 July 1972).

I encourage all students to consider enrolling in the A.B Paterson College Chess Program in 2023.

Trent Davis | Chess Club Co-ordinator

Technologies and Digital Literacy in Term 4

Students across the Junior School have been engaging in various activities that involve the use of technologies as well as hands-on tasks that ask them to showcase their learning. The Pre-Preps, aka Banjo and Friends, have been looking at how robots work and have started to Bluetooth the versatile Dash robot to their set of iPads. Dash lets kids explore simple, remote navigation initially and as they progress, students can then use block-based programming. Our younger students were thrilled at the ability to change colours, manipulate movement and record their own voice for Dash to talk back to them. Smiles all round!

In Prep, our students have been refining their skills around their 1:1 iPad environment and have been learning about how to better use the Camera app. For example: using focus points and ‘pinching the screen’ for zooming in/out. They then learned how to organise these files, understanding how to delete and keep files as required.

Year 2 students have focussed on digital systems this term and have ‘built’ their own laptop computer so that they are clear as to what is inside their laptop computer and how each part of the system works together to help the user – them. They will then consolidate this with the completion of the Digital System eBook in Book Creator.

In Year 3 students have been exploring the Sun, Earth and Moon in Science and decided to create a video about what they have learned about day/night and the revolution of Earth and the Moon by using a video content creation app called Flip – an application that allows students to create short videos and share them with their class. Not only does Flip allow for students to locate another medium for their expression of understanding but it also allows them to collaborate safely in an online learning environment. All of which are skills that are part of their curriculum.

On top of all of that, students from the weekly Makerspace group have embarked on creating designed solutions in MinecraftEDU, and students in Years 4-9 have been using the LEGO Spike Prime kits to create robots for competition.

It has been a busy few weeks in the Technologies and Digital Literacy space here at A.B. Paterson College. We look forward to sharing in further adventures as we approach the final stages of the year.

Beth Claydon | Head of Digital Literacy & STEAM

Years 4-9 SUMO Robotics Inter-School Competition

This semester, students from Years 4-9 have been attending weekly SUMO Robotics sessions, using LEGO Spike Prime kits. They have worked very hard to both design and create their robots and then install the code to allow the robot to ‘battle it out’ with other robots in a small SUMO ring that is approximately 78cm in diameter.

This culminated in an inter-school competition on Wednesday 26 October, hosted here at the College. Staff and students from Saint Stephen’s College, Hillcrest Christian College and The Southport School attended ready to compete in an informal scrimmage morning. It was a wonderful opportunity for all students to become familiar with the competitive robotic environment, ready for formal competition next year. We hope to host a SUMO Robotics Competition at the College in Term 3, 2023. It was wonderful to see the comradery between the schools and witnessing students helping each other with their robots and code sequences.

Representatives from A.B. Paterson College were:

Preston Williams 9M
Hunter Giemzo 7M
Jonathan Wang 7D
Dominiq Kamenoff 7M
Coco O’Malley 6H
Ethan Pilkington 6M
Bennett Longhurst 5S
Caelum McCleery 5W
Eric Zhang 5L
Sahishnu Sriram 5B
Lucas Wang 5B
Maxim Nadezhdin 4T
Ewan Ramsay 4H

Congratulations to our Years 7-8 Champions - Hunter Giemzo 7M, Jonathan Wang 7D, Dominiq Kamenoff 7M - who placed FIRST and were awarded the Gold Coast SUMO Robotics Competition Champion trophy, donated by our Esports friends at The Fuse Cup.

Thanks must also go to our Year 6 referees, Nicholas Patterson, Hudson Schultz, Peiwen Liang and Matthew Lee, who were instrumental in the smooth running of our morning.

We would also like to thank our Maintenance and IT crew for their support, along with our canteen for a wonderful morning tea and our fabulous support staff here at A.B. Paterson College. Days like this do not happen without the help of many.

Here’s to a bigger and even more exciting robotics competition for our students into 2023! Learning skills that will last them a lifetime.

Beth Claydon | Head of Digital Literacy & STEAM

Art and Technologies in the Year 1 Classrooms

In Year 1 this term, students have grown in confidence in their artistic and digital literacy skills through their participation in many fun-filled lessons!

Our Year 1 artists have been inspired by Henri Matisse’s unique artworks and his use of materials and techniques to create a collage. Matisse’s art includes shapes, bright colours and paper, which means they are a great way for children to develop their understanding of abstract art, collages and how to create balance in an artwork.

The students enjoyed the process of cutting out abstract shapes, selecting bright colours and learning different folding techniques and incorporating this to make interesting and eye-catching creations. Our latest Henri Matisse inspired artworks included twisted, zig-zagged and curved folded paper that was woven, looped and arched to construct a 3D paper sculpture. Our art lessons facilitated enjoyment and creativity, as they opened students’ eyes to the realisation that artworks can be created from simple materials and techniques.

There has been much excitement in our Technology lessons this term, as our Year 1 students have been fortunate to each receive an iPad for their learning within the classroom. They have continued developing their digital literacy skills through an introduction to Book Creator. Students enthusiastically learnt about the use of this application to create and read digital books. We saw them engage in lessons due to the process of story creation and multimedia design, as Book Creator enabled creativity and visual representation of their understanding of software and hardware. Students learnt how to voice record their responses, take photos of hardware examples, search and insert pictures of their favourite digital system and incorporate text to label the features of it.

To allow further opportunities for students to develop their digital literacy skills, we have been working towards incorporating technology effectively across other Year 1 learning areas.

Book Creator also complimented our English unit on narrative sizzling start writing, where students’ creativity has been flourishing. The students enjoyed transferring their written work into a digital book as they had the opportunity to illustrate their story to make it come to life. We saw an abundance of enthusiasm and engagement when they were given the task of creating their own book, as it was personalised, allowed for creative freedom on how they displayed their ideas and showed students being proud of their creation.

Following the finalisation of their digital books on Book Creator, the Year 1 students practised their digital literacy skills by using an application provided on their iPads called Vivi, that allows them to connect to the interactive board. This created further excitement as they saw their iPad screen duplicated on the board and encouraged sharing of digital books and discussions between peers.

Recently, the use of iPads was also included in our Year 1 HaSS lesson. After inferring the use of numerous technologies from the past, students effectively used their iPads to scan QR codes on their sheets, which took them to a link to view information about the name, use and history of each artefact. This successfully enabled them to gain an understanding of old artefacts and further develop their digital literacy skills.

We look forward to continuing to facilitate students’ creativity and digital literacy skills within our lessons, using our newly acquired iPads to further enhance the curriculum and support engagement.

Angie Hall, Steve Farmer, Natalie Pierron and Jade Lucy | Year 1 Teachers

Year 4 Sphero Robot Cars

As part of the ‘Sphero Robot Car’ design experience, Year 4 students have continued this term to refine the development of their Sphero robot car designs that ask them to define their problem, generate ideas and evaluate solutions. Students then use a Sphero robot car to gather data related to their Science unit where levels of friction are measured and recorded using Excel software. Here students then manage and represent their findings, giving them opportunity to evaluate their data and draw conclusions.

It has been wonderful to watch the car designs unfold and for the students to engage digital systems like the Sphero robot to support the solving of a real-world problem. It is important that students learn how to use skills across a number of learning areas to ensure tasks are authentic and meaningful. Students in Year 4 have done just that and used digital and design techniques to create and drive their cars; data and Mathematics to collect and present information; and considered concepts such as force and friction in Science to establish conclusions around how their Sphero robot cars travelled on various surfaces.

Congratulations to the staff and students of Year 4 – excellence via designed solutions and innovative in their approach.

Tim Collins, Tiffany Henry, Samantha Aplin and Zoe Truss-Michaelis | Year 4 Teachers

Senior Spanish Alpaca Experience

WARNING - NO DRAMA LLAMAS HERE!

As part of the senior curriculum, students have been studying about the environment, in particular ecotourism, and the economic, environmental and social factors that influence decision making at the local, state and national level. They have also been learning about Spanish-speaking countries contribution to the world.

To further enhance students’ knowledge of ecotourism and the impact of the Spanish-speaking world, senior Spanish students had the opportunity to visit Mountview Alpaca Farm, on the fringe of Lamington National Park. At Mountview Alpaca Farm, they mix ecotourism values with Hispanic culture to create a relaxed experience for locals and international tourists alike.

Students attended a meet and greet with an alpaca 'in training' to visit aged care homes in the future, whilst listening to a very knowledge guide on all things alpaca. We learnt that alpacas are native to South America and are predominantly located in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile. For over 9000 years alpacas have played an important role in the survival and economy of the Andean people in South America. The value of the alpaca and the llama was recognised as early as the 14^th century, when the Incas used the alpacas and llamas for food, fuel, clothing, transportation and religious ceremony. Alpacas were considered so important to the survival of the indigenous people that they were tightly controlled by the government and Incan royalty. Their fleece was renowned as the 'Fibre of the Gods'. The decline of alpacas began in 1532 when the Spanish invaded South America and the alpaca population was pushed towards the Andes. Sadly, 98% were killed by the Spanish conquistadors. Whatever alpacas and llamas remained were left to interbreed and over time they changed from a single-coated animal to the two-coated animal of today. Just like their llama cousins, the average lifespan of an alpaca is twenty years. Some interesting facts are that alpaca fibre has a naturally wonderful handle, a soft and comforting feel that you can wear next to your skin. Alpaca is warmer and stronger than the fibre of other mammals, is light weight and quite water resistant. Lastly, alpacas are blessed with fluffy, soft fleece while llamas tend to have longer, shaggier fleece.

Our College students spent their time walking, laughing, taking photos with, and feeding a colourful group of alpacas, as well as having a Spanish inspired pizza lunch, taking in the views of the Gold Coast hinterland.

On 2 November, the Year 10 and Year 11 Spanish classes ventured off to Mountview Alpaca Farm. We started off with a quick introduction before meeting our new alpaca friends. Our alpaca, Peaches, was a stubborn but gentle cria (baby alpaca), who seemed more interested in the grass than us, ha-ha. We learnt the history of alpacas, including how valuable their fleece is and how they nearly experienced extinction by the Spanish conquistadors. Our knowledgeable tour guide taught us that they come in 22 colours and are closely related to the camel and the llama. We are so grateful to have had this fantastic opportunity to learn about these amazingly soft pack animals and we must not forget the incredible gourmet pizza. We had so much fun visiting a site of local tourism and it’s a memory we will cherish forever. – Zoe Clacher & Isabelle Doo, Year 10 students

The Spanish alpaca excursion, which we were fortunate enough to take part in, was a wonderful and unique experience that I will remember for a very long time. It was extremely exciting to be able to walk, feed and spend time with these incredible animals, that we would not usually see in our everyday lives. – Marissa Dirkx, Year 11 student

I would like to express my wholehearted thanks to Mountview Alpaca Farm and O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat for having us. Many thanks also to our College Senior Leadership Team for supporting the event, along with the Languages Faculty, in particular Mrs Ursula Lindeberg for joining us on this special excursion.

Michelle Barriga | Languages Teacher

Nissan Z Car Club Visit

More often, it is a shared interest or purpose that brings people together to form strong bonds that are long lasting. This was certainly evident at the Year 9 Japanese Nissan Z Car Club visit on Wednesday afternoon when Nissan-Datsun car enthusiasts shared their passion for Japanese engineering, which has kept this group together since 1984. Led by club representative, Eric Dousi, a small convoy of classic Nissan-Datsun cars made their way up A.B. Paterson College drive, much to the delight of the students and staff alike.

This term, the Year 9 students are studying the unit, Japanese as inventors, looking at industries that have had Japanese influence on our lives: art, film, design, technology, food, household goods and manufacturing are only a few examples of how far-reaching Japanese inventions are around the world. However, it is the trust in Japanese-made vehicles that dominates our domestic car industry, with many households owning a Japanese brand car.

The Nissan Z Car Club originally started because of a need to find parts for older vehicles. However, a love for unique vehicles, restoration and a drive to the coast has kept the club together. The owners of the vehicles were asked many questions about how a Japanese brand has impacted their life and what special features their vehicles have.

The club members were able to bring together an example of a Nissan Z from the 1960s, 70s and 80s to showcase to the Japanese students and they were very generous in allowing the students to get up close to the vehicles. However, it was not just the experience of admiring the cool classic cars, but also the knowledge imparted to the students from club members, such as the concept of Kaizen, the Japanese business model for continuous improvement.

Year 9 Japanese student, Andrew Murphy, commented:

It was very interesting to learn about the way the car club got their spare parts, and when Bill (car club member) mentioned the fact about Japan taxing on cars other than Japanese automobiles to make their car manufacturers grow was cool.

We are very grateful to the Nissan Z Car Club Queensland to come to our College and judging by the positive community response again this year, it is our hope that we continue to foster this relationship in future years.

Cheyne Sandercoe | Head of Languages Faculty