Curriculum News

English Department

Year 7:
The Year 7s have been reading a selection of novels over the past few weeks in English. These novels include the survival-fiction classic, Hatchet, the darkly-comedic Boy Overboard, and an adventure novel, The Smuggler’s Curse, by local Western Australian author, Norman Jorgensen. We are currently looking towards a visit from Norman Jorgensen to discuss his work and the process of writing.

Year 8:
The Year 8 students have been looking at persuasive texts including posters and film versions of Public Service Announcements, or PSAs. Students are currently in the process of creating and submitting their own PSA for their assessment task, and we have seen a number of creative submissions with messages relating to the environment, health and safety. As students complete this assessment, they will progress to looking at the documentary War on Waste which aired its second season in 2023.

Year 9:
Year 9 students have engaged in the world of local journalism, collectively contributing to the creation of a miniature newspaper. Students have learnt about the importance of local reporting and have engaged with local newspapers including The Northam Advertiser and The Toodyay Herald. For their assessment, students have created their own news stories, opinion pieces, letters to the editor and classified advertisements.

Year 10:
Documentaries have been the focus of study for two of the three Year 10 English classes. Students have watched the modern documentary classic, Blackfish, which investigates the controversial practice of holding Orcas in captivity at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida. Students then applied their learning to the creation of their own documentary films.

The Year 10 Course B class has been engaging with sales and advertising including a pitch/presentation for an “impossible” product. Students are hard at work to sell such items as the left-handed hammer, the scentless perfume and the ‘pre-ripped’ sneakers.

Year 11:
The Year 11 ATAR students have watched the 2015 hybrid film The Big Short which offers a perspective on the 2007/8 housing crash in the United States from the perspective of outsiders who saw the crash coming and bet against, “shorted”, the housing market. Students have been investigating how the film uses its hybrid features and all-star cast to open the technicalities of the Wall Street and the housing market to a mainstream audience.

The Year 11 General students have just completed a novel study for the Australian novel 90 Packets of Instant Noodles by Deb Fitzpatrick which explores themes of crime and the consequences of decisions in a Western Australian setting.

Year 12:
Year 12 ATAR students are about to complete their final in-class assessment before preparing for their end-of-semester and ultimately their final examinations. We wish the students all the best as they prepare for this important part of their schooling.

Year 12 General students are also completing their final assessments for English before we farewell them into the ‘real’ world. Fittingly, students’ recent assessment involved an oral presentation on an Australian industry to deepen their knowledge of potential workplaces.

Daniel Matthys
Head of English & HASS

Science Department 

Year 7:
This term, the Year 7 science classes have been exploring space, the solar system and objects beyond the Earth. Students have been learning about the planets, asteroids, meteors, the sun and space exploration. As an assessment task, students have been creating and presenting PowerPoints about one aspect of our solar system. This task has given them an opportunity to deepen their understanding of the material taught, their digital skills and presentation ability. Most students did well on this task and worked through the nerves.

Year 9:
In recent weeks, our Year 9 students have been exploring the field of ecology, delving into the study of interactions between organisms and their environments. The students have examined key concepts such as ecosystems, food chains, energy flow and the balance of natural habitats. Through experiments, discussions and observations, students have gained a deeper understanding of how plant life depends on healthy soil and their surroundings, as well as the impact from human activities.

Year 10:
Our Year 10 students have been examining biological systems, with an emphasis on inheritance. Students have looked at the processes that pass information from parents to offspring through genetics and used statistical tools to predict the appearance of offspring for specific traits. The students have conducted a range of investigations, including extracting DNA from fruit and examining bacteria growth sampled from various locations, including door handles, keyboards and taps. Let’s just say, the students now see how important it is to wash your hands after touching shared surfaces, as it does not take much at all to get some very extensive bacteria growth in a very short space of time.

Year 11:
The Year 11 Physics class has been delving into all things forces and motion this term. This has included applying Newton’s laws of motion in various motion experiments, taking data on the length of a ramp, angle of the ramp and using tools like a ticker tape timer to extract theoretical answers about velocity and acceleration. The students used this knowledge to examine the Physics behind vehicle safety systems and then tested their own versions of crash barriers, crumple zones and airbags to examine the forces involved in collisions. The students are now moving into their final components linking concepts such as momentum and energy transformation, before applying these in a research task to be conducted at Adventure World.

In Year 11 Human Biology, the students have been studying the process of reproduction, focusing on how living organisms produce offspring to ensure the survival of their species. They have explored the theories behind the different modes of reproduction, including sexual and asexual reproduction, and learned about the reproductive systems of both plants and animals.

Through discussions, diagrams, and interactive activities, students have gained a clearer understanding of concepts like fertilization, genetic inheritance, and the stages of development from conception to birth.

Year 12:
Our Year 12 Physics students are completing the year’s work by looking at fundamental particles and their interactions, getting their heads around Quarks, Leptons, Fermions and the various Hadron interactions that assist in identifying where sub-atomic particles come from, which means where matter that makes everything up comes from. This is happening after our student’s minds were blown by an immersion into the realm of Special Relativity and the various thought experiments that made the name Einstein an everyday name.

The Year 12 Chemistry students have had a rewarding time. Recently, they have had something to smile about with their exceptional experimental results. In a recent experiment, the students investigated which solvent would be the best in removing stains from a fabric. The results complimented the theory very nicely.

In Year 12 Human Biology, students have been engaged in the study of evolution, with a particular focus on the evolutionary history of hominids. They have explored how early human ancestors evolved over millions of years, examining key fossil discoveries and the anatomical changes that occurred, such as the development of bipedalism, increased brain size, and the use of tools. Through analysing evidence from genetics, palaeontology and anthropology, students have gained insights into the processes of natural selection and adaptation that have shaped the lineage leading to modern humans.

From all our science staff, we would like to congratulate our final practicum teacher, Marcel Biggar, who has proved throughout his term with us in our Learning Area, to be a most valuable and fresh addition to our team. We wish you all the best for your ongoing career as a science teacher.

Mark Bundock, Jada Yengkopiong, Steve Rigney, Andrew Ellis, Cam Greenley, Gerhard Vogel, Amy Bennett, Nita Budas and Mark Gargano
Science Learning Area staff

CO2 Dragster Competition

This year, the DATTA WA State CO2 Dragster Competition was hosted by Prendiville Catholic College on Friday 30 August.

St Joseph’s School Northam entered 15 Cars in 2 categories.

The results were as follows:

The top 6 dragsters from each division will now be sent to Queensland to partake in the National CO2 Dragster Competition – hosted by Ripley Valley State Secondary College on 4 October.

Out of a possible 100 points in Division A, 1st Place received 88.4, 2nd Place received 86.0, and 3rd place received 78.0.

Sam Vincent’s car actually won the racing component of the day winning 6 races in a knockout competition. He was narrowly beaten into second place overall by a car that had more points for Construction and Design.

Taj Coombs’ car recorded a faster time on the day (1.108 seconds vs 1.143 seconds for Sam’s) but was knocked out in one of the heats.

Jeremy Parker’s car raced in a division that only took times into consideration. His car recorded a time of 1.056 seconds with the second place recording a time of 1.456 seconds.

Well Done, boys! They did the school proud and were well behaved and great ambassadors for our school.

Thanks to Nita Budas for driving us down and back.

Steve Rigney
Teacher

Catering - Year 11 Food Science and Technology

On Monday 2 September, the Year 11 Food Science and Technology Students catered for the Primary Sports Carnival.

This opportunity to show their cooking skills was welcomed by the students enthusiastically. They cooked sausage rolls, chicken pesto pies and ham and cheese quiches (Gluten Free options were also made available) for the carnival and then went to the Primary Campus to sell their product at Recess.

The students enjoyed seeing the process of cooking and selling, and the opportunity to experience what it feels like to have feedback from customers.

Kathy Pollard
Teacher

Sporting News

ACC Athletics

On Friday 30 October, a large number of Year 7-12 students travelled to Floreat to compete in the ACC Athletics H Division Carnival.

Students and staff arrived at school before the sun to travel to the WA Stadium to compete against 7 other ACC schools.

The day started strong and St Joseph’s held second position for most of the day. Many individual students showed outstanding performances and were very entertaining to watch on the Live Stream.

St Joesph’s had some amazing overall success:

Overall Team score 4th
Junior Girls 4th
Junior Boys 2nd
Senior Girls 4th
Senior boys 7th
Overall female 4th
Overall male 6th

And the following individuals were recognised for their personal success:

William James - FIRST place in the U13 male age group
Parker Byfield - FIRST place in the U14 male age group
Marley Ferguson - 2nd place in the U14 female age group
Henna Garnett - 3rd place in the U14 female age group
Lily Parker - 3rd place in the U19 female age group
Cara Woodgate - Equal 4th place in the U13 female age group
Denae Wallace - Equal 4th place in the U19 female age group
Jeremy Parker - 5th place in the U15 male age group

Congratulations to all students involved and thank you to Cameron Greenley, Michelle O’Driscoll and Amy Bennett for taking our team to Perth for another successful carnival.

Adrienne Suckling
Head of Health & Physical Education

News from the VET Office 

Congratulations to Jaxon Wallace on the completion of 55 hours of Workplace Learning with KR Construction. 

While on work placement, Jaxon learned about workplace safety, working as part of a construction team and how to read and interpret plans and specifications. Jaxon also carried out measurements and calculations, planned and organised his work and operated a range of hand tools and equipment. 

Jaxon plans to enrol in a trade certificate in Year 11 and 12 with the hope of gaining an apprenticeship.

Congratulations to Cody Taylor for his successful completion of 55 hours of Workplace Learning with DCM Construction. 

Cody’s placement provided him with a taste of what it's like to be a carpenter and construction worker and put the foundations in place for his future. Among many other jobs, Cody completed two separate fencing jobs using Colourbond fencing sheets and tech screws. Cody learned how to use a string line to ensure his work was perfect as well as fencing hand tools to shape the sheets for fixing.

Cody has decided his next workplacement will be in the plumbing industry.

Caroline Marriott
VET Coordinator