Term 1: Update 3

Learning Conversations in Term 2

On Tuesday and Thursday evenings of Week 2 next term, ABHS students will lead their Learning Conversations with parents and Connect teachers.

The ABHS Charter outlines the importance of students to take ownership for their learning. The Learning Conversations give students in Years 7-12, with the support of their Connect teachers, a space and a time to demonstrate responsibility, confidence, and the conversation skills to share with parents and Connect teachers about their progress this year in their learning, goal setting and in understanding themselves through the Career Action Plan.

At Adelaide Botanic High School, a culture of ‘no surprises’ has been cultivated to allow for parents, students and staff to know where a student is at with their learning at any time. Communication with families is key and any concerns around assessment, such as a checkpoint not being met, or an agreed timeline passing without students providing evidence of learning, are communicated via Daymap.

ABHS staff publish both progress and achievement grades on Daymap continuously throughout each semester. If there are questions about a student’s achievement in a specific Learning Area please contact that teacher via Daymap.

At the beginning of Term 2 there will be extra information provided about the structure of the Learning Conversations and how to book in with Connect teachers. Bookings will be available through Daymap and Learning Conversations will be conducted online via Microsoft Teams.

The reporting timeline for Term 2 is:

Justin Kentish
Assistant Principal

Year 11 Psychology of Self and Others

As part of the Year 11 Psychology of Self and Others class, students visited the University of Adelaide Childcare Centre on 27 March.

Students ran activities with children from the childcare centre which related to the developmental theories learnt in Lifespan Psychology, ranging from Piaget’s cognitive development theory, Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory, and Erikson’s psychosocial theory.

Each group designed activities, in the form of playing games, to observe the developmental phases that kindergarten-aged children experience and to test that their proposed hypotheses aligned with the aforementioned theories. Each activity had a standardised procedure and students considered the ethical impacts of their work with the children.

Although this experience is a requirement for the students’ Deconstruct and Design investigation task, students were grateful for the opportunity to put theory into practice to further solidify their understanding of Lifespan Psychology within a real-life context!

Tania Zebian
Global Perspectives Teacher

Student reflections on this experience:

The visit to the childcare consisted of many background responsibilities to successfully complete our Deconstruct and Design investigation. We had to ensure that the children will be engaged in the activity and that they all have an opportunity to participate. My class and I have been learning about different psychological theories in Lifespan Psychology, so it became an eye-opener to experiment with Vygotsky’s theory on the children. It was entertaining to have the opportunity to test a well-known theory in a real-life situation! – Rose S

The visit to the University of Adelaide Childcare Centre was an enjoyable experience to get the opportunity to leave the classroom and put the theories we had been taught into practice. My group’s experiment furthered our understanding of Piaget’s cognitive theory, more specifically the preoperational stage of the theory where children’s minds are still quite egocentric. For students looking to do Psychology of Self and Others in Year 11, make sure your experiments are engaging and simple enough for the children to understand! – Tom C

Year 9 French

As part of Year 9 French, students visited Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas on 31 March and participated in the 2023 Alliance Française French Film Festival. Students attended a private screening of Tempête, which highlighted the cost of ambition, and the importance of family support and following your dreams. Prior to the film, Alliance Française provided a booklet with French activities that correspond with the film, which assisted students with French listening and reading comprehension skills.

Matilde Wiese, Alison-Jane Hunter and Tania Zebian
Year 9 French Team (Global Perspectives)

The following is a summary of what one French student thought of the film:

“Tempête was fantastique! It not only had the representation of persistence but also taught us some new vocabulary in French and developed our knowledge of these words and how you could include them in a sentence. Although there was some advanced vocab there was also a lot of words that were easily understandable beyond the sentences in the movie. I did learn some new vocab including the words, ‘Paralympique’ (Paralympic) and ‘Hippique’ (Equestrian).” – Nicole W

Notices