31 May 2019
Newsletter Articles
OUR MISSION, VISION AND VALUES
Our Mission
Pinnacle College strives to establish and maintain a safe and nurturing environment so that every student may reach their full potential and achieve a high level of academic excellence determined by state and federal standards.
Our Vision and Values
When you enter Pinnacle College you will be met with a friendly smile. Our level of pride is displayed by our teachers and staff. Apart from a high standard of education at our well-maintained campuses, we aim to develop responsibility in our students, alongside appreciating and valuing different cultures, possessing positive behaviour and a high ethical conscience. We also guide students to accept actions, widen their view of the world which in turn enables them to learn from the consequences of their choices. Studying in a diverse multicultural community, students have the opportunity to widen their view of the world, enabling them to help each other and be productive both now and in the future.
Principal’s Message
Dear Parents, Caregiver and Friends,
2019 began with students embracing the challenges of learning and we saw our new teachers embracing their roles as well as new parents learning the way of life here at Pinnacle College.
At Pinnacle College, we focus not only on providing the best academic outcome for every student but also teaching them resilience, respect and the importance of contribution to society.
Cooperation from parents, caregivers and school personnel is the key element for achievement.
Just a couple of suggestions for our valuable parents in order to reach this goal together;
It’s fine to have some failures and this is generally unavoidable but it develops resilience with the children and part of the learning process. In times, it will not be easy to see your child fails but you have to let it go and closely monitor the aftereffects so that you can give a little nudge where required.
Poor behaviour brings consequences and sheltering your child from the consequences does them no favour. On the contrary, it may open door for more serious consequences since the lesson is not learnt sufficiently.
Believe half of what your child says about us and we believe half of what they say about you in order to be safe in our communication and not to overreact in certain circumstances. A mutual respectful conversation is always the perfect starting point in solving the matters.
The assessments and assignments will be picking up through the upcoming weeks and those marks will form the backbone of the students’ reports. We strongly recommend to all caregivers to limit the child(ren)’s leisure programs in order to give them enough time for revisions before the exam days.
Ramadan has almost come to an end and next week we will be celebrating the completion of this holy month which brought us full of rewards. Therefore, I would like to also take this opportunity to congratulate everyone’s Eid’ul Fitr.
Regards,
Atilla Sinik
Elizabeth Campus
Important Notices
Library
There is always something new or different in the library.
Late last term we had the Book Fair at the Elizabeth East campus. Thanks to the fantastic support, the library has processed some lovely new books. There is a suggestion box in the library if you would like to suggest new books.
Starting from 20th May the Playford library will be bringing their mobile library to the Elizabeth Campus. This will be a fortnightly visit from 12:30-2:30 on Mondays. You will need a Playford council or OneCard library card. Here are a few other things you can do with your Playford/OneCard library card:
OneCard network
https://onecard.network/client/en_AU/sapubliclibraries
- Browse, search and borrow from over 4 million items from other SA Public Libraries
- Access free online resources
- Download free audiobooks and ebooks through our digital libraries including Premiers Reading Challenge books
- Access free online learning resources such as Lynda.com
Kind regards,
Lisa Preston
Librarian
Primary
Foundations
The beginning of this term has been very exciting for the Foundations class with two excursions in the last four weeks! The first excursion was a visit to the Adelaide Zoo where we learnt about the needs of an Australian lizard by studying his features. He had scales that felt spiky if you rubbed him the wrong way and had claws which meant he liked climbing. Students set up a habitat for the lizard by providing him with food, water, shelter, and something to entertain him.
Our second excursion was to the Golden Grove Campus for National Simultaneous Storytime where we read the story “Alpacas with Maracas”. Everyone enjoyed the story and working in groups to participate in different activities related to the book. The final part of the excursion was the best part with students meeting real alpacas!
Year 2
Term 2 began with the students hosting the very first assembly paying tribute to all the soldiers in an ANZAC Day remembrance. The class began with some information about ANZAC day and then students shared what they thought about in their minute silence. It was a wonderful tribute where students were able to pay respect to our country. Here is what some of the students wrote:
“In my 1 minute silence, I will think about all the soldiers who died in the war and fought for our country” - Melika
“I will think about the soldiers that showed courage and mateship towards each other” - Aaminah
On the 22nd of May, the Year 2 students were fortunate enough to head to Golden Grove for National Simultaneous Storytime with all the other classes from Foundation - Year 2. The students read the storybook was Alpacas with Maracas and then engaged in some fun activity time. The students were also surprised to a real alpaca arrive for the students to feed and pat and some other farm animals too! It was such a wonderful experience for all.
Year 1
We have had a very busy start to Term 2, with some exciting activities. Last Friday we took part in ‘Walk to School Day.’ Although we were unable to walk to school we all walked together to Fremont Park, spent some time playing and walked back to school.
On Wednesday 22nd May we joined all the children in Foundation to Year 2 from all three campuses, to take part in ‘National Simultaneous Story time.’ This year’s book was “Alpacas with Maracas’ written by Matt Cosgrove. We listened to the story together and them split into groups to take part in different art activities. There were a number of activities including plant pot decorating, paper plate alpacas, wool and peg alpacas, alpaca puppets and making maracas. After lunch we had the chance to stroke the rescue animals that visited including the alpaca. We had a great time making lots of new friends.
We are looking forward to our excursion later in the term to the Uleybury Museum, where we will be experiencing how schools were in the past and investigating old toys.
Music
This term the early years have been learning all about how music can tell a story and help us feel different emotions. We moved our bodies in a way that suited a piece of music that we listened to like, creeping around, being scared, or acting silly. Students also listened to the story “Wombat Stew” and created a soundscape using many different instruments to create sound effects and feelings to match the story. The Foundation class will be presenting their composition to the Primary classes during assembly in Week 6.
Physical Education
In PE, Junior Primary are looking at gymnastics. We have begun the term learning balances, traveling and jump tricks. Each year level works to their ability and we work through basic, intermediate and advanced skills. Some of the Travels include the pencil roll, forward roll, backward roll and cartwheel. Our Jumping Tricks include ¼ turn, 180 jump, toe touch and front straddle. Throughout the gymnastics unit the students are learning many skills. Students are compiling these skills to create a routine. Students must hold their balances for 3-5 seconds, make smooth transitions, stick those landings, be creative and most importantly, have fun!
Art
In Art, Junior Primary students are looking at Aboriginal Art. We have started the term looking at some artworks by Clifford Possum and Daisy Leura Nakamarra that have been based on traditional symbols. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art draws from a sophisticated system of connections between people and place. These complex relationships have been refined and adapted over thousands of years. The Year 2s have been connecting to a place by thinking about where they live. They then create a painting depicting their favourite things about this place. The Foundation class has explored symbolism and have explored symbols used today. Students have created their own story using these symbols.
Year 4
Dear Parents,
In Literacy this term we have spent the first 3 weeks focussing on procedure texts. The class thoroughly enjoyed making our Mother’s Day exploding gift boxes. It took a fair amount of persistence. We hope you enjoyed your special day!
In Science our topic is forces this term. We will be looking at push, pull, gravity, friction, buoyancy and magnetism. This topic lends itself to many hands on experiences. Students faces lit up when we made balloon rockets to explore forces.
This term, students can focus on 3, 6, 7 and 9 time tables. Please remind them to revise any way they learn best – writing them out, pretend test, saying them out loud etc.
Welcome to our new student Olla. We are so glad to have you with us! Sadly, goodbye to our frogs as they will be released into the wild when we go to Fremont Park.
Year 5
Through our class novel, Boy Overboard, and in-class activities, the Year 5 students are increasing their knowledge and developing their own perspective on the many viewpoints towards refugees. Students are continuing to look at the reasons for refugees leaving a country as well as the humanitarian aid provided by support countries. This will culminate in two assessments: a persuasive letter for our school to support refugees, and an information report presenting findings on this topic. While it is quite ‘heavy’, we are also taking a light-hearted approach to some of the activities. Recently, students learnt of the many challenges refugees must ‘juggle’: family, health, food, somewhere to sleep and income. Each of these 5 things were represented as balloons and students were tasked with juggling them for as long as possible; they learnt how hard it can really be, while also having a laugh with their classmates.
Secondary
Music
In Music this term the students are focussing on their creative expression when playing their pieces on keyboard. They need to choose one of the many sounds available on the keyboard to play a chosen song, while adding a backing beat which will change the overall sound and style of the song. iPads have also been introduced into lessons, with a composition task requiring students to create their own music for a rap song on a topic of their choice using the GarageBand app. Students continue to build on their knowledge and application of the theory of music, which helps in reading, writing and understanding music.
Humanities
This term both of the Year 9 classes took part in a whole day excursion to the Army Museum of South Australia. The excursion was related to our study about World War I. The exhilarating and interactive excursion helped us understand life for Australian Soldiers during the war. We learnt interesting facts such as, the geographical features of the Gallipoli campaign, the food the soldiers ate and communication systems such as the Morse code. The entertaining activities only added to the fun.
My most favourite activity was the treasure hunt, we took part in. We walked around the museum and found clues in the form of numbers and we used the numbers to find the answer. From this activity, not only did we learn interesting facts about the war, but we also got a chance to see all the fascinating displays.
Malaika Bashir
9G
Drama
In Drama this term the year 9s are looking at Small Screen Drama. We are exploring Melodrama and Soap Opera. Melodrama and Soap opera exaggerates emotion and emphasises plot or action at the expense of characterisation. This term is not just about performance but is also about production and design. Students are producing and editing their own short film by incorporating music, different shot types, angles, costumes and special effects. The students goal this term is to create a sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting events intended to appeal to the emotions.
Art
Year 7 students are exploring Indigenous Art and its take on contemporary style in Term 2. They have started learning about the context traditional communities utilised from art; noting the meaning behind symbols and how they function in Indigenous modes of representation. Year 8 students are studying early 20th century art movement of Cubism; its emergence as a reaction to the invention of photography and its intent on capturing the essence of a given moment. The works students delivered as of Week 4 have been promising. Year 9 students have been working on designing banners and badges for house groups Finnis, Torrens, Angus and Gilbert that will be used for Sports Day. The theme of Sesame Street made their work enjoyable and fun. The house groups will be nominating the winners in Week 6. Good luck!
English
During Term 2, the Year 9 students had a busy start preparing for NAPLAN. NAPLAN assesses important literacy skills such as inference, decoding and reasoning. While NAPLAN can often be a stressful experience for students, it reminds us of the importance of the aforementioned skills, and particularly how beneficial reading is our learning process.
The Year 9’s have also began studying the topic of Advertising. The have been analysing the impact of advertising and power of rhetoric in contemporary society through the use of various advertising techniques. The skills which they have learnt have been applied to creative tasks such as producing their own original product and planning a visual advertisement to promote their product.
Science
Students in Stage 2 Biology have been busy completing their second summative assessment for this year. Their task was to design an investigation to test the effect of a factor on the rate of respiration in an organism and to investigate the question, what makes an organism respire faster? They had to research and determine what type of organism could be used (consider safety, the ethics, ease of working with the organism) and what method of measurement would be used to test their hypothesis. They then used alginate balls which encased yeast to measure the rate of respiration. After the experiment was been completed they justified their conclusions based on the data obtained in their practical report. The students thought about the limitations of the experiment and considered ways of improving the outcome of their experiment.
Sporting Competitions
Touch Rugby
Several of the year 10’s attended the Open Touch Rugby Carnival at the beginning of week 3. The students played with enthusiasm and team spirit as they came up against some extremely talented senior students. Both the boys and girls’ teams played 4 matches throughout the day, which was an amazing effort considering most students were fasting. Congratulations to Hibba and Zehra who scored tries for the girls and Daniyal, Arhaan and Aydin who scored for the boys. The students learnt about game tactics and strategies in Touch Rugby and demonstrated excellent behaviour and respect to other schools and officials throughout the day. A truly inspiring day for all!
Open Girls Knockout Futsal
On Friday 17th May (Week 3), Open girls took part in the Knockout Futsal Competition held at the new St Clair Recreations Centre. The girls took on St George College, Ocean View College and Henley High School throughout the day. Over the course of the day, Zakia scored 3 goals, Mona Al-Daghestani scored 2 and Hibba and Zehra scored 1. Youngsters, Marzi and Subhinor tried hard all day, Mona Aly stopped countless goals as goalie and Zehra and Nazira defended well. They played their final against John Pirie and unfortunately lost 1-2. A great effort by all against some very talented and well trained opposition.
