Enrichment in the Junior School

Summer Term and Autumn Term have been an unusual period for our Junior School boys as the normal inter-school, regional and national competitions and initiatives were sadly cancelled due to COVID-19. However, we have continued to offer intra-school opportunities and external events are gradually resurfacing as restrictions are relaxed.

Speaker’s Challenge

Within the Junior School, we celebrated our first gathering in MacKellar Hall to hear the eight finalists in our Speaker’s Challenge event. The standard was exceptional and the boys both entertained and informed us with several cleverly crafted speeches that were confidently and eloquently delivered. Congratulations to our top three speakers, Angus McIntosh, Charlie Burton and Eugene Cha.

Tournament of Minds

Along with the Middle School, Scotch College has entered the Tournament of Minds competition once again. While this year’s challenge has been abbreviated and modified in order to satisfy social distancing regulations, we are nonetheless very excited to be a part of this event. This year there will only be one Super Challenge which will be filmed and submitted online, rather than the usual live competition day at ECU Joondalup. The boys will train throughout Autumn and Winter Term, giving up weekends and evenings, to prepare their submission. As a facilitator, the teacher’s role is one of supervision, as this challenge adheres to a strict policy that requires that the children have to do everything for themselves. Together our team is learning how to cooperate, innovate, design, evaluate and think critically, in order to produce a group video presentation that showcases their collaboration and work. Miss Cirillo and I are excited to watch our team develop and grow into a cohesive, creative unit. Well done to Billy Black, Charlie Burton, Angus McIntosh, Eryn Richards, James Ackerman, Ben Bloch and William Keenan for their efforts to date and we look forward to their final submission in September.

Lego League Club

Our First Lego League Club is midway through their preparations for this exciting event and their constantly evolving model encompasses coding, creativity and design for this technical challenge. Such is the popularity of this initiative that many of our previous contestants, now in Year 6, were so keen to be involved that two teams have now entered. Ms Louden and Mr Wells are overseeing this hub of innovation as the boys prepare for their finals in November of this year. Good luck to all competitors.

ICAS & AMS

Meanwhile, many of our Junior School boys will be registering for the upcoming International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) and AMS papers, sitting test papers in Science, Mathematics, Writing and English. Please make sure to refer to the Head of Junior School Notices for all of the relevant dates should your son be interested in registering.

The College continues to be a stimulating place for our students; the cross-campus connections, the wide range of co-curricular opportunities and competitions; in addition to the skillful differentiated learning that occurs daily within each class, all add up to a programme of enrichment that crosses all domains and caters for all learning styles. The Junior School is continually developing in the area of enrichment and it is certainly an exciting time to be involved in such a growth sector.

Mrs Alison Webster
Junior School Enrichment Coordinator