Literacy Week (Secondary)

We had a wonderful time celebrating Literacy Week. Secondary students engaged in a number of activities and competitions which explored their creative side.

Several students submitted poetry and short stories based on the theme 'Reading is My Secret Power'.

Here is one of the winning poems by Anaya Kashif of Year 7:

‘Down Under’

Way in the outback,
Kangaroos, dingos, snakes, they have every breed
Many tussocks indeed
Made for wombats to lay low
Near where Blaze Cassias grow
Passing North of native Mulga trees,
And the vast dry seas
Of Australian sands
Trees, branches like hands,
Reaching out for the blue blanket that lays above the land,
And underneath, Oh so grand!
It’s started with a farm on the outback’s land,
It didn’t have all the breed,
But it provided with all you need,
A beautiful community helping the crops out,
And helping the animals find their route.
They all started this nation,
The reason for our jubilation,
They were the Aboriginals, the custodians of our lands
Who built and created our today with their hands,
We now thank them for all they have done,
For they’re the reason today was quite fun.

Also, a number of teachers and students participated in a fun ‘teachers versus students’ debate with all teams putting on a great performance for the audience.

Thank you to our students Rumaysa Salman (7A), Kisaa Haider (7C), Enas Atik (7C), Mahmud Kiyar (10A), Abdul Hadee Salfie (10A) and Mahad Kamran (10A), and our teachers and staff Ms Topal, Ms Mahmood, Ms Yavuzlar, Mr Yilmaz, Mr Rajab and Mr Camurtay.

Music

With the completion of the new main building, the former school’s office and sickbay have now been transformed into our new music room. As well as a main classroom, the music room also has two studios to give students the opportunity to practise individually or in a group. The music room has been stocked with many instruments and electronic equipment which are necessary for any music room, and there are is still more equipment on the way.

During recess and lunchtimes our students are able to visit the music room and play whatever they desire. We have many kinds of drums, guitars, keyboards, percussion instruments - and even ukuleles.

Year 2 and 3 music lessons have been mostly based on singing practice and practical classroom activities such as performing ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘Old McDonald’. I recently taught students the well-known song ‘Do Re Me’ and the students loved it.

Years 4, 5, and 6 classes have a little bit of theory in their lessons, but mostly the focus is on performance, like the other primary classes.

Years 8 and 9 students are now able read music sheets and play the music on keyboards. They have been rehearsing for their performance at the Secondary Awards Night coming up in November.