Here you will find information about successful activities performed in the class room.
* Student Activities
* Transition
Music students from the 6 cluster schools joined together to form a Cluster band to perform at the Launch of the Cluster Project on April 8, 2003. They were rehearsed and conducted by Ms Wendy Howes, of Doncaster Secondary College. We hope to make the cluster band a feature of Cluster events.
Contact:
Alison Gaffney
Cluster Educator
E-mail: gaf@doncastersc.vic.edu.au
(This was an activity developed by the Cluster Numeracy team.)
The development of innovative and engaging Maths activities is a high priority for the Doncaster Innovation and Excellence Cluster. The Doncaster Secondary College Maths KLA recently hosted 10 teams of Grades 5 and 6 students from the Doncaster Cluster Primary Schools (Birralee PS, Doncaster PS, Doncaster Gardens PS, Serpell PS, Templestowe PS), who engaged in a series of Strategic Maths Games. Grouped in school-based teams of four, or in pairs, the young mathematicians worked through a number of activities where they were required to think quickly and critically, make educated decisions and anticipate the moves of their opponents. The concentration and focus of the team players was reflected in the high level of accuracy and the closeness of the final outcomes. The students should be congratulated for their skills and the fact that they kept up such a high degree of concentration for over an hour. The teachers who set up the event were ably assisted by Year 7 students from Doncaster Secondary College who acted as markers and recorders. This was a challenging but very enjoyable experience for all the participants.
The Maths Games are part of a number of cluster-based Numeracy activities for the Doncaster Cluster. The Middle Years Numeracy team from the cluster schools has jointly developed units of work incorporating thinking skills and are currently team teaching in their primary and secondary classrooms. As they report back to the team on their reciprocal visits, recommendations will be developed to further extend common approaches to the teaching of Maths in the primary and secondary Middle Years classrooms.
Contact:
Christine Vakalis
vak@doncastersc.vic.edu.au
Doncaster Secondary College
98484677
On Friday October 24, a debating team from each of the six schools in the Doncaster Cluster attended the Doncaster Secondary College Presentation Centre to participate in the 2003 Cluster Debate. The Grade 6 and Year 7 teams had previously attended a training session at Doncaster SC where Year 8 students performed a short mock debate. By using the speeches that the Year 8s had prepared as models, the young debaters were taught about many of the challenging and complex protocols and ideas that go into the development of a good debate. Year 9 students acted as adjudicators and performed the role of chairperson with great distinction.
The schools were paired up and given their topics:
Doncaster SC and Doncaster Gardens PS debated – “That boys and girls should be educated separately.”
Doncaster PS and Birralee PS debated – “That school uniform is a good idea.”
Serpell PS and Templestowe PS debated – “That McDonalds should be allowed to operate form school canteens.”
The quality of the debates was outstanding with the teams overall being superbly coached. They gave polished performances with excellent displays of debating technique and argument development. The cluster is talking about ways in which we can capitalize on the experience they have gained, because these young students have the capacity to take their debating skills to the highest level.
Contact:
Alison Gaffney
gaf@doncastersc.vic.edu.au
Our class, 7B of Doncaster Secondary College, went over to Serpell Primary School for a debate against the Year 6’s. The debate was about human cloning and if we should or shouldn’t clone people. The 7B team consisted of Amy , Jorja, Erin and their assistant Maz . The Serpell team consisted of Brendan, Effie and Jessie. Each person had 2 minutes to speak. It was a very interesting debate. When the debate finished, the Serpell students had some genetics workshops for the students to do. You could make your own clone of a mouse on the computer, look at blood cells using a microscope and other fun things.
By Troy, Michael and Phillip. Doncaster Secondary College.
Contact:
Mary Azer: azer.mary.l@edumail.vic.gov.au
bui@doncastersc.vic.edu.au
The Transition Coordinator from Doncaster SC is liaising with the Cluster Project Development Team to ensure the Transition and Orientation programs meet the needs of the students, the parents and the cluster Primary Schools.
Programs include:
A Chatline which is open to the incoming Grade 6 students and Doncaster Year 7 students for an exchange of information about the transition to the secondary college.
Visits by ex-students to the the Grade 6 classrooms to answer questions and provide information.
Visits by the DSC Transition Coordinator to the Grade 6 teachers to share relevant information about the incoming students.
Sharing of the TORCH tests and other Literacy and Numeracy benchmarking tests
Moderation of student work to establish common CSF judgments between the cluster schools
Visits by Grade 6 students from the cluster schools to Doncaster SC.
Contact:
Wendy Gendre
Transition Coordinator, Doncaster SC
E-mail: gen@doncastersc.vic.edu.au