Returning to a ‘new normal’

What a year it has been. Library lessons online during lockdown, a ‘temperature station’ in the IRC and finally opening to classes but without browsing for another week or two. Students have not been without books though. An extensive online collection was available as well as a ‘click and collect’ system working automatically from the online catalogue with a ‘surprise pack’ being available for the youngest students.

From this week classes are finally back in the IRC (not just online or in their classrooms) and Ernest is in full swing – advertising the need to sanitise upon entry.

Launch of Mrs T’s Kooky Pants

One of our Primary teachers, Jennifer Reid, recently had her first children’s book published. A number of teachers from Broughton and some of her students attended the launch at The Children’s Bookshop at Beecroft.
Drawing on her own experiences, Jennifer wrote the book for children to help explain about cancer in a way that they can understand.

Marc McBride visits Broughton’s Year 11 Art Class

Broughton’s Year 11 Art Class entered a competition and was awarded with a visit from Marc McBride, illustrator of the Deltora Quest series of books.

The art teacher invited me to bring some interested Primary students after the class to meet him –  so I took some very excited Year 5 Deltora Quest fans to have their books signed. He ‘made their day’ by creating a dragon especially for them and to their colour specifications. This will be framed and hung in the IRC. We also watched him give personal tips on air brushing techniques to our senior art students who showed great talent. More photos and clips can be seen in the ‘Events‘ tab above.

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Author DC Green visits Broughton for Book Week

DC Green both entertained and enthused our K – Year 6 students on Tuesday when he spoke about his books and gave them tips for writing engaging stories. The students attended in three sessions and each group was equally enthralled with his presentation.

Some classes had read his books and prepared drawings and had completed some related writing activities that were on display in the IRC. DC Green was very excited to see these and gave out some signed posters for budding authors.

The IRC will be awarding book prizes for the three students in each class who have most improved their writing during the next next few weeks after using some of the tips offered by DC Green.
The displays and more images of DC Green will be available shortly in the ‘Events’ section of this blog
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Library Lover’s day @ BACIRC

It has become a tradition in our library for all of Year 9, on February 14 each year, to take part in ‘Speed Dating’.  Books are pre-selected from all genres with appropriate but varying levels of reading.

Senior students observing the ‘set-up’ this morning could be heard reminiscing about their own experiences doing this three years ago. Clearly it was memorable and favourable!

Statistics are kept from the ‘rating’ sheets to make a display of most popular ‘dates’ and many students come back for second dates.

Library’s Lovers day!!

By Hayley B (Year 9 student)

Today was Library’s Lover’s Day 9. Our English class made their way down to the IRC where we stood behind a table, which was very prettily decorated, and which made us feel as if we were in a restaurant with our date sitting there staring at us. On the table next to our ‘date’ we had a cute red heart chocolate. Everyone was nervous for their first date, sitting down and opening to the first page and getting to know all about their date. After four minutes everyone rated their date and moved on to a new date and did the same thing all over again.

I think being at Library Lovers Day today was a great experience for everyone to perhaps find the right book for them, one which suits them best or maybe not even finding the right date at all but reading a variety of books.

 

 

Christmas Celebration K-12 style

The steps of the IRC formed the stage for our annual Christmas celebration for the whole school community. Senior High School students took part in the nativity play whist choirs and an orchestra of both Junior (P-6) and Senior (7-12) schools students sang and played to accompany community carol singing.

We took full advantage of our country setting and celebrated the real reason for the season!

Book Week and National Literacy Day at Broughton

Yesterday we held a combined Book Week and National Literacy Day event for the Junior School (Years Prep-6). The day began with The Great Parade of Champions reflecting the theme for Book Week “Champions Read”. This was held in the Sports Centre – appropriately decorated with an Olympic theme. Parents and Grandparents then stayed to read their favourite children’s books to students in the classrooms.
The classes were all rostered in Stage Groups to come to the IRC throughout the day to have a book talk and a story and activity from one of this year’s CBCA Short Listed Books. The books were read and discussed using our new Interactive Whiteboard with web camera attachment.

For the Senior School (Years 7-12) we launched our eBook collection (Wheelers Books) with an invitation to log in on their devices and become Champion Readers!




More photos of Book Week activities and displays here

Olympic Games – an animated history

The online edition of the Guardian for 25 July has an animated history of the Olympic Games – so many years rolled into a 2:43 clip!
The IRC was very crowded before school today and cheers rang out for every basket as students watched the live basketball match between Australia and the United States. Unfortunately the bell rang just into the second half and students had to go to class! I am sure they will be back at lunch time to see the replays.



What’s worth more than gold?: A Christian perspective

We are all watching with interest and enthusiasm as our teams compete in London. The IRC is showing the Olympic Games via Foxtel every day before school and at lunch.

The link below is to an article written by Jim Dayhew – who was a teacher at Broughton five years ago.It is on the site Fervr that holds daily articles, reviews and videos for Christian teens. In this article Jim discusses the motivation to win at all costs and the race we all need to consider above all else.

As we celebrate the games and the striving for gold medals, let’s remember that while the Olympic games are a great human pursuit, there is something worth more than gold. Faith through Jesus is what is most important. The Apostle Paul reminds us of this when he writes:

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. (1 Corinthians 9:25)

Shakespeare Day at Broughton – National Year of Reading

The English Department organised a Shakespeare Day for all Secondary Students yesterday. Every High School English class studied a work of Shakespeare last term.

Students and all the teachers took part  in activities set up for each year group in different areas of the school. Within each group, performances of the play they had studied took place followed by rotating activities based on the play for that group.

Of course the final activity was a feast of gigantic proportions! Most students and teachers ‘dressed up’ for the occasion and here are two of our PDHPE staff dressed as Romeo and Juliet!

Benefits of K-12 Libraries! National Simultaneous Storytime

Yesterday we celebrated reading and picture books by taking part in the National Simultaneous Storytime event. Right across Australia, in schools and public libraries, children gathered to read The very cranky bear by Nick Bland at 11:00AM.
Three Kindergarten classes came to the IRC where they were enthralled to see and hear the story unfold through the use of the iPad App “The very cranky bear” which was screened on the Smart Board.

A group of Year 10 students then performed a Reader’s Theatre production of the book

…after which the children heard the story again – taking the part of the bear. Roars of sixty very “cranky bears” filled the IRC followed by the appearance of Happy Bear masks at the end of the story.

Not many of the thirty Senior Year 12 students “studying” in the IRC did much work that period – they also chose to enjoy the experience!