Recently, two Year 7 Wilderness teams competed at the South Australia/Northern Territory Ethics Olympiad. The team of Manha Abaid, Annika Ganesh, Saanvi Khanna, Sarah Mah and Akshaya Thiru received an Honourable Mention from the judges and the team of Mihika Kanhere, Bella Pasin, Alexandra Pringle, Addison Raeside and Seraphina Sun were the overall winners of the event and have been awarded the Gold Medal!

Our winning team will progress to the International Middle School Ethics Olympiad Final to be held online in February next year. The girls will be presented their medals at a Middle School Assembly early next year.

Thank you to Ms Alison Short for her work with the teams.

Middle School Drama

It has been a very busy end to the term for the Middle School Drama classes and there have been a number of performances for the community to enjoy. Thank you to Ms Jessica Foster, Ms Rebecca Williams, Mr Hal Bruce, Ms Candace Gwyther and Ms Stephanie Fisher.

The Year 8 Drama classes performed James and The Giant Peach by Roald Dahl for girls in the Lower Junior School.

The Year 9 Commedia dell'arte students performed their two original, student-devised plays The Bachelor Party and The Worst Wedding in Naples last week on Tuesday evening. The plays were incredibly physical and the girls were wonderfully witty and foolish. Both performances used traditional characters and it was wonderful to contrast the different interpretations of these century-old characters.

The Year 9 Physical Theatre students performed their devised interpretation of Fan Girls 2.0 in the Newman Theatre last Friday at lunch. The girls worked hard and were very proud of their work.

Year 7 Artemis

Year 7 girls have been busy up-cycling their wardrobe this term as a part of their Nifty Thrifty and Wise Artemis unit. Students explored the effects of fast fashion and clothing production on the environment and explored the various ethical dilemmas associated. Up-cycling means to take old, worn out or damaged clothing and transform it into something new. Some examples of their wonderful creations include pyjama pants transformed into a handbag and old bed sheets transformed into a dress.

Year 9 Mathematics

In Year 9 Mathematics classes, the girls have been learning about geometric reasoning to explain the similarity and congruence of triangles. This led to an exploration of conjectures, which are mathematical conclusions made without proof. The Year 9s looked for patterns connecting the relationships between faces, vertices and edges of various polyhedra. What better way to model these shapes than with spaghetti and marshmallows? Euler's Formula was proven, and the girls enjoyed their sweet treats, despite the sticky fingers!

Middle School Minimesters

This week, Middle School girls have been enjoying a variety of activities to keep them busy to the very last day of school.

The Year 7s have enjoyed a program called Connection to Community, Country and Culture. The girls have experienced sessions of storytelling, visual arts, making feather armbands and developing their own individual project based on their interests and passions.

The Year 8s have participated in an 18-hour Film Festival, collaborating in small groups to develop their ideas then act in, shoot and edit short films. The girls were able to watch their films in Hender Hall today as a group.

The Year 9s have had a storytelling focus in their Minimester entitled “The Moth”. The girls have listened to the stories of staff, created mandalas with Cathy Gray and developed their own stories. Today, the girls also enjoyed an afternoon of sports at the Park Lands.

Thank you to all the teachers who made the week possible, particularly Ms Jessica Foster, Mr Hal Bruce and Mr Mathew D’Aloisio.

Year 8 Chinese Excursion

Please enjoy this reflection written by Evelyn McArdle (Year 8) about last week's Chinese film excursion.

Our final unit for this year concluded in a movie, I Am What I Am (also known as Lion Boy and ‘雄獅少年’), about overcoming obstacles, self-discovery and newfound passion for lion dancing. To fully understand the depth and meaning behind the movie, we had to understand the power behind Lion and Dragon dance.

To broaden our understanding, we answered these six questions:

- When did it start?

- What is the meaning behind it?

- Why is it so loud?

- Why is lettuce so important?

- What is acrobatic lion dancing?

- Where can you go to see acrobatic lion dance in Adelaide?

While learning the history of dragon and lion dance was increasingly important in this unit, we needed experience. This is where the Dragon Challenge was involved. In teams, students were able to create their own dragon costumes. Paying close attention to details and meanings behind colours was crucial. The creative costumes and captivating dance routines were enough to engage and entertain the audience.

Both the history and experience tied in well while watching the movie; not only was the movie a captivating experience (that often tugged at the heartstrings), but it also framed the cultural value of lion dance, in particular.