ASPIRE

Welcome to Term 4! It has been a busy start to the Term in the Aspire program with our 2023 Testing Day taking place on Saturday 8th October. Grade 6 students from 12 local primary schools attended our 3-hour session – comprised of a Music Aptitude test, Literacy and Numeracy Examination and a Design Sprint Challenge. 

During the Design Sprint, the students were placed in groups and given the challenge of creating an enrichment toy for an animal at the zoo. They needed to work together to research their animal, focussing on how it behaves, uses its senses and moves it body. They then brainstormed 100 ideas in 10 minutes and were given the difficult task of narrowing the list to just one idea. The groups then worked collaboratively to design and produce a prototype of their enrichment toy. This task required students to use their communication skills, creativity, resilience and problem-solving skills. 

Letters of offer for our 2023 Year 7 Aspire class will be distributed in Week 4 and I look forward to welcoming the class next year. 

Our current Year 7 class is off to Yarra Ranges Tech School on Thursday 27th October to participate in the program, An Introduction to Design Thinking. I look forward to reporting on this in the next Newsletter. 

Kara Salmon 

Aspire Program Coordinator