My high school life

It’s true, time flies. I can’t believe that Year 8 is just around the corner! Like any other term in Year 7, Term 3 is fully packed with lots of work and activities. Since it’s the middle term, some exciting things have happened including a visit to the art gallery and parent-teacher interviews!

We visited the Art Gallery of NSW, as part of our art excursion this term. I should have been really excited, right? But perhaps it was what I overheard others saying and I instantly assumed it would be boring, but wow! I have really got to stop assuming! We saw many different types of artworks, including sculptures. My favourite sculpture had to be the one in the Yiribana collection. It was a washing line with fibre-glass fruit bats hanging off it. It was really cool and fun to think about what the artist was trying to say to us. When it was time to go, I realised that the trip was amazing and way more interesting than any other ordinary art gallery. I’m realising that in high school excursions, we are allowed to walk around alone in small groups, unlike primary school excursions. I quite like it and the fact that I have many ways to express my opinion. On this occasion, it was through an analysis of the fruit bat sculpture using a method known as ‘conceptual framework of art’.

‘Parent teacher interviews’.  Just the sound of it made me cringe. Anyways, they took place in Week 3. Because everyone has more than one teacher, this parent teacher interview was very different to the primary school ones. We were in a big room with lots of mini desks for each of Year 7 teachers. Each student was given a timetable of when to meet which teacher. Everything worked just like clockwork and I was amazed by the organisation. They even provided cookies and chocolate! That was definitely the best part! After listening to all the teachers’ comments I quietly made a resolution to improve on my weaknesses. Thinking about it now, it actually wasn’t all that bad. Some teachers did remark how I had finally got the hang of using assignment templates and appreciated my efforts.

In Term One, I had signed up for Badminton as my sport. This term I’ll be playing volleyball! I’ve never played volleyball before and I’m very excited to try it out. Although I’m excited, I’m not expecting to ace it so soon, but hey, who knows! I do know some things about volleyball – like you have to make sure the ball bounces off your two hands that are together. I also know that it is an outdoor sport and it is a generic beach sport. Can’t wait to get the volleyball balls out!
Term 3 has been quite a rocky ride with challenging times balancing work and other extra-curricular commitments. Next thing, I’m really looking forward to the spring break.
Nerd word
This month’s Nerd Word is Archibald. Yes, it comes from the excursion to the Art Gallery!
Archibald is a person’s name, not a word as such. J.F Archibald was the editor of The Bulletin, and a major competition is named after him. The Archibald Prize is the first major prize in Australian portraiture. The first prize ever given was way back in 1921 and since then the award has been given out annually. This year, artist Mitch Cairns won it for his portrait of fellow artist Agatha Gothe-Snape.