High School
Class 7 Play- Tales of the Arabian Nights
Michelle Guffie
Class 7W Teacher
Class 11 Botany Main Lesson
The Class 11’s have just completed their Botany Main Lesson. This builds upon the observational Botany Main Lesson which they completed in Class 5, bringing back their botanical drawing skills. Their Class 9 Transformation by Plants Main Lesson where they learnt about photosynthesis, and their Class 10 Reproduction Main Lesson where they look more closely at the structure of flowers and fruit.
This is the first stage of their botanical exploration where they look at plants under a microscope - journeying into the unseen and exploring the tiny structures and processes which lead to the macroscopic plants we live amongst.
At this stage of their development, it is appropriate for students to develop their scientific method as they come up with a hypothesis for how plants grow and test this using radish seeds which germinate in under one week. For example, 'do plants grow better when given espresso?'. They then write a report on the outcome of their experiment.
They build a picture of increasing complexity, going from single-celled algae to moss to lichen to ferns before diving into the kingdom of flowering plants. They looked at the less explored aspects of flowering plants such as different types of 'weeds', how trees actually grow (not how you would assume), and why leaves come in such diverse shapes, sizes and textures.
Students then enjoyed a day at Kaarta Koomba where they got to explore types of plant adaptations and how native people used the plants, such as Marri sap as an antiseptic.
Class 12 Innocence to Experience: Farewell to My School Journey
In their final term of English in Class 12 General, students revisit and remember their entire school journey. The last element of this is to craft a "Farewell" that they share with their classmates and myself in our final Wednesday afternoon double lesson. That was last week, and a number of poignant and beautiful memories and experiences were shared.
Laura Moisa wrote a mini personal essay, sharing the wisdom she has gained and the experiences of highs and lows as learning activities. Edwin Uhlenberg wrote a piece of music, which is a first for me in this space, even though we have so many talented musicians here at school.
Each year we farewell our Class 12 students to continue their journey out in the big wide world, and each of them is memorable and special.
Class 12 Projects
Edwin Uhlenberg
My name is Edwin, and for my Project this year I began with the idea of composing a symphony as my Practical. To do this, I initially planned on using a mix of technology and traditional methods, but the more I looked into it, the more I realised I didn’t want to go that way—I’m not a big fan of software composition.
Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. When I was very young, I started piano lessons, then quit. A few years ago, though, I picked them up again almost by chance. This time, everything clicked. I started learning Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and soon found myself spending hours at the piano nearly every day. I practiced without any real theory, often switching the genre of a piece just to experiment. That’s when I discovered my love for composition. I began writing pieces for musicals my friends were creating, music for games they were coding, and, most importantly, music for myself—composing as a way to express my emotions.
My Project idea developed late last year. At first, I wanted to focus on where musical inspiration comes from, but there wasn’t enough academic research available for me to build a proper report on that topic.
Instead, I shifted my focus to exploring the most effective traditional and modern processes and techniques in composition. While parts of this research were a little dry, it gave me a much deeper understanding.
After a long period of confusion about what I should dedicate the year to, and many conversations with others, I finally arrived at my central question:
“Has technology corrupted the evolution of music composition?”
I chose this because I genuinely feel that technology now plays the biggest role in composition. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is debatable. While software can still be a valid tool, the technology I’m most concerned with is AI composition. With it, all you need to do is type in a prompt, pick a genre, and instantly a song is created by AI.
For my Practical, I’ll be composing three movements in symphonic orchestral style. Each movement will demonstrate one of the techniques I’ve written about in my report:
- The first movement, “By Ear,” will be a piano piece recorded as raw audio.
- The second movement will be composed with software, incorporating orchestral elements.
- The third movement will also be software-based but will lean more toward contemporary styles, while still grounded in orchestral texture.
I will not be using AI composition in my work because it feels messy, uncoordinated, and not something I want in my symphony.
If all goes well, I’m hoping to upload my compositions to Spotify, so with a bit of luck, you’ll be able to listen to them there in a few months.
Jack Catton - Class 12 Practical
