High School Textiles

Cl10 Craft - Dressmaking

Students learn the ins & outs of sewing machines, how to read dressmaking patterns and how to make a pair of simple pants.

11/12 Textiles Elective - Semester 1

Students design their own unique projects, inspired by the research of different techniques &/or materials.   Whether upcycling or creating pieces from scratch, students discover new possibilities to play with and build their own personal repertoire of skills as they create.

Class 12 Colour and Light Main Lesson

The Winter Festival is a time of celebration where we reflect on our relationship with light across the changing seasons. For the Class Twelve students it also holds special significance as they have the responsibility of bestowing the gift of light to the Class Seven students and from there, the entire school community.

In the three weeks leading up to this event, the Class Twelve students encountered the Colour and Light Physics Main lesson, exploring both the lawful nature of light and the deep emotional responses it can evoke in humans through colour. After completing blacking out their classrooms to ensure the best environment for their experiments, the class examined light and colour from the perspectives of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Sir Isaac Newton. Both great minds investigated the phenomenon of light, each bringing their unique understanding of the natural world.

By replicating Goethe’s method of immersion and several of the experiments he conducted, students gained an appreciation for the impact that light and each of the colours has on humans. They made observations of light at sunrise and sunset and explored human temperaments and the use of colours in advertising.  This all contrasted with the Newtonian experiments, using light boxes with mirrors and prisms to formulate the lawful and mathematical rules of reflection, refraction, chromatic dispersion and lenses. Finally, they reflected on the emotional impact of studying light and colour from each of the Newtonian and Goethean perspectives and considered how each view helped to shape their personal connection to these phenomena.

Their Main Lesson culminated with the creation of their final Winter Festival lantern, designed to both honour their Steiner school journey and showcase their understanding of light and colour. Class Twelve could be seen joyfully carrying their lanterns on their final spiral walk, before exchanging them for the spectacular fire sticks that they passed onto Class Seven.

Brett Kranz-Kittle
Kelly Kranz-Little

Class 11/12 Elective Drama: Sherwood – The Adventures of Robin Hood

Students have been working hard to prepare for our production of Sherwood – The Adventures of Robin Hood. During the last three days of the holidays, the cast were busy building and painting the set, creating props, making costume elements such as medieval “chaperon” hats and Norman helmets, as well as rehearsing.

There are two casts for this production, with students having a major role in one cast and several minor roles in the other. Sophie Milne has created two posters for this production which can be seen up around school. Spot the difference! Each poster represents the students with main roles in cast one or cast two and the likenesses are fantastic.

Rehearsals are continuing and the play will be performed in Williams Hall in week four.

Cast 2 main roles:

Thursday 8 August 6.30pm
Friday 9 August 6.30pm

Cast 1 main roles: 

Friday 9 August - 11.30am
Saturday 10 August - 6.30pm

Austin Castiglione
High School Drama Teacher

 

Class 12 Projects

Alex Toogood

For my Year 12 project I asked the question;

“What is the ADHD diagnosis path/ experience for females and what are the limitations that hinder a correct/ timely diagnosis?”

This topic is deeply relevant to me, as I have ADHD, and struggled with the path to diagnosis over many years.  By choosing this as my topic, it has given me the opportunity to dig deeper into the reality of the female experience of this condition as well as gain a further understanding into how my brain works. It also has given me the chance to share information and help other females understand these things about ADHD.

Female ADHD is a deeply misunderstood condition with a lot of stigmatisms often surrounding it.  I’ve learnt that ADHD is often seen as a male focused childhood disorder, but in reality, ADHD symptoms commonly persist throughout adulthood, affecting just as many females as males. The diagnosis process of ADHD is a difficult one for both males and females, with an average wait time to see a professional of between 4-7 months for males, and 6-8 months for females, but many will wait much longer before they are able to start their diagnosis process with a professional. The current ADHD diagnosis ratio of males: females is between 9:1 and 3:1, depending on age and location of diagnosis (for every 9 males diagnosed, 1 female is diagnosed).

Since undergoing my research I’ve also learnt that misdiagnosis is an extremely common occurrence with female ADHD.   Typically, female presentation presents as internalised/ mental hyperactivity, whereas males typically experience visible external/ physical hyperactivity. This internalised presentation is often difficult for professionals to pick up on unless the female knows exactly what the symptoms are and can fully explain this, and is often diagnosed as anxiety or depression, rather than the underlying ADHD.

Some of the typical female presentation of ADHD shows up as

• Inner restlessness
• Excessive talking
• Disorganisation
• Perfectionism
• Distractedness
• Becoming easily overwhelmed

Females who go undiagnosed for a majority of their lives, (as is highly common for many women), experience many hardships and challenges due to this, such as self- judgement and excessive stress. This often leads to being completely overwhelmed with life. This can cause symptoms of depression and anxiety for long periods of time, and many may resort to unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with how they are feeling.

The aim of my project is to share not only information on female ADHD and to let females who are beginning this process know that they are not alone in their journeys, but also for their loved ones to gain a deeper understanding of what females experience and how best to support them through this.

For my practical I’m looking to hear women’s stories of their ADHD diagnosis process and lives, whether good or bad, to gain a deeper understanding into what can be done to support females through this process in the community around us all. After gathering some information, I will be exploring women’s experiences of ADHD and the diagnosis process through articles. I will also be sharing and showing the difficulties faced in this process, and exploring routes that are “non-traditional” or natural in the treatment of ADHD. These interviews are entirely confidential, and names will not be shared in the articles. If you, or a female you know have received an ADHD diagnosis and would be interested in assisting me with my Year 12 project, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with me, I would greatly appreciate anything you’re willing or able to share.

Alex Toogood, Year 12

Email: aketoogood@icloud.com 

Leilani Moscarda

For my project I am asking a question about a chronic illness that affects nearly 1 million women in Australia alone.

“What are the available treatments for endometriosis and how successful are they in their treatment outcomes?”

Endometriosis is known as the mystery disease of women because it is without a known cause or cure, and it is masked as just period pain that every woman must endure when on her cycle.

In November last year, I was admitted into hospital for unbearable period cramps and found that the triage nurse who took my admission was rough with handling me and did not take my pain levels seriously. As you can imagine, I was frustrated and upset by this nurse’s assessment that I was overreacting.  This treatment, along with my own concerns about what my body was doing to cause all this pain, made that visit to hospital distressing and frightening.

Once I was taken into a room, a lot of testing was mentioned. I did manage to see a doctor in that room, and this doctor was significant in terms of changing my perspective of period pain and the connection to endometriosis. This doctor took time to listen to me and ask questions about my pain. The doctor also took a blood test to get further information about what may be wrong.  I finally felt listened to and heard in this room.

This was the beginning of my year 12 project.

My research led me to some challenging statistics. Firstly, 1 in 7 Australian women live with endometriosis daily. On average, diagnosis is most common between the ages of 44 to 49.  In the last couple of years, hospitalisations related to endometriosis spiked up to 40,500 nationally. These figures alone are quite shocking but something else quite concerning I found out was that out of the women who attended emergency departments with this pain, 71% of them were not admitted to hospital for further investigation or to another specialist. They were in fact simply discharged with no conclusive information or reasons for the pain they experienced. Unfortunately, this also confirmed my own experience with the health system. I too was discharged with only a strong pain killer (Tramadol) and told to simply ‘rest’. While the doctor gave me a blood test, I still to this day don’t have any viable diagnosis or understanding as to what made this and many other periods, I’ve experienced so difficult to manage. I’ve since worked out that I need to keep persisting with doctors as my research has told me that many women experience large delays in diagnosis. I’ve found out that the average is 7 – 12 years.  The delays seem to stem from such things as stigma around period pain, misdiagnosis/dismissal and the attitude of health care professionals.

My own experience, combined with the research I was uncovering, set me on a path to looking at treatment options and I was interested in looking at what treatments are better, pharmaceutical or natural treatments.  There seemed to be many options, and neither were conclusive but one thing I did really notice is even though endometriosis is not a new chronic illness, in comparison to other chronic illnesses, treatments have not made any advancements. Again, this is frustrating and, in my opinion, unfair to those women who are living with this pain on a regular basis.

For my practical I will be holding a women’s circle for women who living with endometriosis as well as those who are on their journey to getting a diagnosis or have fertility related issues. In the circle I will open and hold a conversation about endometriosis and invite women to share their worries, questions, advice, opinions on the health system, stories, support and hopes around the future of endometriosis.

Through this project process, I have also learnt a lot more about myself and my struggle with what I think to be endometriosis. I have also taken time to rest and understand what my body is trying to tell me through the pain I have endured. It has taught me more than what I imagined.

“Endometriosis is not just a physical ailment; it’s a journey where each step is marked by the strength to face the unknown with courage.”

 –George Raoul

 Amber Hinsman

When I first started thinking about my Class 12 Project, I knew I wanted to do something about music as I am a cellist myself. I have been playing with the Western Australian Youth Orchestra for 7 years, so music is a big part of my life. I had some interest in looking at how music helps ADHD, though after some initial research, I didn't really feel like I could find enough information to support me for the whole year.  Beyond the music component, I realised that it was the brain that was interesting to me. I read an article about how music helps elderly people and their memory and another about how music stimulates pre-term babies’ development. I was born pre-term myself, so I was drawn to the topic of music therapy for pre-term babies. 

Through my research I found that the number of premature births annually, worldwide, is approximately 13.4 million.  While advances in medical intervention has meant that babies born extremely premature (28 weeks or below), have increased survival rates, the number of premature births and the developmental impacts have not decreased.  Premature babies can experience many challenges before they can go home from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit [NICU] including neurological conditions. Longer term developmental impacts of pre-term birth can include neurodevelopmental conditions. Music therapy is an emerging method of intervention that is being studied to improve developmental outcomes for pre-term babies which has led me to my question: How does music therapy impact the development of a premature infant within the NICU? 

Through my research there were only positive things to say about music therapy. In the NICU, music is used in many cases such as calming the baby, imitating the mother’s heartbeat and sounds of the womb, to promote sucking, to stimulate alertness for feeding, and to calm the baby during painful procedures. Although it may seem easy to play a piece of music that has been recorded, when music is played live, it gives the therapist opportunity to adjust the tempo to attune with the baby and to stop if there are signs that the baby is overstimulated. This is an important factor that needs to be considered, because if a baby becomes overwhelmed, the music therapy may negatively impact sleep, feeding and development. When babies are born pre-term, the NICU environment is noisy and bright, which is very different from the experience within the womb where they can hear their mother’s voice and sounds.  

Once the baby is born, the mother’s voice and skin to skin contact are extremely important. These factors help bonding between mother and infant, and listening to the voice of their mother helps with decreasing stress and anxiety. When both maternal singing and skin to skin care are supported with music therapy, it helps the development of the brain, which is needed for a premature baby.  

After birth, parents are encouraged to sing to their infants, but when I was researching, I found that most parents are embarrassed to sing to their kids because they think that it won’t work or because they aren’t good singers.  

Earlier in the year when I was doing research, I found that when the parent bonded to their baby through maternal singing, it reduced the stress in both the infant and parent, but when I found out that parents weren’t confident, I wanted to help make a difference.  

For my practical, I have decided to compose a piece of music for parents to sing along to. This piece of music will target when the baby is awake to help lift their mood. I chose this idea as I wanted to help the parents build confidence in themselves to feel comfortable to sing, and to help inform them of the impact that maternal singing does, and how to do it.   

Another part of my practical component are preemie octopus. I started this project as a personal thing, but I soon figured that I could introduce this into my project. The use for the octopus is designed to give the baby something to hold onto instead of pulling out their cords which they need. The octopus can either be knitted or crocheted, and I chose crochet, as it is a bit easier for me to do.  

With this, I am intending to donate the octopus to a NICU ward, with a pamphlet that I will create with a link to the music. In the pamphlet, I would like to include what the benefits of maternal singing are, the music that I will create, as well as some facts and other information.  

The steps that I still need to complete with my project is the creating of the music, the recording, and developing the pamphlet for the parents.  

I am seeking a contact within the community that could help me with an introduction to a NICU ward or a pre-term birth support group.  

Please contact me at amberhinsman@gmail.com