English at Wexford
For the last terms English the whole ⅞ Wexford community has been working on reading and studying the novel ‘Trash’ by Andy Mulligan. I believe I can speak for everyone when I say that English has been much more interesting when, while reading and studying this novel.
The last two weeks for English, we’ve been writing an essay focusing on how Andy Mulligan has displayed the themes of poverty, social injustice, and friendship throughout the novel.
By Lexi Opacak
Lexi’s Essay
The novel trash by Andy Mulligan is an emotional, Adventurous story that follows the tale of 3 boys who discover a bag that hides a secret. Andy Mulligan also does an impeccable job of describing poverty, social injustice and police brutality in an emotional and gut wrenching way. Today I will be talking about the way Andy Mulligan explores these themes starting with poverty.
Andy Mulligan explains poverty in such amazing detail that it provokes thoughts about the millions of people affected by poverty every day. The author explores this when Raphael describes where Rat lives. When Raphael and Gardo go to visit Rat they explain Rat lives in one of the worst places of the dump, as his home is infested with rats that bite often. And around his home there are rotting human corpses saying “he lived with the rats” and “it smelled of decomposing bodies”….
Andy Mulligan highlights social injustice making it clearly a very explored theme in Trash, spreading awareness to the grim lives bestowed upon individuals simply as a result of social class. Andy Mulligan shows large themes of social injustice when father Julliard describes the school the kids in bahala go to, explaining most of the kids who go usually skip because the education they get isn’t much and a lot of the other kids come for the food and leave. The kids are so used to the poverty the school is in that when they saw a photo of Pia Dante in a school dress they say “there rich thats a school dress” this is clearly social injustice.
Andy Mulligan exhibits emotional trauma as a result of police brutality, demonstrating the differing treatment figures of authority gave to those of varying social class. For Rapheal when it came to his interactions with the police. His trauma started the night he went to the police station, as he was beaten, bashed and traumatized by the police. He was even dangled by his feet out a window to get him to confess to finding the bag, they called him worthless and thought so low of him 1 officer said “this piece of shit can read?” all of these are made emotional by Andy Mulligan on purpose to make us the reader feel something so we keep reading.
In conclusion, Andy Mulligan does an impeccable job of exploring themes of poverty, social injustice and police brutality and gives the reader an unforgettable, emotional experience that gets the reader thinking about people who have passed the poverty line, people who suffer from social injustice, people who are victims of police brutality. All of these themes are explained in such a beautiful, interesting way it connects with the reader on an emotional, personal level. All of these are reasons the reader knows trash is an amazing novel and that Andy Mulligan is a brilliant writer.
Humanities at Peacock
This term in humanities, we’ve been learning about water. From aquifers to addressing global-scale problems, we learnt about everything in between. We had to choose to present our solution to a water-based problem and make a presentation.
It was a little bit nerve-racking, but still very fun nonetheless and it was great getting to see our friends and classmates promote their unique ideas about confronting important issues like water pollution, water access and I really enjoyed listening to everyone’s speeches. In the future, I hope we spend more time having discussions rather than taking notes, but it was still very fun.
Excursion at Tallis
Our excursion to Black Rock was amazing! A few weeks ago we went to Black Rock, it was an essential excursion for our learning. The excursion gave me enough knowledge about how our waste water is treated. I learned the process of treating the water to be drinkable again.
I wasn’t expecting that it would cost a lot of money to just build this enormous infrastructure. Therefore, I’d like to thank the Barwon Water for this beneficial excursion and their support.
By Ibrahim Hemdan
Maths at Hendy
My Term 3 Mathematics Journey
This term in Maths, I have learnt a lot of new things and have had the chance to challenge myself. One thing I have been working hard on is my timed fact fluency, which has helped me become quicker and more confident with my Maths facts.
I have enjoyed learning about fractions, especially working out equivalent fractions, adding and subtracting them, and converting them into decimals. I have also learnt about factors and multiples, which has helped me understand numbers in more detail.
Algebra was something new for me, and I have enjoyed learning how to use pronumerals, coefficients and find the value of x. I have also learnt how to work with positive and negative numbers, which was challenging at first but has become easier with practice.
Another area I have enjoyed is measurement and area. I have learnt how to convert between metric units and use formulas to find the area of different shapes. I have also learnt how to identify and classify triangles by their angles.
We have just been introduced to money using BANQER, this has been one of the more practical parts of Maths which I enjoy. I have learnt how to manage money, make deposits and understand how interest works. It has helped me see how the Maths we learn at school can be useful in real life.
Overall, have enjoyed and felt like I have made good progress in Maths. I have learnt that sometimes you don’t get the answer straight away, but if I keep trying and ask for help when I need it, I can work things out.
By Henry Paw HE1
Student Stories and Work
By Aarif Muhammad As-Sidiq
By Hadi Afraz
Art Comment by teacher Cat Miller
In response to this year NBC ADT showcase theme, ‘Connection to the Bay’ year 7 and 8 students were asked to respond the question of how where we live or our sense of place influences who we are becoming. They brainstormed people, places and things that were important to them and translated this onto canvas board using acrylic paints. During this project students learnt fundamental drawing and painting techniques and were able to express their unique personalities in their finished artwork.
