Course Selection: Subjects

Art

Elective Subjects

3D Art (Sculpture)

Through exploration of a variety of sculptural mediums, techniques and processes, students will develop an understanding of 3-dimensional form and construction. Students will explore creative sculptural activities that encourage personal fulfilment through designing, making and evaluating 3-dimensional artworks. Students will develop an appreciation of their own artwork and that of other artists and cultures. This practical course encourages creativity, innovation and the development of art skills.

Art

This is a practical course which promotes creativity, innovation and the development of skills through art making. The skills-based approach aims to enable students to achieve confidence and expertise with a range of materials and techniques. Students will participate in a range of art activities in a variety of studio areas which may include painting, sculpture, ceramics, drawing, printmaking or graphic design. Students will develop an appreciation of their own artwork and that of other artists and cultures.

Art - Yearlong

The Year 8 Art course is offered as a year-long elective to provide students with an opportunity to further their art education and broaden and develop their knowledge and skills in the Visual Arts. This is a practical course which promotes creativity, innovation and the development of skills through art making. The course aims to enable students to achieve confidence and expertise with a range of materials and techniques. Students will participate in a range of art activities in a variety of studio areas which may include painting, sculpture, ceramics, drawing, printmaking, or graphic design. Students will develop an appreciation of their own artwork and that of other artists and cultures.

Fine Art (Drawing & Painting)

Through exploration of a variety of drawing and painting mediums, techniques and processes, students will develop their knowledge and understanding of 2-dimensional art. Students will explore creative drawing and painting activities that encourage personal fulfilment through designing, making and evaluating 2-dimensional artworks. Students will develop an appreciation of their own artwork and that of other artists and cultures. This is a practical course which encourages creativity, innovation and the development of art skills.

Design and Technology

Elective Subjects

Design

Design is an exciting course that develops and prompts independent thinking. It aims at exposing students to the latest technologies involved in the Design Process. This involves researching and producing development sketches and drawings addressing the initial problem outlined in a project brief. These hand drawings and rendering skills consolidate the fundamentals which are underlying in today’s digital technology world.

It is a project based course which develops both the imaginative and creative aspects of graphic design and architectural development. Industry standard software will be used to take students’ conceptual ideas and produce final design products for presentation.

Engineering Studies

Engineering Studies help students to develop an understanding of technology as it is applied in industry and commerce. Using a problem solving approach the course includes electronics, mechanisms, manufacturing, and robotics with real-life situations being emphasised throughout. This content is taught through a variety of practical projects which will be produced in conjunction with laser and 3D printing devices. The popularity of Engineering at a tertiary level means that gaining exposure to this content is vital to consolidate skills and gain an understanding about the core theory used at higher levels.

Materials Technology

This project-based course allows students to design, make and evaluate items using a range of different resistant materials including wood, metal and plastic. Students will be taken through the design process, allowing them the flexibility and creativity in personally designing projects. They will also be introduced to the many pieces of equipment available in our state of the art Design and Technology workshop including the latest laser cutting technology, used in conjunction with various software packages. There is a focus on the use of simple machines and hand tools to enhance the creative aspect of this unit.

Materials Technology – Yearlong

The Materials ‘Year-Long’ course is designed for students wishing to gain more experience in the area of Design and Technology than the semester course offers. It allows students to study in this area for the entire year rather than a single semester. The aim is to expose students to a broader range of skills and techniques used in the modern technological world and deepen their understanding about designing products and problem solving. It is a practical subject aimed at developing a deeper understanding about the nature and properties of materials and how they influence design as they create products and safely operate machinery and equipment in a workshop situation. Wood, metals and plastics are still the primary focus, however the projects will be more challenging and give students an opportunity to demonstrate their natural aptitude in this area.

Product Design

Product Design is an innovative elective course aimed at exposing students to the latest technology processes and the use of software packages relevant to industry. This course gives an insight into specialist methods, skills and technologies used in the 3D Design Industry. It is a hands-on, project based course which develops both the imaginative and creative aspects of product development and turns your ideas into models for individual or mass produced consumer products. Product Design is suitable for anyone who would like to learn how to design, develop appropriate visual communication skills and build prototypes of concepts. Demonstrating an ability to problem solve culminates in the use of the laser and 3D printers to produce a model of the refined concept.

English

Core Subjects

Within the English subject there are two English courses offered in Year 8. The National Curriculum has been fully implemented for both of these English courses.

English (Mainstream)

Throughout the year, students will study a range of texts, including: novels, autobiographies, infographics, film, and plays. They will write stories, essays and other comprehension responses. They will also complete a number of oral presentations and role-playing tasks. They will explore the coming of age genre, and special attention will be given to a Middle School approach to Shakespeare and his context and narratives. Students will also examine autobiographies and the concept of identity, and visual narratives. All students will take part in a reading programme run in conjunction with the College Teacher-Librarian and undertake spelling and grammatical exercises designed to strengthen their functional literacy.

The subject is a diverse and challenging one that gives all students an opportunity to develop their English skills and knowledge in a supportive and stimulating environment.

English Course 3

This course is specially designed for boys identified as needing extra assistance in English.

This supportive and stimulating classroom environment fashions a differentiated programme that still incorporates units from the Mainstream programme. In any one lesson, students will complete activities that focus on their individual point of need, their independence and motivation and skill level throughout the year. A student in this class will gain extra one on one attention to ensure that their development is assured.

Each student’s progress is monitored throughout their enrolment in this course and their potential in rejoining mainstream English will be reviewed at the end of each term. Overall, it will seek to provide all of its students with the skills necessary to eventually move into a senior school course appropriate to the abilities of the student.

Elective Subjects

Debating

Students in this course will develop their skills in both debating and public speaking. Learning the tricks to effective Manner, Matter and Method, students will be given the opportunity to develop their skills in a real world context through participating in debating competitions as well as other public speaking opportunities. This course is not just for students with a passion for debating; it will prove useful for anyone who wants to learn how to work effectively in a team, develop critical thinking skills, learn the power of persuasion, improve their confidence or will one day need to give a ‘best man’ speech!

Health and Physical Education

Core Subjects

In Year 8, the content provides opportunities for students to further examine changes to their identity and ways to manage them. They continue to develop and refine decision-making skills and apply them to a range of situations, as well as though online environments.

They investigate health-promotion activities that aim to improve the health and wellbeing of young people and continue to develop critical health literacy skills, including the ability to distinguish between credible and less credible sources of health information.

Students continue to broaden their repertoire of specialised movement skills and knowledge of sophisticated tactical thinking skills, and apply these to an expanding array of physical activity contexts. They build on skills to analyse their own and others' performance and use basic terminology and concepts to describe movement patterns and suggest ways to improve performance outcomes.

Students continue to reflect on, and refine, personal and social skills that support inclusive participation and fair play, and contribute to positive team cohesion. The Health and Physical Education curriculum provides opportunities for students to develop, enhance and exhibit attitudes and values that promote a healthy lifestyle.

Elective Subjects

Aquatics

The Year 8 Aquatics programme is designed to provide students with the opportunity to develop correct stroke mechanics in the four major swimming strokes as well as introducing them to water polo. The programme has the long term goal in mind of providing our students with the opportunity to develop a set of skills that will help them overcome injuries sustained in other sports as well as better equipping them to enjoy the environment which makes up a good part of our culture.

Additionally the students learn all of the skills required for their Bronze Star qualification through Royal Life Saving Western Australia. These are valuable life skills which the students can use in first aid or emergency situations.

Outdoor Education

The purpose of the Year 8 Outdoor Education programme is to develop the student’s appreciation for the outdoors and natural environments. The course encourages students to work as a group as well as challenging each student individually. Activities include camp cooking, fishing, Kayaking and Snorkelling. Due to the emphasis on water-based activities, students are required to swim 200m in open water as a pre-requisite.

A one day kayaking excursion will be offered to students who achieve to a satisfactory level.

This course has an additional resource fee.

Fitness and Health

The aim of the elective is to extend students interested in improving their sport performance and physical fitness. Students will be introduced to a variety of training methods, fitness activities, and skills for physical activity beyond those covered in the normal Physical Education programme. These include: resistance (weight) training; cross training; and, speed and agility conditioning. Although there will be a theory component, the course will be predominantly practical and complement the other activities offered within the Physical and Health Education programme at the College.

Humanities

Core Subjects

Humanities is a broad-range subject that studies human behaviour and interaction in social, cultural, environmental, economic and political contexts. Humanities and Social Sciences has a historical and contemporary focus, from personal to global contexts, and considers opportunities and challenges for the future. By studying Humanities and Social Sciences, students will develop the ability to question; think critically; make decisions based on evidence; devise proposals for actions; and communicate effectively. Humanities subjects provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to develop a broad understanding of the world in which we live and how people can participate as active and informed citizens in the 21st century.

The Humanities course in Year 8 follows the WA Curriculum and is divided into two key areas – knowledge and understanding and skills. Students will focus on the four main subject areas of History, Economics, Geography and Civics and Citizenship. The focus for Year 8 is as follows:

• History – Changing Nations and the Ancient to Modern World
• Geography – Landforms and Landscapes
• Economics – Participation and influences in the workplace
• Civics and Citizenship – Democracy and Law in Action

There are three courses offered in Year 8:

• Humanities (Extension)
• Humanities (Mainstream)
• Humanities (Course 3).

Humanities (Extension)

The extension course will target high performers and provide them with differentiated teaching and learning opportunities aimed at challenging and extending their content knowledge and skills beyond the Western Australian Curriculum. Students will be identified for this class based on their performance in Year 7 and teacher recommendation. Their performance will be regularly monitored to ensure ongoing suitability to this course.

Humanities (Mainstream)

This course follows the Western Australian Curriculum and students will focus on developing their knowledge and understanding of key content areas. Students will enagage in a variety of teaching activites designed to support the delivery of the curriculum and their progress in this course will be regularly monitored to ensure suitability.

Humanities (Course 3)

This course has been specifically designed to support students who require a differentiated curriculum. While the content covered reflects the Western Australian Curriculum, it is delivered in a supportive and stimulating environment which supports individual learning needs. Each student’s progress is monitored throughout their enrolment in this course and their potential in rejoining mainstream Humanities will be revised on a regular basis.

Throughout Year 8, emphasis is placed on the development of problem solving skills. Students experience a variety of learning opportunities including mapping, graphing, data interpretation, use of primary and secondary sources and document analysis. The teaching of each topic will incorporate Information Technology in class exercises and research, and there will be a variety of assessment styles used, including written assessments, exams, oral presentations and research assignments

Information Technology

Elective Subjects

Aviation

This course is an introduction to the fascinating world of aviation and flying small aircraft.

Students learn about the principles of flight and effects of flight controls, all in the safety of Trinity’s virtual reality labs.

Through a combination of pre-flight briefings and practical activities utilising Trinity’s advanced virtual reality labs and modern flight equipment, students gain a solid understanding of the fundamentals of aviation.

Course Objectives:

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Describe the principles of flight and how they apply to aircraft operation.
2. Identify primary and secondary flight control systems and how to operate them.
3. Demonstrate basic flying skills on the simulators such as level flight, climbing, descending, turning, landing, emergency protocols and circuit procedures.
4. Explain the importance of adhering to safety principles and regulations regarding general aviation. 

Assessment in this course is based on a combination of quizzes and practical skills evaluation.

All students are provided with a range of resources including course notes, online resources and access to the school’s virtual reality lab and simulation software.

Digital Photography

This subject is a highly practical course that introduces Digital Photography and Photoshop to students. The course equips students with the core skills required to capture, edit and publish digital photographs to a photo gallery in an electronic portfolio. Students will utilise iPad’s along with Digital SLR cameras to capture and create their works. Photoshop will be used to apply various filters and techniques to enhance the visual impact of their images.

Game Design

In this computer-based game design course students will be exploring a $70bn a year industry. Through investigation, students will learn what makes a challenging game and how simple ideas can be transformed into an innovative and thought-provoking game.

Students will develop skills in 2D static and animated graphics, team work, problem solving and the design process to create challenging and entertaining games.

Information Technology

Students develop their computing skills using a variety of software. They acquire skills in the areas of programming, web publishing, multimedia and animation. Students continue to develop their Photoshop skills by creating a range of images and graphics. They are introduced to programming in Python and create websites using HTML 5 and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS3). The terminology they acquire is at a level which will permit them to have an informed view of the present state of computer technology and the likely developments in the future.

Media

Media Arts involves creating representations of the world and telling stories through technologies such as television, film, video, newspapers, radio, video games and alike. Students will work with computer generated graphics, video, audio and animation. They will be exposed to the skills and technologies used in the commercial world of video production and editing. Students will record, edit and produce quality video productions of Trinity College events and enter short films competitions.

Media Arts

Media Arts involves creating representations of the world and telling stories through technologies such as television, film, video, newspapers, radio, video games and alike. Students will work with computer generated graphics, video, audio and animation. They will be exposed to the skills and technologies used in the commercial world of video production and editing. Students will record, edit and produce quality video productions of Trinity College events and enter short films competitions.

Italian

Core Subjects

In year 8 Italian students learn to interact with peers and adults orally and in writing to exchange information and discuss aspects of home, school and social life. they compare routines, interests and leisure activities. They will also look at the differences between life in Italy and Australia, in particular the lives of teenagers. They will build on the grammatical concepts covered in year 7.

Learning Support

Elective Subjects

Gifted and Talented - FLEX (INVITATION ONLY)

Flexible Learning Enhancement (FLEX) provides an exciting opportunity for selected students in Years 8 to enhance their critical, creative and independent thinking skills, and develop personal goals to pursue their own learning aspirations. The students will learn to ‘think outside the box’ using the Williams Curriculum Differentiation Strategies, and develop philosophical discussion skills based on the Community of Inquiry strategy. They will be involved in discussions based on ethical and moral issues. They will also engage in creative problem solving activities which will help them work in groups to help further develop their emotional intelligence. The students will engage in competitive problem solving activities and have the opportunity to be selected for the Philosothon Team, Da Vinci Decathon and Ethics Olympiad.​​​​​​

Literacy Enrichment and Assessment Programme (LEAP)

Trinity College strives to enable all students to reach their full potential and offer a variety of extra support programs. One of these is the Literacy Program. It will assist Year 8 students in improving their writing and reading skills (to support cross-curricular writing tasks and to prepare for NAPLAN). The Literacy program targets writing skills, in particular, paragraph writing, Persuasive and Narrative essay writing, comprehension, and decoding skills. The program varies on the needs of the students enrolled.

The program will take the place of an elective class and will occur twice a week. We are confident that the successful participation in this program by your son will improve his literacy level appreciably.

Mathematics

Core Subjects

The Year 8 Mathematics course is designed to extend student development and understanding of the outcomes relating to Mathematics specified in the Western Australian Curriculum, namely: Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, Statistics and Probability.

Students will also develop skills in problem solving, calculator usage, mathematical projects, competitions and computer aided instruction.

In Year 8 we stream our classes in Mathematics so that students are able to progress and to be challenged in Mathematics at a rate appropriate to their performance and ability. There are four streams. These are: Course 1a, Course 1b, Course 2 and Course 3. The progress of all students will be continually monitored and re-streaming will occur where performance warrants it. The Course 2 and Course 3 classes are designed to help students that have shown us that they have some areas of weakness in Mathematics and we aim, by placing them into smaller classes, to improve their basic Mathematical skills.

Senior Secondary Mathematics Pathways:

Elective Subjects

Mathematics Mindstorm

Students who have above average Mathematics ability are strongly encouraged to participate in this most rewarding elective. Problem Solving and Competition Mathematics is separate from the Year 8 mainstream Mathematics course and has very little common content. Students will be exposed to interesting and enjoyable activities and applications that will draw upon a wide range of familiar and unfamiliar contexts to develop Mathematical ideas.

Students may expect a range of opportunities to enter National and State-wide competitions, use computers, play Mathematical games and learn problem solving strategies.

Music and Performing Arts

Elective Subjects

Dance

Dance students use improvisation skills to build on their movement vocabulary to choreograph dances using the elements of dance (BEST) and choreographic devices for a purpose. Dance skills are further developed to explore the technical aspects of different dance styles (hip hop, jazz, musical theatre, contemporary), to enhance performance skills and to show retention and clarity of movement, projection, focus and expression. We look at how dance can communicate meaning and how dance styles differ.  

Safe dance practices underlie all experiences, as students perform within their own body capabilities and work safely in groups. 

Drama

In Year 8, students will be given opportunities to plan, refine and present performances to their peers using processes, techniques and conventions of drama. The course will be based on extended improvisations and play building, or taken from appropriate, published script excerpts, using selected drama forms and styles including realism and children’s theatre. Students will also be presented with the opportunity to enhance or extend their skills in voice and movement.

Music

Music is a semester-long elective aimed at students who enjoy participation in music classes but may not necessarily learn a musical instrument. This elective will cover the same aspects of music making as in Music Yearlong (composition, performance, music literacy and developing listening skills), but not to the same depth or at the same rate of progress. Students who achieve an A grade or higher will still be able to continue into the Year 9 Music elective. To be eligible for this elective, students must have completed a Year 7 Semester elective and have received a minimum C grade.

Music - Yearlong (MU1/MU2)

Music 1 and 2 are aimed at students who are capable instrumentalists and have a keen interest in Music. This elective will cover all aspects of music making; composition, performance, music literacy and developing listening skills. Students will be encouraged to work to their potential, developing all round musicianship that will support their abilities in performance and composition. Please note that students will need to be actively learning an instrument for the duration of the year in order to complete this elective, as there is an assessed performance component. This elective is a pathway to the Year 9 Music elective.

All music scholarship students are required to select Music Yearlong (MU1/MU2) or Music Advanced Yearlong (MUA1/MUA2) Course.

Music Advanced - Yearlong (MUA1/MUA2)

Students who completed the Year 7 Yearlong Advanced Course will continue in the Year 8 Yearlong Advanced Course. Suitably capable and recommended students may also apply to join this course (please see Dr Braham).

All music scholarship students are required to select Music Yearlong (MU1/MU2) or Music Advanced Yearlong (MUA1/MUA2) Course.

Science

Core Subjects

Students develop further understanding of the process of scientific inquiry and investigation through more complex and challenging activities. High emphasis is placed on the scientific method which engages students through problem solving and teamwork. The Australian Curriculum requires an inquiry-based approach, so opportunities are provided for students to ask questions and try to solve simple problems whilst working to understand the underlying science. More complex ideas such as the hypothesis are introduced to complete their ability to plan, perform and write up an experiment.

An understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry and the ability to use a range of scientific inquiry methods, including questioning; planning and conducting experiments and investigations based on ethical principles; collecting and analysing data; evaluating results; and drawing critical, evidence based conclusions is progressively developed.

In addition, students will learn elementary concepts of Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Geology through familiar and relevant real-world contexts. Research skills will be developed through investigations and literature reviews extracted from the strand "Science as a Human Endeavour". At the end of the Year 8 course, opportunities exist for the more able students to proceed to an extension class in Year 9 based on their performance and result. In Course 3, students are exposed to the same content as the other courses, however, the pace of delivery is slower, and more time is allowed for learning of key concepts. Furthermore, the curriculum is adjusted to allow more practice for literacy skills.

Elective Subjects

Astronomy and Space Science

Astronomy in Year 8 involves exploring what is beyond our own planet Earth. Students will investigate our solar system and get a better idea of the size of Earth in comparison to the whole universe. They will also have an opportunity to undertake astrophotography, being able to image planets and deep sky objects using the College’s state of the art robotic telescope. The space science component of this course involves students having the opportunity to build and launch their own model rockets.