We may be over halfway through the year, but we’re still riding high on energy and excitement. The first half of this year has been groundbreaking for our OpenWisdom Community as a whole with new local community partnerships and student success on the incline.
Whether 2024 has been win-after-win for you, or less successful than you hoped, we’ve still got another half to go, with heaps of time to get back on track and the guidance to help you achieve your goals.
As we reflect and look forward, check out what we’ve been up to and what we’ve got in store for you in Term 3.
During the July school holidays, we collaborated with Georges River Council libraries to run a series of drop-in ‘English Marker Speed Dating’ and ‘Ask Me Anything about Maths’ sessions for local high school students in Hurstville Library and Kogarah Library and Cultural Centre.
Sitting in the community's favourite study spots, our team of mentors gave local students free and low-commitment access to educational pulse-checks and academic support across English and Maths. From essay and creative writing feedback to working through individual Maths questions, our tutors provided to the local community the same support and care they give to their own OpenWisdom students.
Returning to community spaces with OpenWisdom Education is a recognition of how learning is not a path walked alone, but rather one run as a relay where each member of the community passes on their experience to better the next.
With the success of our first round of sessions, we look forward to running more events to give back to the local community which has nurtured us these past 8 years.
Keep your eyes peeled for the next one!
In the meantime, check out other great events running at GRC libraries
Road to Summit
HSC students, with Trials done and dusted, it’s time to lock in and make that academic comeback with our annual Road to Summit program. The hard truth is that the best way to see growth between now and the real deal is through consistent and challenging practice under exam conditions.
Running from Week 7 of this term to the HSC, English Standard and Advanced students will gain access to fortnightly in-person exams covering Paper 1 and 2, along with individual feedback from expert tutors.
Chemistry and Physics students, alongside Mathematics Standard, Advanced and Extension 1 students, will begin in Week 8 with a weekly Mock HSC Exam and review session.
Trials didn’t go how you hoped? Or perhaps it was suspiciously easy? This proven HSC preparation method will smooth out all the bumps in your exam technique and help you master your content knowledge and application, setting you up for success!
To find out more, check out our
Eventbrite.
The Limit Does Not Exist!
Put your Maths skills to the test with our upcoming Yr 11 Prelim Maths Challenge.
What better way to prepare for the pressure-cooker stress of a Maths exam than with a fun class that’s part mock exam, part tutorial and part trivia challenge. This is a challenge for Advanced and Extension 1 Maths students of all competencies. If you don’t get the question right the first time, no worries – one of our experienced Maths tutors will be there to help you understand how to get to the answer.
The student to gain the highest points will be awarded a prize! But perhaps the real prize is the skills we learnt along the way…
Decode, Digest and Incorporate Literary Criticism Seminar
In this interactive workshop, students from Years 10 to 12 tackled the advanced literary work of philosopher and critic Frederich Nietzsche. Guided by our resident philosophy expert and English Team Leader, Paul, students learnt how to unpack literary criticism; a skill often only taught to English Extension students but necessary both in high school and beyond.
Trialling different methods to decode and digest academic literature, students gradually built their own interpretations and discussed ways to incorporate their views on Nietzsche’s thinking into their own criticism of the literature they are studying in English.
Lucky Family Consulting Conference
When OpenWisdom began as a small team of dedicated tutors, little did we know we’d be presenting on the same stage as Georges River Councillor Nancy Liu and Federal Member for Banks David Coleman.
In this interactive workshop, students from Years 10 to 12 tackled the advanced literary work of philosopher and critic Frederich Nietzsche. Guided by our resident philosophy expert and English Team Leader, Paul, students learnt how to unpack literary criticism; a skill often only taught to English Extension students but necessary both in high school and beyond.
Trialling different methods to decode and digest academic literature, students gradually built their own interpretations and discussed ways to incorporate their views on Nietzsche’s thinking into their own criticism of the literature they are studying in English.
Don’t miss out on what we’ve got in store!
Just as the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, a thriving community is one that is open to working together with others to support all its members. That’s why we’ve been working behind the scenes to collaborate with local businesses in the greater Hurstville and Burwood area to find ways to better serve our communities.
If you know an organisation who might be interested in working with us to grow our community and spread our message as advocates of life-long learning and youth development, we encourage you to get in contact with us via marketing@openwisdomeducation.com. Our Content and Channel Coordinator, Olivia Di Costanzo, would love to hear from you.
Get these students a medal!
We know the Olympics are over, but if there was a category for HSC subjects our students would have been strong contenders!
A huge shout out to our Year 12 students, Catherine Duncombe and Natasha Small, along with our Year 9 student, Jason Yu.
Year 9 student Jason, working with our English tutor Bill, scored 75% on his recent task. What makes his result even cooler? He boosted his marks up 30% from his last task! What an astounding improvement.
With the help of her Japanese Continuers tutor, Yifei, Catherine smashed her recent assessment, jumping up 15% from her last task and exceeding her goal of 85% with a whopping 92.5% result.
Natasha, guided by her Economics tutor Lewis, jumped up by a whole 10% from her last task, scoring a commendable 75% in her most recent assessment!
These are only a few of the amazing results we saw students achieve this semester. It just goes to show the power of consistent dedication to study and personal resilience in pursuing incremental success, which each of our tutors work tirelessly with students to help make a reality.
Want to progress your personal growth?
Wellness check in
How to stop being so pressed
You’ve heard it before: “Just relax!” they say. Looming assessment due dates and exam blocks, subject selection, your manager at work on your back, sticky friendship issues, fights with your siblings … whatever might be troubling you, you’ll know that sometimes it can feel impossible to simply chill out. Maybe even a classic TikTok binge or video game sesh aren't cutting it anymore.
If you’re looking for evidence-backed ways to reach inner peace (even if just for a moment) check out these quick relaxation techniques from the Black Dog Institute. We know meditation is not everyone’s cup of tea, but maybe positive affirmations, or trying a whole body tension release, are more up your alley. You’ll never know until you try, so why not give one of the tips a go and let us know if they work for you.
