9 Ignite ECP Program

Last Friday the Year 8 students had their first taste of the new 9 Ignite Program. This is the reimagined Year 9 Programme that has been a standout feature of the school for the past few years.

The aim of 9 Ignite during the ECP period is for students to develop teamwork, leadership skills and resilience, in order to prepare them for the year to come.

This began on the Friday of exam week, giving the students an opportunity to mingle and run around after a week of sitting exams. The Year 8 cohort gathered in the Gym, and were tasked with untying a human knot in small groups before being given a bucket full of resources including a roll of tape, some sheets of paper, some cardboard rolls, a pair of scissors, some paddlepop sticks, and of course, a marble. The students then had to work in groups of about ten students to come up with either the longest, fastest, or most innovative marble rollercoaster in twenty minutes. The students had a lot of fun creating these and the three winning groups were very happy with their prizes!

This teamwork and leadership continued into this past Tuesday. The first timetabled 9 Ignite triple period took place, and the students were thrilled. The Year 9s have been given a scenario: they need to escape planet Earth and go to a new planet! In their planet groups on Tuesday, they needed to build a boat in order to cross the “Raging River”. Just like the MacGyver-esque task that they had been given on Friday, the students were given some bamboo poles, some rubbish bags, a roll of tape, and a few other resources and were told to build a “boat” for their group to cross the Raging River. Students were given a time limit and came up with some very crafty boats! The skies opened up for a few minutes while they were crossing the river, so it added to the experience. 

More planet activities will continue in our next triple period during the last week of school, before beginning the 9 Ignite unit on Diverse Worlds next year.