Year 11 Health Immersion Day

As part of the school’s commitment to support the social, emotional, and physical development of our students, our Year 11 cohort participated in our first Health Immersion Day for this year. The purpose of the day was to focus on ‘Wholistic Health’ and give our students a chance to reconnect with each other and for our students to experience a range of interactive and engaging workshops and activities. These workshops were provided by our School Staff, Student Wellbeing Team, Respectful Relationships Team and other providers with specialist expertise (La Trobe University; Hope Mathumbu – African Australian Health Professional and Paul from Spin Chat).

Our day started in the PAC with all students signing in and we went over the purpose and expectations for the day.

Students were then split into two groups, participating in two workshops:

An interactive workshop focusing on Consent, providing clarity on the issues around sexual consent and how to engage in healthy, respectful, and safe interactions. Our other morning session focusing on Intersectionality and Healthy Relationships presented by Hope Mathumbu, which provided an alternative experience of adolescence from a different cultural perspective. 

After recess we had a powerful presentation delivered by Paul from Spin Chat, exploring the impact a life changing injury / accident can have on a young person’s life and the importance of resilience and mindset in the face of adversity. 

Our VCAL students then got the chance to participate in leadership training through teambuilding activities while our VCE Students got the choice to participate in one of two Writing Workshops: Option 1 : The power of feedback to improving the quality of your writing - presented by English teachers, Liz Rigoni and Helen Anastasiou. 

Option 2 - Learn skills in writing scientifically to communicate scientific findings in a poster format, presented by La Trobe University.

During lunch we chatted, ate and listened to some tunes on the grass area of our new Senior Zone. My playlist seemed to get changed pretty quickly, with students opting for some ‘hipper’ tunes than I was able to offer.

Our Year 11 Health Immersion Day finished off with an afternoon of fun and physical activity in the stadium. This was well received, and it was so great to see our students taking time to be physically active, de-stress and really connect with each other.

On behalf of our Senior School Team, I would like to thank all presenters and staff for making the day a huge success and thank all of the students for their maturity and communal respect and responsibility shown throughout the day. A special thank you needs to go to our Assistant Principal ‘Natalie Manser’ for all the planning, organisation and leadership that went into ensuring this event was a huge success. 

Toni Gray

(Year 11 Coordinator)

A reflection of the day from our Year 11 Captains 

I would like to thank you our Senior School leaders and teachers on behalf of everyone in Year 11 for all of their hard work and effort for organising a fun and amazing day for us. Your efforts have really paid off, as we heard many people say wonderful things about how good the HID day was. All the activities were so engaging and fun, and it was so nice to hear the stories of the people that spoke today and to play sport with our friends and also connect with our peers and get to know more about each other. 

Additionally, we would also like to add that the activities took all our minds off the stress. It was a really great day, and each workshop was educational yet, motivating and inspiring.

Melina Izadikia and Yoedhzer Nidup