Year 9 Impact Program
Mark Williams, Dean of Year 9 Impact Program
Year 9 Expeditions
Our Year 9 students are having an incredible time on their Cape York and Great South West expeditions! Whether they're exploring breathtaking landscapes, learning about indigenous culture, or bonding with their classmates around a campfire, every moment is sure to create lasting memories.
We can’t wait to hear all about their adventures and the stories they’ll bring back when they return!
Health and wellbeing workshops
Archie Fifoot, Year 9
Last term, Year 9 participated in various health and wellbeing workshops. These included a Sexual Health workshop with Elephant Ed as well as a Body Image workshop with Butterfly Foundation.
Ms Hedger and Ms Merkel also touched on the dimensions of health — Physical, Mental, Emotional, Spiritual and Social — highlighting how these elements work together to promote our overall wellbeing.
I thoroughly enjoyed all these workshops! I learned heaps about building quality relationships and how our wellbeing is impacted in many different ways depending on the activities we do each day.
Character workshops
Rishab Saravana, Year 9
The Tomorrow Man workshop provided an engaging and invaluable experience. We discussed our development as young men and the pressures we face due to gender stereotypes. We practised expressing our feelings with our peers and considered various forms of armor or defensive actions when banter goes too far. We all learnt a lot from these sessions.
Scarlett Rickard, Year 9
In the Tomorrow Woman workshop, we explored various stereotypes about women and their impact on different aspects of our lives. The workshop fostered a sense of closeness among us, allowing us to recognise that many of us share similar thoughts and feelings. We opened up about our insecurities and had the opportunity to evaluate how we can support each other as girls in our cohort.
Exam prep sessions
Maddie Prentice, Year 9
Over the past term, Year 9 participated in workshops designed to help us prepare for our exams. We explored various strategies to improve our exam scores as well as maintain our mental wellbeing.
Toolbox Education taught us skills to combat procrastination, while Felstead Education ran workshops on the Power of Sleep, Study Calm, and Mindfulness for High Performance.
Each session equipped us with valuable tools that will benefit us not only now but also in the future!
Teen Mental Health First Aid® Training
Aanika Kumar and Sophie Padgett, Year 9
During our Fridays in the city, Year 9s participated in the three-week Teen Mental Health First Aid® training program.
In these informative sessions, we learned about mental disorders and how it can affect people. We discovered how we can help our friends and classmates who might be struggling.
We also learned some tips for taking care of our own mental health and where to go if we need help. Now, all of us in Year 9 are officially trained in Teen Mental Health First Aid!