Student Wellbeing

Fly, bird, fly!

Last week, our Year 12s celebrated their last day of school at Emmaus, ahead of exam preparation and rounding off their final year at school. 

Preparing for this final step is like playing in a grand final; it all comes down to decisions, preparation, and the stamina to rise in the moment. You arrive at the game in peak condition, having trained and rested before stepping out into the competition. The focus required channels our attention only to what is before us in the moment, applying strategy and skill to perform at our best. 

Being able to silence voices of comparison, and instead lean into courage to believe that we now have a moment in our lifetime to show all we know - it takes focus and trust that what we see, we can now apply.

How do we keep those pesky nerves from working for us during these times? Our focus, preparation and practice, all help us perform when needed. 

Something must be said for the ‘support team’ that carries us when focus and tight deadlines seem overwhelming or exhausting. Our family and friends can provide us with the springboard we need; they can encourage us in self-belief and self-compassion. Parents and significant extended family members do much to provide the scaffold as a ‘support team.’ For the ‘parental support crew,’ it can feel counterintuitive to let go, but it is what your purpose was all along! Being given the option to be responsible allows the young bird to fly!

Growing independence requires an opportunity for our young people to make choices and navigate the outcomes of those choices. Of course, having a nest to return to, to celebrate the outcome, or to find a new path forward is an essential step in this process. Either way, both involve choosing to live by your values to develop character and faith. Often in the struggles, we discover who we are and who we’d really like to be!

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and teaching.” (1 Tim 4: 12-14)

Mel Batchelor

Wellbeing Counsellor, year 7-12