Senior School Update   

A very warm welcome to our Senior School students and our Senior School families. It has been wonderful to have our Senior students back at Shelford after a well-deserved break. Many of them are keenly preparing for roles in the upcoming musical and for the greatly anticipated Shelford tradition House Performing Arts (HPA).  

Term 2 provides an opportunity for the Senior students to consolidate their learning and study habits. Our program provides time for them to reflect on strategies that worked well in Term 1 and to identify and refine those that require review in Term 2. The wellbeing program also provides a space to practice balance and contribute to the wider community. 

Year 11

Our Year 11 cohort have been reflecting on their ability to achieve balance. Students considered their own definition of balance and soon realised that it required review. They discovered that sometimes balance might need to be spread over multiple days or a week, rather than being able to achieve the ‘ultimate balance’ each and every day.  

Students have used this understanding to reflect on the changing demands of their upcoming weeks leading into mid-year examinations. Students are beginning to plan and prioritise key tasks and identify opportunities for rest, socialising, sport, sleep and contributing to the wider community. This will enable them to make informed decisions now to help minimise demands later. In further weeks we will be examining the importance of sleep to achieving balance and overall wellbeing.  

Year 12

We would like to warmly and officially welcome our new Year 12 student Ines G. Ines joined us this term from John Monash. Ines has been enthusiastically welcomed into the Year 12 cohort and we are thrilled that she is part of the class of 2023. 

This term our focus for the Year 12s is to address ‘barriers to success and wellbeing’. We began this week with examining the importance of their sleep. In busy times, sleep is often the space where students will ‘borrow’ time to complete other tasks. This week our Psychologist Edith delivered a session on the importance of sleep, barriers to sleep and ways students could improve their sleep hygiene. She highlighted the importance of sleep even in busy times. She provided the clear message that sleep is required and necessary for successful wellbeing and study, and that this is not a place that should be neglected in order to study.  She provided students with sleep hygiene tips and encouraged them to develop a ‘before bed’ and ‘upon waking’ sleep routine. This session will be supported through the homegroup sessions as students complete sleep journals to track their sleep routine and trial strategies to improve their sleep.   

Rebecca Wright

Senior Years 11/12 Coordinator