7-9 Campus News

Term 4

Term four is always another busy term, with the end of semester two not far away. Teachers will be finalising ALTs and giving feedback to all students to assist their academic growth into the future. Years 8 and 9 will be then preparing for their examinations, which commence on Friday November 15th. Further information regarding the examinations is available in the Teaching and Learning page in this newsletter. Exam timetables have been distributed to students and we ask everyone to read over this information very carefully, so that all examination protocols are clear and understood. Both year 8 & 9 have attended presentations regarding strategies for study and have been asked to check with their teachers for information regarding the exam format for each subject. As we move forward to the end of the year, students must be encouraged to keep a Growth Mindset. What is really important is that students learn from disappointments or failures and use these as stepping stones forward to improvement and growth. Building resilience is essential and is the optimism to help keep bouncing back from failure or disappointment. Grit is our passion and perseverance towards reaching a long-term goal. Five ways to build resilience and grit with a Growth Mindset is:

Keep using positive language
Surround yourself with people who persevere
Adopt flexible thinking
Set small goals that align with purpose
Reflect on disappointments and use them as a learning exercise

We encourage student to use these Growth Mindset strategies not just during exam and assessment times, but as part of their everyday lives as well.

Year 9 activities

This term is especially busy for year 9, with a Careers and Pathway focus in the Pastoral sessions as they prepare to move to Senior School on November 25th to commence Headstart as year 10 students.

On Monday October 21st, Year 9 went on camp to Camp Marysville. Students participated in hiking, wall climbing, canoeing, learned how to make shelters in the bush and experienced an indigenous walk where they learned how to use local flora for survival. Congratulations to all students for the fantastic way they interacted and behaved during this adventure camp. A special thanks to Steve McLaughlin, Brett Van As and all of the staff who went on camp and made it such a great event for our students.

Year 9 have also been experiencing different programs this term to help prepare them as they move to becoming young adults. Our girls have had a self-defence course and also a session for empowering women, called “Tomorrows Woman” which was an amazing experience for them. Our boys have worked with the Man Cave on similar skills for the future, and will have a self-defence course later in the term. These presentations are centred around our Respectful Relationships program. More of such presentations will be introduced to all year levels in 2020.

LITTLE BIG IDEAS

Congratulations to Yahli Dvorski for becoming a finalist in the LittleBigIdeas Competition with his invention titled "SAFEWAZ". There are only 12 finalists selected from Victoria, so we wish Yahli the all the best for the finals.

UN SPEECH COMPETITION

On October 19th, four Sandringham College students competed in the UN Youth Speech Competition at Melbourne University. Year 8 students Emily, Max, Riley and Henry were required to research, write and deliver a speech on a Global issue, such as Mental Health or Economic Inequality. They then had to respond to “unseen” questions regarding their speech. Congratulations for their fantastic presentations. They certainly represented the college with pride.

Year 7 2020 Parent Information Night

It was fantastic to meet all of the parents of our year 7 cohort for 2020 on Thursday October 17th of October. These parents had the opportunity to hear important information regarding year 7 in 2020, as well as our BYOD policy, college values, Assessment practices & ALTs and meet key people in the college. We look forward to meeting the new year 7 students on Orientation Day in December, as they prepare for that big step from Primary to Secondary Education.

SWPB

Our college is currently developing a framework for the introduction of School Wide Positive Behaviours. This is an evidence based program for preventing and responding to behavioural issues in schools. It aims to create a positive school climate, a culture of student competence and an open, responsive management system for teachers & leaders, students and parents. SWPB also helps improve school safety and sets expectations on all members of the school community, developed with the college values in mind. This, of course, also assists in further improving Student Outcomes and allows everyone to achieve their best in a safe and happy school environment. All stakeholders will be consulted in this process and the SWPB Team is currently developing a matrix based on feedback so far from students and staff. We will then consult with students and their parents/carers for further feedback. We look forward to receiving your feedback and input as this process develops into 2020.

Vivienne McElwee