Year 12 Be Well Be Successful Day

On Monday 30th January, all Year 12 students participated in Be Well Be Successful day. 

Student Wellbeing staff and the Principal team developed targeted workshops to equip Year 12 students with evidence-based strategies and tools to empower them, develop and sustain their learning confidence and growth mindset, and promote resilience as they enter their final year of schooling.

Students rotated through four workshops :

1. Resilience
2. Gratitude & Mindfulness
3. Goal Setting & Time Management
4. Relaxing, Coping & Striving (presented by Darren Grainger from School Focus Youth Service)

Below are our College Captains and Vice Captains' comments about the day: 

To start off the school year all year twelves participated in all-day activity workshops to develop certain skills in order to have a more impactful and successful school year. In the gratitude and mindfulness workshop delivered by Ms Atzarakis, we took part in a series of different activities that allowed us students to build a healthy mind. 

This lesson was about being more grateful and the development of skills to create a more positive environment for ourselves to accept things how they are, good or bad. Firstly, we were presented a video that guided us to calm our minds, and during this it helped me be more grounded and self-aware of my thoughts and everything around me. 

During the lesson we were given a sheet of paper with a black dot in the middle and we were asked to write everything we saw. After finding out our answers which mostly consisted of “a black dot or a full stop”, we found out that it was just a representation of our lives. While we have a whole white piece of paper to observe we tend to focus only on the dark spots. This opened our minds as we came to a realisation about how we are living our lives. 

As well as learning to be grateful, we also learnt the benefits of it. It was especially intriguing to me that it could actually make your heart healthier just by practising it every day. However the benefits extend beyond that; some health benefits include a healthier immune system and lower stress levels, other benefits include being a more forgiving and generous person and they are happier overall. All in all, I believe that this program on the first day back was beneficial for us students because this helped us ease into the school year and it made us look forward to what’s to come.  

Chanel Binuya 12C

During the workshops we learnt many unique stress management skills, organisation tips and gratitude exercises. Personally I found Mr Dowie's lesson on resilience the most beneficial to me. During the workshop we identified some factors this year that could cause stress and then identified some strength we possess that would help overcome and manage the stress factors. 

During the workshop we also touched on “The Why Factor”, and how powerful it is. Mr Dowie utilised an example of boxer Buster Douglas who fought and defeated Mike Tyson two days after his mother’s passing; this example displayed how a strong 'why' factor can help you persevere through any challenges and setbacks no matter how intimidating.

Personally I learnt from Mr Dowie's lesson to remind myself why I am doing the things I do, as I tend to find myself lost in school work and my part time job, and reminding myself why I am at school and why I am working will help push me to achieve the best I can do matter how difficult times get. 

Kyle Marshall

During the Goal setting and time management workshop, the year twelves first started off with a game of ‘would you rather’ just to warm us up as it was our first day back from the summer holidays. Having this opportunity helped me and some of my friends realise what goals we hope to achieve by the end of this year. Not just goals revolving around school, but also in our lives to help us feel organised and have something to work towards. 

This workshop was about getting ready and setting yourself up for the busy upcoming months - to be able to hand in work on time, by distinguishing what is important, and what can wait. They helped us engage more in the workshop by involving classmates to show us how stress can heavily impact us. They demonstrated this by having a student carry a basket that gets filled up with water bottles (stress levels) to see how long we can continue holding on before it gets too heavy and tires us out.

We first chose some goals we’ve set for ourselves this year, and then chose one we wanted to focus on. We then broke that goal down and figured out different steps that would enable us to achieve that goal. We were shown by using a timetable, or a grid, where we placed what was most important and needed to be done urgently, to jobs we can do later.

This will help us when we finish school and have no-one hovering over us telling us what to do, and to know how to balance and feel comfortable without stressing on what assessments we are missing and having a guideline to follow.

Rebecca Tat

Hosted by Mr Grainger, the “Relaxing, Coping and Striving” workshop centred itself upon teaching students about several different methods that one can use in order to relax, as well as emphasizing the importance of having a goal or aspiration. 

During the workshop, we were provided with booklets containing a variety of activities which could be completed either during, or after the workshop had commenced. These included an expressive black and white drawing that students could colour as they desired, crosswords for the more perceptive, tips and tricks in order to help relax, and most notably, a list that we could fill in with any goals or aspirations we had. 

Each student also received a card from a standard deck, and was instructed to find a partner who shared the same number as themselves. From there, we worked together to discuss one another’s interests and ambitions, sharing with the class any similarities that we could find with our partner. This allowed each student to get to know one another better, especially if one’s partner was someone who they wouldn’t usually hang out with. 

Once our goals were established, Mr Grainger provided a demonstration with student volunteers holding items of increasing weight, demonstrating the impacts that stress can have upon oneself if left unchecked for a duration of time. This also led into an explanation of how those around you, whether it be friends or family, can assist with this burden, with even more student volunteers coming to help lift the items so that the weight of the objects mattered no longer. 

In short, the workshop educated students around the importance of goal setting (whether it be academic or personal aspirations), and equipped students with a diverse toolkit of strategies in order to relax and cope with the potential strain and stress that students may feel when working towards these goals. This was especially beneficial to us year 12 students as there will no doubt be a significant number of obstacles that we will need to overcome during our final year in school, but with this workshop, we will be well prepared. 

Joseph Passi 12C