Interview on The Today Show

16 and 17-year-olds can drive, pay taxes and a large proportion of us work and/or volunteer. So should we be allowed to vote in elections?

Countries such as Scotland and Wales agree, so is this something Australia could adopt? I was invited to share my thoughts on the Weekend Today Show alongside Katherine Ellis, CEO of Youth Affairs Council Victoria (YACVIC).

You can check out the video to that segment here: https://twitter.com/TheTodayShow/status/1271594611845316608?s=20

Andrew Leap

College Captain

Peer Support Workshops

Tuesday 9 June – Peer Support Leaders ran ‘Getting to know you/re-acquaint with each other’ games before our BBQ.

Thursday 11 June – All Year 10 Peer Support Leaders were involved in a workshop preparing for the program. They further developed their sessions and collaborated on the activities.

Friday 12 June – The first session of Peer Support began. Year 10 students began to form relationships with their Year 7s through weekly sessions. The first one was around ‘Getting to know each other’ and future sessions will be centred around skills such as "Respectful Relationships" and "Goal Setting".

Stav Kantzas

Grevillea Head of House

The peer support program is designed for Year 7 students to become familiar with the unknown and teach them skills to assist them throughout their high school journey; whether that be in new friendships and exploring the variety of classes throughout South Oakleigh College.

The help and role-modelling of Year 10 students will assist the Year 7 students in shaping themselves into who they want to be. Our first session, on Friday, was a nervous and challenging experience but we managed to keep them entertained by running fun riddles, games and asking our Year 7 students questions based around the Peer Support Program.

Our students responded positively and they enjoyed getting to know us and each other.

Jenny and Eleni

Peer Support Leaders

Our first Peer Support Session on Friday was nerve-racking at first, but as soon as the session started it was great, getting to know the Year 7 students and hearing about their experiences. It was interesting and exciting.

We are getting to know each other better.

Amy Vine

Peer Support Leader

On Thursday, the Year 10 Peer Support Leaders had a meeting. We collaborated in groups and helped one another with planning our sessions for our peer support groups. This meeting helped us get a better idea of what is expected for each session.

We received feedback from our peers about our session planning.

My friends and I had a lot of fun because we hung out while learning things about leadership. This meeting also showed us that an act of kindness everyday could help many others, even when it doesn’t benefit us.

We learnt that our peer support groups/students will look at us as an example of how a student should act. We came to a conclusion that we need to be more considerate of our actions during school hours.

Iliana Derzotis

Peer Support Leader

Everyone knows what has been happening lately and the crisis that has been causing all this panic. But now that we’re back, we should cherish the moments that we have.

On the first day back, we were all so happy to see our friends and teachers in person not through a screen. At first, it was different to be around so many people, but you can easily get used to it as it’s everyone you know and the people who you can get along with. We got right back into classes and settled into our usual routine.

Even though it had been so long, nothing much has changed on the outside: it all looks the same and feels as if we had never left. But everyone knows that, a lot of adjustments have been made to ensure our safety. Before we enter a classroom, we must sanitize our hands, and we also need to make sure we are maintaining a safe social distance between one another.

But overall, we are satisfied to be back and hope everything will go back to normal soon.

Stay safe and stay healthy everyone!

Lauren and Kartik

Peer Support Leaders

Important Dates

Dates to Remember