Dear Families, Students and Community Members,

Term 3 traditionally sees in the darker, colder weather which can have an impact on the motivation of our students. However, the students have dealt with all challenges thrown toward them in an impressive manner and have continued to uphold the school values of personal best, integrity, respect & responsibility.

It really has been a jam-packed term for the Middle School.

Our Year 7’s have certainly found their place in secondary school and have begun to establish a strong sense of connectedness to Mordialloc College, which will only grow stronger as they make their way through the years until it is their time to lead the school as Year 12’s. It may feel like a long way to go, but just ask our current Year 12’s and they will tell you it actually flies by!

Earlier in the school year, our Year 7’s were involved in mental health workshops, which provided them with some great strategies and tools to cope with the increasing expectations relating to school work and just as important, the shift in the social groups. This can be a difficult and confusing time for young people, and we have seen students utilising these strategies throughout the year.

Our Year 8’s are beginning to demonstrate an increasing level of maturity that goes along with the understanding that they will be the leaders within the Middle School next year, and our incoming Year 7’s will look up to them as role models. We will be beginning the process for the election of Middle School captains at the start of Term 4, and it will be exciting to see which students grab the opportunity to represent and lead the Middle School.

They also took part the S(mac)talk incursion, during which they were able to understand how important it is to remain safe while having an online/social media footprint.

This term we have had students from the Middle School represent Mordialloc College in State Cross Country – performing unbelievably well with our girls team taking out the win the second year running.

Year 7’s and 8’s continue to engage in their weekly sports, with those teams who get to represent Mordialloc against other schools having some great performances and always showing a high level of respect and sportsmanship toward their opponents. On the sporting front, Mordialloc had a number of Middle School students represent the school at district and state athletic events, during which Mordialloc experienced great success in a number of track and field events.

The Year 9’s have been working away and seem to be relatively settled. It has been a term in which they have engaged in Morrisby testing, giving them an insight into potential pathways, and then engaging in Course Confirmation during which they were able to make some important decisions about their Year 10 course and pathway moving into Senior School. They will also be engaging in the Toolbox program in week 5 which will provide them with more support as they finish Year 9 and enter into the Senior School. It is always an exciting time and gives them that boost of motivation moving into Term 4.

A highlight for Year 9 was the Man Cave and Big Sister Experience workshops which were held during Term 2. A whole day of workshops led by inspiring men and women who were able to provide strategies to build resilience and build a sense of connectedness. It was impressive to see the vast majority of students engaging in these workshops, making connections with the presenters and each other and gaining some important insights into themselves and those around them. The feedback from the presenters was overwhelmingly positive, they absolutely loved working with our students. The same can be said about the feedback they received from our students from the post-workshop surveys they completed.

The school production ‘Grease – School Edition’ has excellent representation from Middle School students which is great to see. This has been in rehearsals for the last few months and is finally upon us. Opening night is Wednesday the 13th August and all shows have already been sold out.

I would like to thank the Year Level Coordinators for their work over the year so far in supporting our students, and we all look forward to seeing our students continue to grow as the years progress.

Brendan McFarland

Director of Middle School

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