Year 7 News

Welcome!

We would like to warmly welcome our Year 7 families to the 2026 school year. It has been wonderful to see how quickly students have settled into secondary school life, and we have been incredibly impressed with their positive attitude and willingness to learn new routines. Students are becoming more confident using their locks and are already getting much faster each day. They are navigating moving between classrooms, reading their timetables, and adjusting to new expectations with growing independence. It has also been lovely to see new friendships forming as students connect with their peers and teachers. Students are quickly learning to navigate COMPASS and online learning platforms, while building positive and responsible habits when using technology. Overall, they have made a very strong and encouraging start to the year. 

Year 7 Team

We would like to acknowledge and welcome our wonderful Year 7 team, who have worked collaboratively to create a supportive, engaging and positive start to the year.

Helen Brown – Year 7 Team Leader

Paris Werner – Disability Inclusion Learning Specialist

Tom Kindellan - Advocate

Russell White

Rachael Dodd

Dee Roberts

Akira Ramparsadh

Courtney Lee

Isabelle Lynch-Berends

Chris Gretton

Resilience and Relationships

This year, we have continued our partnership with The Resilience Project to support delivery of the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships component of the curriculum. In recent weeks, our Year 7 students have been exploring emotional literacy through a range of engaging and enjoyable activities, including Tiny Teddies and Emoji Celebrity Heads. Each student has also received a 12-month journal to assist with tracking healthy habits, building wellbeing awareness, and supporting organisation for school.

Year 7 BBQ

Thank you to all of our Year 7 families who attended the recent Year 7 BBQ. It was wonderful to see so many families connecting with staff and one another, helping to build a strong and welcoming school community. We would also like to sincerely thank our staff for their time, effort and organisation in preparing and running such a successful and enjoyable event.

On Wednesday the 4th of February, year 7 families were invited to a barbeque to get to know some of the teachers and branch out into the Kurnai community. The night commenced at 5:30pm and continued until about 7:00pm. Students were able to walk around or just hang out with their friends in front of the Year 7 Centre.

At the BBQ, parents could meet their child’s teachers, while eating burgers or sausages topped with delicious coleslaw. Kurnai children also showed their parents around the school, pointing out where all their classes were. In the midst of the fun, you could listen to the Year 11 band, who played fantastic songs with lovely singing. Fun games were also around for everyone to play with, including spike ball and ring toss.

We hope that everyone who came had a fabulous time, and we look forward to seeing more new families next year!

By Adelaide and Penelope 

Our Start to Secondary School

New Halls, New Beginnings 

Throughout our first weeks of high school, we’ve experienced many different things compared to primary school such as: moving around between periods, more diverse specialist subjects like woodworks, cooking and music, where we get to really learn the instruments that we play. We have also overcome a few struggles like learning our locker codes and finding our classes. 

Another thing when we started high school was stepping out of our comfort zones to meet new faces and make new friends. We have enjoyed finishing the day 30 minutes earlier than our old school. Having harder subjects is great so we can challenge ourselves to try things we haven’t before. There are also a few programs all students can sign up for like the Aspiring Athletes program and the ALPS (Advanced Learning Program). 

By Kobe and Jackson 

A New Chapter Begins

As soon as we walked into high school, the nerves started to kick in. The lockers at the start were hard to do but eventually got easy in the first few days. The transitioning classes every hour was confusing, but we got there in the end. We found out that reading the timetables/schedules became easy if you knew what the day of the week was. Surprisingly, the learning isn’t that hard, yet everyone exaggerates that it is so hard.

In the end, high school has been enjoyable and I’m looking forward to seeing out the rest of my years here.

By Will and Beau 

Student Representative Council Members

Students were recently given the opportunity to apply for Student Representative Council (SRC) positions. We were very pleased to receive a large number of thoughtful and enthusiastic applications, demonstrating students’ willingness to contribute to our school community. As part of the process, applicants wrote a letter to Mrs Brown outlining the strengths, ideas and qualities they would bring to the role. We congratulate the successful candidates listed below and thank all students who took the time to apply. 

Congratulations to 

Adelaide Cleaver

Shaylah Elphick

Sebastian Kohn

Oriana Schiafone

Upcoming Events

Miss Dodd has been busy organising the School Sports Victoria Term 1 Events. Students can sign up on the sheets in the Year 7 Locker Bay, please encourage your children to participate and to check in with Miss Dodd if they have any questions. Available sports include tennis, volleyball, softball and cricket. 

College Wide Athletics Day – 3rd of March. Students are encouraged to wear the colour of the house they are in. If they aren’t sure what house they are in, you can check on compass or students can ask a member of the Year 7 team. 

Kurnai Positive Acknowledgements (KPAs)

Our Year 7 students have been enjoying earning KPAs and spending them at the KPA Shop. As a cohort, they set a goal to reach over 2,000 KPAs in the first three weeks of term and successfully achieved an impressive total of 2,232. Congratulations to all Year 7 students for contributing to this fantastic result, and a special shout-out to our top KPA holders for their outstanding effort and positive contributions.

Paige McKinnon           

Declan McKenzie         

Jessican Pearson        

Ashton Parker                

Jaden Campbell           

Leah Gruis                       

Scout Close                    

Jayden Bond                   

Jaxx Wright                       

Emma McKay                 

Mason Hinds                  

Hunter Yacoub              

AJ Piri-Revell                   

Learning Behaviour Updates (LBUs)

Teachers are currently completing students’ first Learning Behaviour Updates. These provide a valuable opportunity for families to check in on how students are engaging and performing in the classroom. Learning Behaviour Updates will be published on COMPASS, and families will receive a notification once they are available. Please note that these updates do not reflect academic achievement; they are based entirely on students’ learning dispositions and behaviours. Students will receive a score out of 4 for each subject, this will then be averaged out to create a final LBU score. 

Contact Details

If you have any questions or concerns regarding Year 7 students, please don’t hesitate to contact me on (03) 5165 0600 - option 3 or via email at helen.brown@education.vic.gov.au