CONNECT News
Kelsey LAUGHLIN
Year 9 Coordinator
Connect Learning Area Leader
Classroom Teacher
Connect is our newly redeveloped program, previously known as Focus Group. Connect is built on three pillars, Connecting to Self, Connecting to Community and Connecting to our Future. As we enter our seventh week of Term 1, we would love to share to our Highvale Community what has been happening in this space! But first, some important information to share about our ‘WHY’ behind some of the key changes for this program.
In 2025, staff, parents and students were invited to give feedback through a survey on their visions for ‘The Highvale Graduate’. Specifically, the skills, competencies and dispositions students could achieve after their Highvale schooling journey. Skills such as communication, interpersonal skills, perseverance and practical life skills were some of the most popular findings. Dispositions such as kindness, confidence and a growth mindset were also common finding across all year levels.
This data was collated and informed our next steps to build a new Highvale mission and vision as well as our Connect Purpose Statement, ‘To develop a connected community who experience personal growth and seize opportunities to create a positive future for themselves and others.’
The data findings also allowed staff to begin redesigning a meaningful scope and sequence that aligned with the updated Victorian 2.0 curriculum (Personal, Social Capabilities, Ethical Capabilities and Critical and Creative Thinking descriptors). Connect also has scheduled year level assemblies and house assemblies at the beginning of each term or around key house whole-school events to build our connection to the many communities that our students are a part of as a member of our Highvale Community. We also have some high-quality initiatives and partnerships that we will continue to engage with in our Connect Program.
Here is a snippet about what has been happening in Connect at each Year Level.
Year 7 Connect:
Our Year 7 students have been completing a Peer Support program led by trained Year 10 student peer support leaders who design and facilitate interactive activities and lessons for their peers. Each week focuses on a specific topic that promotes social, emotional, and academic growth. This links to our pillar, Connecting to Community.
Year 8 Connect:
Over the past few weeks, Year 8 students have been completing a character strengths and emotional literacy unit which links to our pillar, Connecting to Self. Students began by setting SMART goals and then completed their own character strengths survey. In follow-up classes, students will expand their emotional vocabulary by making connections between positive emotions and character strengths, while also reflecting on how their strengths can influence their interactions and relationships with others.
Year 9 Connect:
Our Year 9 students began the year creating a vision board for their goals for 2026! The last few weeks have been learning to prepare for Morrisby assessments and practice for NAPLAN. Follow up lessons have been explicit teaching around growth mindset, perseverance and grit and the behaviours that demonstrate these skill sets. No doubt skills that will help them move through these upcoming tests! Good luck to all our Year 7 and Year 9 students for their NAPLAN testing!
Year 10 Connect:
Year 10 students have explored what it means to show respect for self through lessons on goal setting, time management and planning. Through self-reflection and discussion, students have identified their strengths and set meaningful personal and learning goals. Students have also investigated the connects to future pillar through guided lessons to plan for work experience.
Year 11 Connect:
Over the past few weeks, our Year 11 students have been exploring key VCAA and Highvale Secondary College VCE/Senior School processes and procedures, including expectations around attendance, assessment requirements, and the support available to them throughout their senior years.
After laying the groundwork of the Senior School, students are now investigating how the brain learns and stores memory. This knowledge is helping them develop more effective study strategies, both individually and collaboratively, as they prepare for the academic challenges ahead.
Year 12 Connect:
Our Year 12 cohort have begun their Connect Program connecting to their future. They have started the year putting together their Career Action Plans along with learning about VTAC. They have been on their Year 12 Camp and now move to lessons encouraging critical thinking skills around reflecting on their strengths and improvements for work habits, how they manage their time and working memory strategies. These active reflections and explicit teachings around working memory will hopefully set our Year 12 students up for a successful 2026 academic year!
What’s happening in Term 2?
All students from Years 7-11 will engage in a one-hour presentation from The Cyber Safety Project in May. More communication on this will be provided closer to the date.