Year 9 News

Dear families and carers,

Welcome to Year 9! We have had a busy start to the school year in building A, welcoming the new cohort of students to the space, launching all of our new electives, and participating in our engagement program, CONNECT.

The Year 9 team, comprising Linda McGloin, Sonja Burnham, Ash MacLennan and Nia, is looking forward to working with you all to support and encourage our students throughout the year.

Year 9 is an exciting year of growth, exploration and connection. Within our program, we have a focused day called CONNECT. This year, Wednesday will be focused on building links with our community, strengthening skills, and participating in a range of incursions, excursions, and programs. In term 1 we build and develop skills, in term 2 and 4, we focus on Immersive electives and throughout term 3 we have dedicated City Experience program.

Our students have started out strong with their commitment to maintaining perfect attendance. We would like to acknowledge and commend the following students who have 100% attendance:

Since our return to school, we have begun our exploration in Connect on self and connection to culture. As part of this unit of work, all Year 9 students cast their handprints on the wall at the entrance to building A. Our Year 9’s continue to collaborate, participate and celebrate through their CONNECT class activities and the weekly CONNECT CUP challenge. Last week, our students made the longest paper chain in the allotted time. 9D took out the honours, closely followed by 9H and 9E. This week, all students participated in programs organised by our Well-being staff, focusing on relationships, societal expectations and belonging. ‘Mancave’ and ‘the Workshop’ were run by external facilitators and developed resilience and collaboration.

Looking ahead

We are looking forward to our Immersive Elective taster sessions in the coming weeks, during which students will participate in 8 learning opportunities running throughout term 2.

Our role as the Year 9 Leadership Team is to guide and support both students and staff throughout the year. While your child’s CONNECT Teacher will remain their first point of contact for day-to-day matters, we are here to assist with any serious or major concerns that may arise.

We thank you for your continued support and involvement and look forward to learning with and from your child in year 9.