Student Engagement
Koonung Secondary College
Year 10 Mentors
At the end of 2023 a group of 38 students completed training Peer Mentorship training to enable them to lead and build connections with our Middle School students. This year they have been active members of the school fostering connections with new students to the college, this includes students arriving from different schools and also our year 7 cohort.
Raise Program
Term two saw the beginning of the Raise program. It has been great to see the 8 students out of their comfort zone so far this term with Raise. As an observer of the program I have enjoyed watching the group activities and seeing how our students connect with others in the program.
As a part of the Raise program we will be hearing from the group of Mentees, to see what Raise looks like from the inside. Here is Victor’s perspective of Raise so far this term!
In Raise, which is Year 8 Mentor/Mentee program, we have met our mentors after a group session that we call "Jitters" as we, the mentees, and the mentors meet for the first time and are nervous.
In Week 3, we met the mentor that would be with us for the entire program. We would talk, and talk, and talk, about the things we like, and the things we don't, about the things that make us happy, and sad, about the things in life that helps us grow up, about the things that make us who we are.
Raise so far is a wonderful program that helps Year 8’s learn and grow to be the people they want to be as an adult. We look forward to the wonderful activities that will take place with our mentors and we will be sad to see them go.
Victor Adams
Year 8
Welcome to the School to our new Students:
On Friday, February 23, the Year 10 peer mentors went to a pizza lunch where we met Middle-year students new to Koonung this year! We introduced ourselves to the new students as leaders they can come to if they need advice or a friend. We ate yummy pizza and discussed how nerve-racking starting at a new school can be, and as an ice breaker, we wrote down our favourite and least favourite things about school on post-it notes we then got to throw them at each other and read aloud what the "snowball" said anonymously to help calm the nerves of the news students so they could see they are not alone and everyone is nervous starting at a new school.
By Poppy Taylor
Welcome to the School to our new Students:
Moving to a new school can be a daunting task, keeping up with new systems, getting used to the campus layout, and especially, making new friends. You see, taking the first step, and talking to someone is hard as a new student ( I would know as somebody who attended 5 different schools during JUST my Primary years), and so we; the peer mentoring team tried our best to ease up that first step.
The lunch got off to a bit of a rocky, or rather, silent start, but as the food and drinks rolled in, along with a few ice-breaker activities, people started warming up, it was great to see students going from standing idly, to moving around and forming their own groups! And I even found myself a new friend! (Shoutout to Alan!) However, I do have a confession, if anybody participating noticed a shortage of drinks, it's probably because I spilled a few (or perhaps a bit more than a few.
By Ahmad Abdullah
Coming Up in Student Engagement
- We will be hearing from Rae and Elsa from the Raise program!
- FAAB Health Lunch time Workshop – 17 May
- Push-Challenge Fundraiser Night (More details coming soon!) 28 May
- Women in Leadership Forum 24 May
- Next Newsletter – We will be hearing from Rae and Elsa from the Raise Program
Kirby Sens
Learning Specialist - Student Engagement Programs Leader