Project Rockit

On Thursday, 18th April, Project Rockit completed a workshop to our Year 8 cohort. Project Rockit empowers students to create a culture that challenges bullying, both online and in person. Students were equipped with socially credible strategies to take action and unite together, instead of standing by. This was an important workshop where our students developed a shared understanding of bullying in it various forms, including online, verbal, physical and relational. Students built their understanding around why and how bullying occurs, their social responsibility to act with kindness and how to demonstrate empathy for those who are impacted by bullying. We encourage parents and our school community to continue to discuss the importance of safe online behaviour. Some useful strategies to support your child engaging online safely include:

Talk to your child about their digital identity - what goes online, stays there forever.
Know and monitor your child's online footprint - what social media sites are they using. Remember Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok require users to be at least 13 years old to hold an account.
Have a safe place to put phones and devices at bedtime. Do not leave them in your child’s room as this can impact their sleep.
Screenshot any bullying and threats online and report them using the report button on social media.
Talk to the school or Police if you still feel unsafe.
You may also report to the safety commissioner - https://www.esafety.gov.au/report/forms

MAT program

At the beginning of Term 2, a select group of students in year 8 and 9 have been involved in a 10-week MAT program. MAT, or ‘Martial Art Therapy’ is an active program that uses

the principles behind mental health, wellbeing, and emotional regulation, and combines them with therapeutic martial art training techniques. The students have been participating in games, stories, and martial art training and have shown a huge dedication to their learning. We hope by the end of the program, our students feel empowered to learn life skills, show perseverance and better manage challenges they may face in their life.

DEADLY TECH

On Thursday, 20th June, a group of our First Nations students were invited to Wyndahm Tech School to take part in a 'Deadly Tech Day'.

Students were greeted by Spot – the school’s Boston Dynamics robotic dog, who led them to a traditional Welcome to Country and smoking Ceremony.

Students then moved into the world of Virtual Reality, where they got to work in teams, communicating to defuse bombs through Virtual Reality headsets. Next, students learnt to program drones to perform targeted removal of invasive species which is becoming widely used in Agriculture. We finished our day exploring the world of Podcasts and interviewing the many First Nations mentors from various industries who support students throughout the day.

Year 8 SMASHED Workshop

On Tuesday, 28th May, the Year 8 students took part in a ‘SMASHED’ workshop run by Gibber Education. Dedicated to reducing underage alcohol consumption in Australia, the program explored a range of themes such as how peer pressure and relationships can affect choices, the health and safety risks of underage drinking, as well as how underage

drinking can affect future career aspirations. Our students were highly engaged in the theatre style performance that encouraged students to actively participate.

The production was a great way for our students to learn about how to make difficult choices in relatable and real-life situations.

Year 9 Trivia Afternoon

Early this term the year 9 coordinators, Miss Selman, Miss De Freitas, and Mrs Petridis,

put out a survey asking the Year 9 cohort what after school activity they would like to engage with. Students jumped at the chance to be with their friends and enjoy a little competition by selecting a trivia afternoon on Tuesday, 11th June.

The questions ranged from music and movies, to sport, before doing a “How well do you know Hoppers Crossing Secondary College?” round. All of our students who attended enjoyed a range of snacks and relished the possibility of winning one of the many different prizes! A ‘Heads or Tails’ quick round had students trying to win a ‘Make your own slime’

pack. The afternoon was filled with lots of fun, competition, and building strong, positive relationships with peers. The Year 9 coordinators are excited to see which activity will take place next when they put out a survey early next term!

Year 8 Silly Sports Afternoon

On Wednesday, 22nd May, the Year 8 students participated in a Silly Sports Afternoon. This involved a range of fun competitions which were run by our Year 8 Coordinators together with Senior VET Sport and Recreational students. The almost 50 students who attended rotated through a number of sporting competitions.

‘Fill the bucket’ was a particularly engaging game where 2 teams had to run across the basketball courts to fill a bucket with water using a waterlogged sponge. Another fun

activity was the oversized tug of war as well as the 'shirt relay' during which students raced each other in oversized clothing.

With such amazing participation and sportsmanship demonstrated by the students, it is no surprise that a number of awards such as, 'Best Cheer Squad', 'MVP' and 'Future Leader' were given out at the end of the day.

Well done to our Year 8 students!

Year 7 Trivia afternoon

On Thursday 30th May, Year 7 students were given the opportunity to participate in a Trivia Afternoon which offered fun and relationship building activities to celebrate the completion of their first semester at Hoppers Crossing Secondary College.

The 30 Year 7 students who attended the event were excited to show off their music, movie and general knowledge in pre-prepared teams. Students were highly competitive and challenged a number of answers, pushing for additional points so they could to try and win the prize at the end.

It was heartwarming to see how well our Year 7 students have built strong and positive relationships with their peers over the few short months they have been at high school. The Year 7 Coordinators are looking forward to more fun filled afternoons celebrating the successes of the cohort.

Year 9 exams

At the end of Semester 1 on 19th and 20th June, our Year 9 students completed their first set of exams at Hoppers Crossing Secondary College. Students completed 4 60-minute exams on their core subjects of English, Science, Humanities and Math over the 2-day period. The Year 9 Coordinators and Principals were all so extremely proud of how well our students behaved during this time and were so impressed to see the amount of effort each and every student put into their revision for their exams. Due to the effort we saw over the exam period, there was a celebratory BBQ organised for the students. We hope that our students reflect on their first exam period of their high school journey, and learn about how to best study and prepare for their future exams.

School for Student Leadership

Six Year 9 students were selected to spend a term at the Snowy River campus in Marlo for a leadership camp following an application and interview process. Th students learnt a range of lessons around leadership and then were able to embark on a range of outdoor activities including surfing, caving, mountain biking and hiking. These young leaders then showed the skills they have learnt in a showcase which Miss Binnion and Ms Selman attended where they also presented their community learning project. The students are going to be working closely with the local kindergarten to share their learnt skills with the children. We hope to see these students continue to build their leadership skills at Hoppers Crossing Secondary College throughout the year.

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