Year 11
29 January marked the beginning of the VCE or VCAL journey for our Year 11 students. We welcomed new students and their families to the College and set about developing a cohesive Homeroom. The students were challenged to think about what they wanted for their last two years of secondary schooling and the best ways they could apply themselves to their learning.
To support the girls, past students returned to run workshops ranging from 'managing your time' to 'how to best write notes'. Many great ideas were given as well as handy hints for coping with stress that may crop up in the next two years. One of the common themes was to be resilient and ask lots of questions!
On that note I attended an online workshop with Andrew Fuller where he spoke about how to build resilience in Year 11. Some key learnings for students were:
Organisation and Time - setting up a study plan and seeking support when you are finding topics difficult to understand.
Stress - incorporating anxiety reduction methods into your life. He suggested that mindfulness approaches are useful but for some students with more active anxiety, reduction can also take place by going for a brisk walk.
Energy - getting the recommended hours of sleep, as many students are sleep deprived and overly dependent on social media. Ensuring that you are fuelling your body to release energy throughout the day.
Andrew Fuller : Capitalising on Neuroplasticity
These are the focus for some of our pastoral sessions this year. Already some students are finding planning their time a little difficult, so with their Homeroom teachers, they will develop a plan for themselves.
Our theme for the year is Wonder: Celebrating all that is good with joy and gratitude and there are many things that we can celebrate already.
I, for one think, the students need to celebrate their ability to adapt to change. Last year posed many modifications to the timetable and style of learning but we made it! This year we are back onsite (albeit we did have a brief remote period recently), which means we are able to reconnect with each other. Seeing real faces (even if we are behind masks), saying "Hello" in the corridor, having a discussion in class, enjoying lunch together in the sunshine, having new subjects to discover and explore, are all things to enjoy. I feel blessed that I am able to continue to work with this year level who have demonstrated such resilience over the past twelve months. May we continue to wonder and celebrate throughout this year.
Sue Dempster
Level Leader:
Year 11