Principal's Report
As we approach the end of another busy term, it’s a great opportunity to pause and reflect on some of the great opportunities that our students have had across the college in recent weeks.
Exam Week:
Last week, many of our VCE students participated in exam week. This included the GAT (General Achievement Test) on Tuesday, as well as a range of Unit 3 Practice Exams throughout the week. As usual, our students were prepared and conducted themselves well throughout exam week. Well done to everyone who participated in these exams.
We are sure that these will support you in your preparation for the end of year exam period.
Semester Two:
Last week was also the beginning of Semester Two. For some of our students, this may mean that they now have some different subjects to engage with. For a lot of subject areas, the start of the new semester represents the beginning of new units / areas of study in the classroom.
Semester One reports will be published this Friday afternoon (28/06).
Central Australia Camp:
72 of our Year 11 students are currently in the Northern Territory, participating in our annual Central Australia Camp. So far, everything has gone smoothly and the group has had an amazing time in Alice Springs and surrounds. We have heard that on Sunday night, students were able to stand under the stars and learn about Constellations. And some students were even brave enough to sleep outside in their swags.
I think that you will agree that the photos below look incredible.
We look forward to hearing a comprehensive report from students and staff once they return.
Work Experience:
A large number of our Year 10 students are currently participating in Work Experience for the week. Work Experience is a short-term placement which provides students with the valuable opportunity to develop employability skills, explore possible career options, understand employer expectations and increase their self-understanding, maturity, independence and self-confidence.
Our current Year 10 cohort are gaining experience across a wide range of industries.
This includes: sales, construction, medical, retail, education, legal, hospitality, manufacturing, animals, beauty, hairdressing and accounting.
The Resilience Project:
As part of our whole-school approach to wellbeing, a reminder that our school is continuing to engage with The Resilience Project. This has included several professional learning opportunities for our staff, the use of The Resilience Project lessons and activities throughout our ASPIRE program and the use of a range of GEM (gratitude, empathy and mindfulness) practices throughout a range of subject areas. Year 7-10 students also have a range of The Resilience Project resources throughout their student planners. If you have not checked these out already, I encourage you to explore these with your child(ren).
A key element of The Resilience Project program is to get young people to identify the positive things that are happening in their lives each day – whether they are big or small. Developing some gratitude-based practices can support individuals in experiencing more positive emotions.
A simple change that you can make at home: When you see your child after school each day, instead of asking questions such as “How was your day?” or “What happened at school today?”. Simply ask “What went well for you today?”.
This simple shift in language naturally leads your child to identify positive aspects of their day and can therefore lead to unconsciously looking out for ‘good things’ that happen each day. This can be quite powerful.
If you happen to have any success with this or any other gratitude practices, we would love to hear about them!
Last Day of Term:
Just a reminder that this Friday the 28th of June is the final day of Term Two and the dismissal time is 2.30pm. Students will return for the first day of Term 3 on Monday the 15th of July.
We wish all of our students and families a safe and happy school holiday period.
Aaron Palmer
Assistant Principal – Director of Wellbeing