Middle Years News

Middle Year Awards Ceremony

Each year, students in our Middle Years come together to recognise and celebrate student achievements at our annual Award Ceremony for Years 6 to 9. In previous years, this ceremony also recognised the graduation of Year 9 students from Middle Years heading into to Senior Years. Due to the restructure of our campus next year into Primary (Prep to Year 6) and Secondary (Years 7 to 12) Years, we will no longer celebrate this transition between sub-schools as a ‘graduation’.

Instead, students in Year 9 will receive a certificate that recognises their academic completion of the IB Middle Years Program at our College. Parents and guardians are welcome to attend this ceremony and witness their child receive their Year 9 MYP Certificate if they wish to attend. If you choose to do so, you are asked to arrive at the College Office by 1.35pm, where you will be ushered to the College Gymnasium.

Steven Tkaczuk

Head of Middle Years

Year 6 Theatre Tournament

The room was filled with laughter as students watched their peers participate in the Theatre Tournament. The Year 6 students had to think on their feet as they faced many rounds of improvisation challenges! The tournament included the 'Alphabet Challenge' (where students need to complete a scenario whilst using every letter of the alphabet), 'Death in a minute' (improvise a death within a minute based on a given scenario) and 'Pockets' (working random lines written on a paper into their scenario). Well done all!

Year 8 Hanging Rock Excursion

On 22 November, Year 8 students had the opportunity to visit Hanging Rock as part of their Earth Sciences unit. The visit was the culmination of their learning on rocks and crystals. They participated in a guided ranger tour of the Summit Walk and planned activities at Hanging Rock Reserve. Did you know that Hanging Rock is the result of a volcanic eruption, dating back to the Late Miocene age (about 6 million years ago)?

Dealing with Change

Dealing with change is a skill that is developed over time and is important to learn. Disappointment can affect the way that an individual views their current settings and impacts their ability to maintain a positive mindset. Being able to manage change successfully leads to the development of strategies that influence a person’s ability to be resilient towards new and unfamiliar situations.

As we move towards a new year of learning in 2024, some students can become concerned about their social groupings in new learning environments. To help build your young person’s ability to become resilient when impacted by new situations/environments, parents/guardians play a critical role. Ideas of how to manage change and build capacity in your young person include:

Creating positive dialogue – view change as an opportunity to meet new people. Learning to work with an array of people is an essential life skill.
New cohorts of students allow for new experiences. Every year is different and new groupings provide new possibilities.
Ideas of how to effectively manage the feeling of anxiousness or uncertainty. Explore the reason why a person may feel this way? Is a minor concern not being addressed?
Encourage your child to share their concerns with you and help build capacity to cope with these concerns
Reinforce that time is required to get used to change / adjustments and to keep an open mind to new situations
Remind your child that learning to deal with change, and perhaps even disappointment, is something that helps build resilience, as well as capacity, and helps nurture a positive mindset for future dealings

For further ideas about how to support the dialogue about disappointment that may occur as a result of change, please view the link attached.

https://goodnews.vic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-dealing-disappointment

In addition to the above link, you will find many useful parental strategies which have been created by world experts, on the Good New Lutheran College website page under ‘School TV’.

Steven Tkaczuk

Head of Middle Years