Junior Secondary 

Year 9 at MECS

It is energising to listen to my Year 9 teachers speak of their love and passion for working with young people who are at this specific period in their lives. 

The stereotype may be that Year 9 students are ‘difficult’ or ‘challenging’, but what is also true and perhaps not celebrated enough is how rich and wonderful the opportunities are at this moment in their growth, development, and learning. 

As a Year 9 team we get to try and utilize their energy, passions, skills and interests and then corral them towards experiences that will challenge each one of them to discover what it means to actively live for God.

For over a decade MECS has run a class exclusively for Year 9 students that was designed to harness the natural angst experienced at this age of adolescence, with the goal of shaping our young people to have the skills and attributes that are desirable for future studies and the workforce. 

This class is called, 'Open Village' and from its inception it has been staffed with a dedicated team of teachers that have curated learning environments and experiences that promote creativity, and projects that are linked to the real world.

Open Village currently follows the natural break in our school year by framing each term specifically, with all terms forming a cohesive narrative that works to provide each student with an understanding of who they are, what the world around them is like, how that world has been shaped into what we see today, and their place within that layered narrative. 

This term our focus is 'community'. Beginning with their own community of all the Year 9 students and teachers, we branch out to look at other layers of community in their lives and the city of Melbourne. Students engage with projects and investigate different elements of communities, and additionally to their experience here on campus as we regularly meet as one large cohort – which is a learning experience in and of itself, they also spend time in Melbourne’s CBD on excursions and a week-long camp which is always an exciting highlight!

Tim Eddy

Year 9 Level Leader