Secondary School

As we come to the end of our busy assessment period, I would like to thank all students for their effort and drive, and families for the support with logistics, revision, weariness and motivation.  

We have had wonderful communication regarding concerns which has allowed us to support students through this busy time; we are a school, and we are striving for excellence, but we are more than happy to apply accommodations as required.  I have seen so many examples over the last few weeks of a small adjustment making a significant impact on a student’s ability to complete an assessment and then achieve a great mark.

There are still a few assessments to be completed and I encourage all students to finish these last few well.

Thank you to all the Year Ten families who were able to join us on Tuesday evening for the Course Selection Parent Information session.  This point in time is an exciting chapter in students’ educational journey and we appreciate you taking the time to understand how it will work for this cohort.

News from our School Captains

At our Years Three to Twelve Assembly this week, Louis and Maddie had the following words for our community:

Louis

Good morning staff and students, 

I hope you all have had a good few weeks whilst Maddie and I have been doing our exams. We would like to firstly wish you all good luck with your own final few exams and tests before the end of term. It can be quite a stressful time, but remember holidays are not far away; giving us all time to rest and recharge. 

With the end of the term in sight, now is a chance to look back at what we have been able to accomplish this term. Just off the top of my head, I was able to think of The World’s Greatest Shave, The Biggest Morning Tea, Cross Country, The Push Up Challenge, Year Ten, Eleven and Twelve exams and we still have Country Week to look forward to. All these fundraisers, events, and milestones in one term is no easy feat, and I would like to thank everyone who contributed to making all this happen. 

Today’s assembly’s theme is integrity. On Friday, last week I found myself watching and playing some chess with Hamish King and a few of his friends in Year Five during my study period. It reminded me of when I first learnt to play chess, I would verse my Dad almost every day and each day he would show not much mercy to ten-year-old me and I would lose every game. But I kept playing and even though there were a few tears, I learned new tricks and strategies becoming better each game. Now I am a lot better at chess than him and we don’t play many games anymore. Today he says I’m too good to play now, and the roles have definitely reversed. 

I know chess may seem different but each day we are provided with new challenges and opportunities. These challenges and opportunities provide us with a new way to go about our lives, and new ways to be a better person towards ourselves and others. It's important that we all continue to keep learning from each other bringing the best out of others, and to live our lives the way we desire to.

Thank you.

Maddie

Good morning, everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend.

A few weeks ago, I was babysitting for a family friend and looking after their two sons for the afternoon. Their favourite show to watch is Bluey, an Australian favourite. One of the episodes they wanted to watch the other day was called ‘Shadowlands’. 

In this episode, Bluey, and his two friends, Coco and Snickers, are at the park and play a game where they try to make it back to the picnic blanket while only walking in areas with shadows. When it gets hard to avoid the sun, Coco asks Bluey if they can change the rules and pretend they didn’t leave the shadows. Bluey tells Coco that ‘you can’t just change the rules to make it easy this time’. In the end, they use their own shadows to cross to the picnic blanket without having to change the game.

As Louis mentioned, today’s assembly is based on integrity. The definition I can recite after many years of Mrs Franklin’s speeches is that integrity is doing the right thing when no one else is watching. This Bluey episode shows that perfectly, as well as doing the right thing when other people are around.

I think integrity also involves sticking to your own morals, your values, and beliefs of what is right and wrong. In the episode, Bluey sticks to her own beliefs that you shouldn’t change the rules even though it might be easier to do that, and it wouldn’t harm anyone. She also persuades Coco to act with integrity. It can be hard to stick to what you believe when other people are telling you different things, but it often pays off in the end.

Congratulations to everyone who is participating in the push-up challenge over the next month. We are currently six days in and it's great to see how many people have signed up to the event. Best of luck to all the country week teams in the final weeks of training and preparation, and to the Year Tens with the subject selection process for next year.

I hope you all have a great week. 

Thank you.

Peer Support

Our peer support program for Term Two wrapped up this week with Year Seven students reflecting on their time with the Year Eleven students. They made thankyou gifts and wrote messages to each leader.  We have enjoyed seeing the connections between the older and younger students as they move around the school.

News from Residential College’s in Perth

I received an email from Emily Archibald at St. George’s College this week and I have copied sections of it below.  I suspect that the other College’s are in the same position and I urge all Year Twelve students thinking of going to Perth next year to apply for a place at a College soon.

I am writing to inform you that St George’s College have once again received an overwhelming number of applications for Semester One, 2025 and will most likely have reached our capacity by the end of July/August. 

Please see following link to apply: https://stgc.uwa.edu.au/how-to-apply

I am sure you are already aware however please see details of how to access the means-tested Tertiary Access Payment (TAP) for regional students should you need to forward to anyone: Tertiary Access Payment - StudyAssist, Australian Government. 

Up to $5000 is available for students from outer regional or remote areas.

Mrs Victoria Turnor | Head of Secondary