The Quaerite Wellbeing Program

The Quaerite wellbeing program for Term 4 in Year 9 has focused on ‘Physical and Mental Wellbeing.’ This involved students participating in a variety of workshops such as; mindfulness, a group fitness class with Year 9 parent Holly Mayer, team sports and time for individual reflection by writing letters to their future selves. The culmination of their year will see Year 9s participate in a Health and Wellness Challenge. Students will be participating in a variety of activities such as a workshop with the St Kilda AFLW team, beach activities, a tour of the MCG and creating delicious and nutritious meals with our Food Technology team.

As well as this, a key focus for the term was the students participating in service learning. Students did an amazing job collecting books for the charity Australian Books for Children of Africa. Once the books were collected, a wonderful group of our students sorted, stamped and boxed books, ready to be shipped off to a beautiful school in Kenya.

Our wonderful peer support leaders have done an exceptional job working with our incoming Year 7 cohort for 2024. I wish to thank our current Middle Years Coordinator Mr Tristan Hill and our incoming Year 7 Coordinator Miss Estelle Avgerinos for their support of this program.

This semester, a group of Year 9 students have been working as reading leaders, for our EAL (English as an Additional Language) students in Junior School. The EAL reading leader program involves our Year 9s spending a lunch time, once a week, assisting junior school students with reading. This is the first time the school has piloted this program, and it has been wonderful to see friendships form between our Year 9s and Junior School students. I wish to thank Ms Audrey Li for her work on this and the work of our leaders: Cindy L, Olivia, Sophie, Diya, Lucy, Millie M, Milly V, Cindy M, Asher K, Lizzie, Chengcheng, Sahej and Annabelle.

Lastly, I want to express my gratitude to this wonderful year level and the way they have continued to show up each day with enthusiasm and be proud Shelfordians. It has been my privilege to be Year 9 Coordinator for the past three years at this magnificent school and I wish to thank each of the families and their girls for making my time at Shelford, the most wonderful in my 16 years of teaching. I hope in some way I have helped each of your Year 9s enjoy this special year of secondary schooling. I have loved working with each cohort and to say I will miss working with you all, is an understatement.

With every best wish for a peaceful summer and wonderful festive season.

Monique Sheehy

Year 9 Coordinator