Surviving Term 1 of Year 7

Ava: Starting at Wollert SC was such a good experience, because we were not expected to just know how to follow our schedules straight away - for the first week we had a special schedule to help us find our way around and get to know everyone. All the teachers are nice, and it’s great having our Connect teacher for so many subjects, because it means they get to know you well, and how you learn best.

Lena: It’s a busy term, with fun events like camp, Athletics Day, and Harmony Day. It was also so nice to have the Year 7 BBQ, where lots of families came to meet each other and the teachers. We have also been working very hard, including NAPLAN testing this term. It’s been a new experience to try a lot of high school subjects, such as music, humanities, and science in a lab! We look forward to coming to school each day, because it’s a great place with kind teacher and nice students. Looking forward to Term 2, whatever it may bring!

New Subject: Italian

Amelia: Ciao Wollert community! This term, we have started to learn Italian. When we started this new subject, we learnt how to say ‘hello’ and ‘how are you?’ During the term, we continued to numbers and eventually the days of the week.

Aishani: Ciao a tutti, speriamo che vi sia piaciuto imparare l'italiano questo trimestre! It was great to see so many students thriving in Italian and learning new things such as saying hello to starting a mini conversation. We have started small, but our learning has grown over time. Maybe it will inspire our students to travel the world and visit Italy one day. Grazie Signora Cosoletto and Signora Rogers for teaching our Italian lessons!

Clubs: Reclink

Aliyah: Reclink runs Wednesday lunchtime in the gym. Two staff from Reclink join us each week and run different activities for our cohort. This year the focus has been soccer because it’s always popular!

Malak: In 2023 the activities also included dodgeball, basketball and pickleball, so we are sure there will be a range of fun things to join in on as the year progresses!

Clubs: Art Club

Amelia: Art Club runs at Tuesday lunchtime in the Tarwin building, with Amanda and Alicia supporting. It’s a great, fun space that supports our creativity and our wellbeing! We have made stress balls with playdough and balloons, as well as paper lanterns and rainbow scratch art. We also work on special projects- this term’s main project was a sign for Harmony Day.

Fatemah: One of the great things about Art Club is seeing people in different contexts and realising how artistic we all can be. It’s also great to interact between the Year 7s and Year 8s. Anyone who is interested in giving this a try should come along to the Arts Club on Tuesdays next term.

Clubs: Gardening Club

Fatemah: Another great opportunity to be involved with is Gardening Club, which runs on a Monday and Thursday lunchtime in the Yarra building. Ms Fletcher does an amazing job of supporting us and is always finding new ways for us to engage! This club has grown so much since last year, which is exciting as it increases the chances of more plants in our garden!

Amelia: The garden beds are located alongside Yarra building and include a rotation of plants and vegetables depending on the season. Right now, the main plants growing are pumpkins. We also do fun little projects, such as creating fairy gardens, sustainable crafts, and a garden club mural. Everyone is welcome to join us.

Clubs: Breakfast Club

Ariana: Breakfast Club has started up again and is held every Friday morning at 8.00 in the Redgum kitchen.

Jonavette: Everyone is welcome to attend, and enjoy delicious food like pancakes, toast, milo, cereal, and toasted sandwiches. It’s great way to start the day, and to make Fridays feel fun.

Sport: Athletics Day

Una: Athletics Day happened early in the year and included many track and field events. The events ran for the whole day, and everyone got involved and tried out new events. In fact, there was such high engagement that we ran out of time to finish the 1500m and the relay!

Isabella: Lots of students dressed up in house colours, and everyone was supportive, cheering on their teams and their friends. In the end, Tarwin House scored the most points and won the Athletics Cup for 2024.

Sport: Interschool Sports

Malak: There have been several interschool sports events this term, including Volleyball, Tennis, Swimming and Cricket. Everyone participated well, and we had some great successes We were especially proud of everyone’s supportive team spirit.

Ariana: The Girls Volleyball made it to finals but were unsuccessful in the last round. In tennis we won many of the local games and are waiting to find out if we are successful in going to region.

Extra-Curricular: Year 7 Camp

Jonavette: Camp was fun, spending time with our friends while participating in different activities. We arrived very early to get on the bus and travelled to Maru Koala and Animal Park where we saw lots of animals. We got to feed the kangaroos which was very exciting, and one of the handlers held a snake - which is a big no!

Pola: Then we checked into camp before going on a clifftop walk. The view was pretty, but we apparently walked too fast, which meant we were stuck on the beach for an hour! Back at camp we had a trivia night (which my team won), and then we pretended to sleep…

Jonavette: The next day was super busy, with bowling and laser tag, then Clip n climb. After that we headed to Amaze n things where some people got lost in the mirror maze… and the outside maze… we also checked out magic and illusions and got to play mini golf. That night we played some sports before bed.

Pola: On the last day, we toured the chocolate factory and got free samples- my Favorite! Then we went to see the pelican feeding, but there was only one pelican. However the sting rays came right up to the shore, which was cool and kind of scary. Then it was back on the bus and home for heaps of sleep!

Extra-Curricular: Clean Up Australia Day

Aliyah: On the 1st of March, all the year 8s picked up rubbish within the school and in the outside perimeter. We worked in teams to collect the most rubbish, working for a class pizza lunch!

Haydar: We were so keen to win that some people even risked getting stabbed by prickly bushes, and others came back to school with literal shopping trolleys full of rubbish. We wanted to do this day to take care of our environment and our school.

Extra-Curricular: Invigor8

Ashveer: Congratulations to our Year 8 students who have been successful in their application to join the Invigor8 program. One morning a week, these students take part in activities related to their chosen areas of work, in either trades, or sport and hospitality. This is an amazing opportunity, and we wish them well.

Celebrations: International Women’s Day

Aishani: At Wollert SC we believe it is important to celebrate all types of diversity. We acknowledged this on International Women’s Day, as we considered all the possibilities that women could achieve!

Jonavette: We discussed that, no matter their gender, everyone deserves equal treatment and opportunities. We also reflected on women who have had a positive impact on our lives.

Celebrations: Harmony Day

Ava: For Harmony Day, students were invited to wear something related to their cultural background, or to wear orange, the colour of Harmony. All students participated in an incursion. For Year 7s, this was an African Drumming Workshop. It was fun to learn about African culture, including some Ghanaian words, and the many different instruments they play. Everyone enjoyed the drumming sections, and we were also challenged to be brave, by getting up and dancing!

Haydar: The Year 8s met an Italian man who told his papa’s story of coming to Australia from Italy and knowing no English. He talked about the challenges he went through, is an Italian dance. At lunch time, the dancing continued, with heaps of people joining in for cultural karaoke, which became a dance party. Meanwhile other students joined the Gardening Club to do some craft activities. Harmony Day is a great chance to share their culture and learn more about different people.