Middle School Update

Dear Members of the Mordialloc College Community,

Once again, we find ourselves on the eve of the September school holidays, at the end of a term that always presents challenges in the form of cold weather and what feels like a lengthy spell. That being said, the students have dealt with all challenges thrown toward them in an impressive manner and have continued to uphold the School Values of Personal Best, Integrity, Respect and Responsibility.

It really has been a jam-packed term for the Middle School.

Our Year 7s have certainly found their place in secondary school and are beginning to establish a strong sense of connectedness to Mordialloc College, which will only grow stronger as they make their way through the years until it is their time to lead the school as Year 12s. It may feel like a long way to go, but just ask the Year 12s of 2023 and they will tell you it actually flies by!

Year 7s have been involved in mental health workshops, which provided them with some great strategies and tools to cope with the increasing expectations relating to school work and, just as importantly, the shift in the social groups which, as we know, can be a difficult and confusing time for young people. The feedback from the students suggests these were an excellent resource to have access to. 

Our Year 8s are beginning to demonstrate an increasing level of maturity that goes along with the understanding that they will be the leaders within the Middle School next year, and our incoming Year 7s will look up to them as role models. We will be beginning the process for the election of Middle School captains at the start of Term 4, and it will be exciting to see which students grab the opportunity to represent and lead the Middle School.

They also took part the Toolbox incursion, during which they were able to develop skills relating to conflict resolution and managing difficult emotions. 

This term we have had students from the Middle School represent Mordialloc College in State Cross Country – performing unbelievably well with our girls' team taking out the win.

Year 7s and 8s continue to engage in their weekly sports, with those teams who get to represent Mordialloc against other schools having some great performances and always showing a high level of respect and sportsmanship toward their opponents. On the sporting front, Mordialloc had a number of Middle School students represent the school at district and state athletic events, during which Mordialloc experienced great success in a number of track and field events.

The Year 9s have been working away and seem to be relatively settled. It has been a term in which they have engaged in Morrisby testing, giving them an insight into potential pathways, and then engaging in course confirmation during which they were able to make some important decisions about their Year 10 course and pathway moving into Senior School. It is always an exciting time and gives them that boost of motivation moving into Term 4.

Probably the highlight of the term for Year 9 was the Man Cave and Big Sister Experience Workshops held just recently. These were a whole day of workshops led by inspiring men and women, who were able to provide strategies to build resilience and a sense of connectedness. It was impressive to see the vast majority of students engaging in these workshops, making connections with the presenters and each other and gaining some important insights into themselves and those around them. The feedback from the presenters was overwhelmingly positive - they absolutely loved working with our students. The same can be said about the feedback they received from our students from the post-workshop surveys they completed.

The school production Bully had an excellent representation of Middle School students which is great to see, and was a huge success with all shows playing to sold out audiences. Congratulations and well done to all the Middle School students involved in the show.

I would like to thank the Year Level coordinators for their work over the last three terms in supporting our students, and I look forward to returning for an exciting Term 4.

Brendan McFarland

Director of Middle School