From the Deputy of Students

Navigating Disappointment

Disappointment is a natural part of life that young people will encounter as they navigate through different experiences. It can result from unmet expectations, setbacks or shattered dreams. However, learning to manage disappointment is crucial for building resilience and personal growth. Young people have a lot of choice regarding how they think and respond to disappointment.

Visit Mazenod School TV and watch this short video on understanding and supporting young people through disappointments.

SPECIAL REPORT: Dealing with Disappointment | Mazenod College - Lesmurdie.

ReachOut Australia also have some excellent resources regarding managing education-associated stress that you can find here:

Failing a course or subject | School and study | ReachOut Australia

If you would like to discuss the mental health of your son and how we can support them in their educational experience, please feel free to initiate that conversation with your respective Head of Year.

The Rite Journey and Year 9 Wellbeing Outcomes 

With The Rite Journey Abyss Camps soon to get underway, it is suitable time to highlight the great value we see in our Rite Journey Mentoring Program. To families who are uninitiated to the program, it is a student SEL program developed to be delivered with our pastoral programs that focuses on the important time of life for Year 9 students. They begin to substantively transition from childhood behaviours to becoming adult decision makers. Our Form Teachers and Rite Journey Facilitators engage in small group session where students talk and learn from each other on matters relating self-identity, belonging and responsibility towards others.

Please see this extract from the Year 9 outcomes from Our Mazenod Journey. You can find full Mazenod Journey statements here: The Mazenod Journey

At Mazenod, we consider Year 9 as a key transition point on a young person’s journey with a shift from more adolescence to adult behaviours. The Rite Journey pastoral program is specifically designed so that our staff can walk with our Year 9 students on their journey with a growing understanding of their place and responsibilities in the world. The Rite Journey provides a framework to support young men in their journey to become productive members of society and includes sessions with specialist-trained mentors, usually Form Teachers or the Head of Year. They facilitate topics that are introspective, extrospective and full of appropriate physical and mental skills challenges. This prepares our Year 9s as they journey into Year 10, a time of important decisions, emerging responsibility, risk-taking, and more adult relationships.

St Eugene De Mazenod called us all to have the "will and courage to walk in the footsteps of the apostles". We feel that with positive role models and mentors we can walk alongside your sons as they undertake this journey to be the best they can be as people, Christians and community members with the models of Jesus, the apostles and St Eugene as our guiding compasses.

Michael Anderson

Deputy Principal (Students)