Transitioning Well

Our Year 7s are currently learning how to create a podcast, the aim being to help Year 6 students transition to Year 7.

Last Friday, as I was helping one student prepare his podcast, he asked me, "What's the best way to start so the audience will be engaged?" I suggested that he take the listener back to their own experience of when they began Secondary school and how they were feeling at the time. 

If we think back to where our own journey through Secondary was a positive experience, we want to try to replicate that for our students. However, if parts of our journey were not so good, we want to ensure the experiences for our current students are better, leading to a more engaged start to their Secondary years. 

Teachers and other staff use their training, experience, expertise and passion to continually improve the curriculum and their overall approach, in order to optimise learning both inside and outside the classroom.

Our focus for Year 7 is to help them not only to feel part of the community at DCC, but also to understand their own responsibilities to both community and learning.

In early Term 1 the Year 7s headed to camp, where students and teachers begin to build connections. Now, a mere six months later, students are working in integrated teams, practising their new technical and communication skills by creating purposeful podcasts. They are on an exciting journey. 

Meanwhile, our Year 8s began the year exploring and getting to know their corner of the school. Under the exemplar of our beautiful cross on the hill, the students start to consider who they are in God’s Kingdom. Whether it is in the integrated programs, be that considering democracy, or gathering real data; homeroom activities or class experiences, teachers provide spaces for students to extend their understanding of the world around them.   

By the beginning of the year, our Year 9 cohort were well prepared for their move to Hall Road. They hit their new learning space with energy to burn and that they certainly did on their Wilderness Experience. As staff we enjoyed seeing the students learn and grow through this experience, both in the extensive preparation and in the doing! 

The Year 9 program is very hands on. In their Term 2 Health Experience the students learned about becoming more aware not only of their own bodies and health, but also how they might better support their friends and others to consider their health decisions, particularly in social situations.

Our EQUIP program continues to enhance student wellbeing and their ability to develop positive relationships within the Junior Secondary cohort. Beyond the classroom, students can now utilise the Impact Experiences Portal (found on Schoolbox under the Learning Tile) where they can identify and become involved in out of class extension activities in all parts of the school.

Our deep hope for every student - and we appreciate your feedback here - is that as they learn they will build resilience, gain hope for their future, and find their purpose within God’s Kingdom.