College Leaders

 College Leaders Corner

After much celebration, an array of welcoming events and a full month at school, we feel as though our Year 7 students have finally gathered a good scope of what Marian life is really like. To Jaidan Morrell, Navdeep Kaur and Ana Luisa De Almeida Maia it highlights that Marian was much more than they first expected. From fun sporting events, engaging teachers, jam-packed classes and more than happy to help peers, these 3 students have given their unique perspective on Marian and we are so excited to share their story so far. 

Last Monday, these students met with us and provided some insights and feedback on their overall experience thus far at Marian. A few questions were asked such as: What has been your favourite thing at Marian so far? What are you looking forward to for the rest of this term? Along with some questions that seemed to resonate with the student’s experience. The responses we received were overwhelming and truly reinforced the charisma, maturity and willingness to achieve, bubbling within these students.

The first question came with a huge range of answers, with Navdeep’s answer referring to the ‘welcoming community’ that she was greeted with and the ‘lack of awkwardness’.  She recounted a story of her being somewhat lost, but after asking some fellow students for directions, she said ‘they were so nice to me, and just so kind’. Navdeep mentioned how they didn’t make fun of her for being a year 7 and reiterated her liking towards the ‘welcoming community.” Jaidan followed and replied with “My favourite thing about Marian this year has got to be going to futsal for sport and just playing with my friends there”. We loved hearing that our new students liked the facilities for sport and they were able to engage with their friends in an active and fun way, we’re excited for Jaidan to experience all the other fun sporting activities the school has in stall for him. We then asked Ana who responded heartwarmingly as she commented on how she “really liked the teachers, they are just so nice to all of us”.  Ana continued, while also addressing the learning environment as we, “get a lot of support and it feels safe.”We were glad to hear that these 3 wonderful students enjoyed what they had experienced so far. 

We also really wanted to hear their thoughts on the events and personal goals to come. We loved all these responses, with chuckles erupting from a few. Navdeep detailed how she was “looking forward to enhancing her skills overall both academically and physically.” Getting to hear this personal goal, made us light up, but as she continued with, “I really want to get to know my peers a lot more and have a good relationship with them because I think that's really important”.  This really resonated, as we love and encourage friendships to blossom both in year groups and amongst other years. Jaidan then shocked us with his next answer as he stated, “I'm looking forward to NAPLAN and I really like doing NAPLAN,” this came as a bit of surprise as often our year 7 students tend to dread this moment of the year. However, it was refreshing to bear witness to an eager student who is actively trying to his best.  Ana followed with a goal, as she said, “I am looking to improve my English and Math skills because I’m looking to be a better student”.  Hearing Ana actively striving to make improvements and speaking of “reading more”;  after commending her teachers was incredibly warming to hear.  Knowing that our classrooms at Marian foster a desire to learn and that our students are willing to put in the effort to achieve really, again, emphasises their maturity and willing nature. 

After our few questions with these students, we left with a new insight that really changed our perspective on the school and reinforced our desire to fuel this environment with support, positive attitudes and a growth mindset that is willing to be built upon.We are looking to further our relationship with our new students through more mini-interviews as we continue the year as Marian! May everyone enjoy the rest of their week, until we chat again!

Amanda Harrison, Brooke Aloisi, Connor Sully and Imreet Singh

College Leaders