Years 7-9 News

Years 7 and 8 Update

Student Leadership Day

In the 7 and 8 community we are fortunate to have a number of outstanding students who have been appointed as leaders. It would be easy to give them a badge and occasionally roll them out to speak at an assembly or meet a visiting dignitary. Doing this short sells these students who have the potential to be future community leaders, problem solvers and spokespersons for the next generation.

This year we have a leadership development plan which we hope to have in place to really support our leading students to learn how to use their skills to actually 'lead' improvements on how we listen to students and value their part in making our school a place where there really is a partnership with school, family and student.

The COVID 19 crisis played a part in disrupting those plans but it has also given one of the first opportunities to work with students in making a real difference. Before the return of Years 3 to 10 students on 9 June, each of the P-8 campus leaders forewent their on line classes to come on site and work together in small groups to consider how they could help the other students across the college.  This Student Leadership Day started with sharing how remote learning had been from the student’s perspective and learn from the successes and challenges that they experienced. 

Our leaders were then asked to consider how they might educate, communicate and collaborate with the student body to create solutions to real life problems that a post COVID 19 school faces.

At Hendy the leaders were discussing some of the changes that students would need to get used to and these visuals were made.

We need to congratulate them all for their ideas, commitment and achievements which have been used throughout their campuses all week. Enjoy the snapshot of work our leaders have begun and we look forward to seeing their contribution throughout the rest of 2020.

Janine McKenzie

Year 9 update

Week 9 has seen the return of Year 9 students to face to face learning.  Something that all students and staff had been looking forward to since the return date was provided by the Government. Throughout the week students have had the opportunity to reflect on their own remote learning experiences as well as hear stories of how their peers managed the many challenges faced during remote learning. Staff have also been working around the clock to ensure that moving forward Year 9 students continue to access high quality learning programs that meet the return to school requirements. 

As we move towards the end of Term 2,  Year 9 students will be heavily involved in discussions and options that will be in place for second semester.  Program Days which have been planned and selected will now need some revisison and we want all students to consider the opportunities that are ahead of them throughout the semester and the implementation of various elective based programs.

Meanwhile Attached is an electronic music track made by Chip in Y9 music elective. Students produced these as part of our remote learning work. This piece has also been added to a short video in the F-2 section as background music to younger students reading.

Warren Finlayson