YEAR 7 ESSENTIAL SKILLS PROGRAM

This year we have been the first year level to go through the essential skills course which was not only extremely fun but educational too! Throughout this course, we have been learning about essential skills and what they truly are. Essential skills are the skills people need for learning, work and life. They are used in communities and the workplace in different forms, and at different levels of complexity. In this course, we covered the four topics of collaboration and teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving, innovation and creativity, and perseverance and positive mindset. With the help from our teachers Mr Whitt, Mrs Manning, Mr Chiera and Mrs Carrick, we have been taught the importance of these essential skills and the challenges and obstacles to overcome.  

Each skill contained four activities that were enjoyable, challenging at times and, most importantly, educational. Each activity required us to know how to use the particular essential skill so we could understand how to complete the challenge and learn from the activity. The majority of the students believed that the All Shaken Up activity was their favourite, and this fell under the skill of perseverance and positive mindset with Mr Whitt. In this activity, students were given a mason jar filled with cream and were instructed to shake the jar to make cream or butter. Once the butter or cream was made, we were able to spread it on a scone, which was delicious! This activity revealed that effort and patience will be rewarded. No matter how much our arms hurt from all the shaking, no one even minded as we were looking forward to eating our warm, soft and delicious scones.  

In conclusion, we thoroughly enjoyed this course, and it was certainly a class that we looked forward to each week. We came into this course with excitement and determination, and we left with knowledge and confidence. We know that in the present and the future, these four skills will be extremely beneficial and important to the students and staff of our school and their future lives. So, the next time you may be struggling socially or academically, just remember that the effort is always worth the result; and that is something we have learnt during this course that certainly will never be forgotten. 

To reflect on our learning during this course, all students have made a PechaKucha, which means ‘chit chat’. If you would like to see a few of the students’ presentations, be sure to click the link below and use the password 'Shc7es2022!'

India Schneider and Joel Lafferty

Year 7 Barlow