LEADERS OF WELLBEING REPORTS

All articles published week beginning  24 August 2020

Year 7

The focus word for the 2020 Year 7 cohort was the word ‘resilience’. At the beginning of the year, we had no idea how poignant this term would be and how many ways our students would demonstrate it daily. 

They have been resilient with online learning. They have been resilient with making new school friends in COVID restrictions. They have been resilient to changes to Friday sport. Essentially, they have just been awesome at ‘going with the flow’. 

We are really proud of how they have adapted to their first year of high school in such adverse times and they should be proud of themselves. 

In Week 6, students are continuing their focus on leadership during our Wellbeing sessions. Over the coming weeks, they will be developing these skills in a homeroom context, taking on responsibility for planning and implementing activities for their peers. Each student will have an opportunity to see different leadership styles and that not all leadership is ‘loud’. Our aim is that everyone feels that they are capable of being a leader amongst their peers. 

It has been fantastic to talk with the students about who they focussed on for their leadership profile for our Week 4 activity. There was such a wide variety of leaders present and demonstrated the breadth and variety of passions that our students have. We encourage you to check in with your child about who they completed their leadership profile on and have the discussion around why they chose this individual. 

Over the coming weeks, find out what leadership activity your child is planning for their homeroom. It is highly likely that you will be amazed at what activity your child comes up with and how creative they will be with the implementation.

Justin Buckley | Acting Leader of Wellbeing - Year 7 

Fox and Stanley House 

Lauren Kelly | Leader of Wellbeing - Year 7 

Browning and Sheppard House 

Year 8

Welcome to the Week 6 edition of our Year 8 report for Term 3. Thank you all for the assistance and guidance that you have provided for your child in regard to their Stage 5 subject selections. It has been so pleasing to see the enthusiasm in their approach as they get to take some more ownership of their learning over the next two years. The Year 8s as a whole have been extremely careful and considerate in the decision-making process. This fortnight in Wellbeing time we have started our focus on Mental Health. The first session involved identifying common mental health concerns such as anxiety and depression (and just how prevalent they are - with 1 in 4 15-19 year olds in Australia being reported as experiencing a mental illness of some kind), and trying to gain a sense of empathy for those who may not be flourishing. The subsequent sessions will then focus on how to access support for yourself or others around you, how best to support friends who may be experiencing mental health concerns and the importance of breaking the stigma around mental health. We stressed the importance of involving an adult as soon as possible if the students are concerned about themselves or others. There are a multitude of support options both within and outside the College and it is important that any concerns are raised with immediacy, as 13/14 year olds are unable to deal with such issues (I typically compare mental with physical health - would a Year 8 student trust themselves to deal with a broken bone? So why would they attempt to deal with similar mental health concerns?).  

Even as the weather has been cold and wet (PDHPE practicals have been cancelled and school sport has been heavily modified) it has been so encouraging to see the positive attitude from our students. It would be easy for them to kick the ground and get upset about missing out on things, but on the whole they have maintained their positivity and involved themselves in the alternate activities. We are now past halfway in the term and, hopefully, as time progresses we are closer to ’normality’ one day at a time. It was so nice to see some of you in our virtual Parent/Teacher/Student conferences. It is important to note that due to new COVID restrictions, any face-to-face meetings will now be replaced by Google Meet virtual meetings (similar to the conferences). I am always happy to discuss your child’s progress via email, phone, or virtually face-to-face. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns. 

Luke Richardson | Leader of Wellbeing - Year 8

Jennifer Jenkins | Assistant Leader of Wellbeing - of Year 8

Year 9

This year we haven’t had the same opportunities to recognise achievements in our usual format with our assemblies being cancelled.  This doesn’t mean that effort from students has gone unnoticed. As you are aware, Compass has been used for timetables, parent-teacher interviews bookings, and recording absences, but teachers have also been handing out awards through Compass to replace paper awards. Students and parents can see a record of these commendations on Compass and this is a good opportunity to congratulate your child if they receive an award. Perhaps it could be a conversation starter for the learning that happened that day.

In the last two weeks, the following students were stand-outs:

• Bianca Ulett
• Annabelle Arthur
• Abbey Hamblin
• Xahni Loesch
• Prue Millard
• Myles Parker
• Maluane Poleka
• Ryan Porter

This term our wellbeing focus is “Balance”. We have been looking at how to have a balanced life and the factors that contribute to this.

In Homerooms, we recently had a look at the 5 ways to have a healthy lifestyle. 

In my Homeroom, I was encouraged by the knowledge and commitment to a healthy lifestyle that many had already been working towards – many admitted that they had too much screen time and it would be better if they went for a walk. Healthy choices start with small changes every day and building them into habits (which takes a couple of months!). The other component to Homeroom this fortnight has been listening to school captain speeches and voting. My encouragement to students has been to look ahead. In a couple of years, they will be standing in front of the school presenting themselves as potential leaders. They have the opportunity to look at these prospective leaders and consider what qualities they want in their Captains, then by extension, what sort of leader would they be? They can start being that leader now if they wish.

Please get in touch if needed, we’re always happy to talk.

Emma Smith | Leader of Wellbeing - Year 9

Issac Mannion | Assistant Leader of Wellbeing -  Year 9

Year 10

The past fortnight involved our students watching and listening to our 2021 Year 12 students present their leadership speeches and discuss their goals and aspirations as leaders. Their speeches were impressive and the confidence for which they delivered was outstanding. Watching such presentations of our students is an exciting experience. The College offers so many rich learning opportunities not only in the classroom but extra-curricular, service, leadership and community. The development of an individual and students to go forth into the community in a positive fashion is important for their future success. This includes so many factors that don't relate directly to academic results, which at times can be a very strong focus. Whilst this is important, the trend toward students’ ability to apply soft skills and a growth mindset is becoming more prominent and widely recognised. Behaviours around critical thinking, questioning, researching, displaying empathy and resilience demonstrate to the community, institutions and businesses an individual can be successful in many environments and an asset to be included in their environment. 

Our Year 10 students are beginning and continuing to display such important personality traits as they progress into their senior years and become leaders of The College.

Meegan Johnson | Leader of Wellbeing -  Year 10

Trevor Dawson | Assistant Leader of Wellbeing -  Year 10

Year 11

Homeroom

In Homeroom this week, the College voted for the 2021 leaders. Year 11 presented well-executed and personable speeches via video. The results should be announced very shortly.

Students’ Driving

A reminder that students who are driving to school are required to complete a Driving to School Permission Form and also if students are passengers in other students’ cars are also required to complete forms. The forms are a college requirement which assists with the safety protocols. As the number of Year 11 students driving to school increases, it is important that all students park in the designated parking areas. Students should be mindful of space provided for other vehicles entering and exiting the parking area.

Uniform

The College has been very clear with the expectation of students wearing the uniform. If for some reason students are out of uniform, a note from home explaining the situation is required. If the student does not have a note, the student will be placed on uniform detention. Your support with this matter would be greatly appreciated.

End of Year 11 Exams

Year 11 Examinations Timetable Examinations will be held in the Gym during Weeks 8 and 9. Ms Helen Foster sent all parents an email explaining that there are no scheduled classes and that students may leave the college upon completion of each exam. This will continue for the duration of the Examination period (Week 8 and Week 9).

Until next time…

‘Why didn’t the Romans find algebra very challenging?

They already knew that X =10

Amall Liakatos | Leader of Wellbeing - Year 11

Kelly Bowen | Assistant Leader of Wellbeing - of Year 11

Year 12

It’s almost a graduation season cliche - dusting off the old copy of Dr Seuss’ classic “Oh the Places You’ll Go” and motivating all and sundry to move mountains with brains in their head and feet in their shoes. All wonderfully inspiring advice.

But my go-to Seussism at a time like this is from “Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are”;

When you think things are bad,

When you feel sour and blue,

When you start to get mad …

You should do what I do!

Just tell yourself, Duckie,

You’re really quite lucky!

Some people are much more …

Oh ever so much more …

Oh muchly much-much more unlucky than you!

It helps to look on the bright side, be grateful for even a small amount of precious “haves” rather than the boundless “have nots”. As I told Miss 11 in our house this week when she complained how BOOOORING learning about Federation was - how lucky you get to learn about peaceful nation building and the relatively free and stable society created henceforth and not some historical bloodbath. Or worse, being in some places in the world with current violent struggles. As you can imagine, she was thrilled to hear this bit of positive news.

Students have started to receive results and feedback this week from the Trial examinations and will continue to do so for the coming week or so. Individual subjects will be providing specific tasks to do using resources from Elevate which will help them evaluate both their preparation and post examination routines. As I’ve repeatedly told them, the trials are trials - a practice run for the real thing - and there are still almost two months for them to build towards the assessments that will contribute 50 per cent of their HSC.  Additional Elevate resources and general advice will be available via homeroom activities as well. 

It has been a privilege to watch the major works take shape this week as the students work towards submitting this component of their technology and creative arts subjects. The talent, creativity and hard work has certainly been on display.

The students were addressed by Mr Humble on Monday about the graduation day changes, with additional information forwarded home this week, as you would have received. While the circumstances are unfortunate, the College will work with the students, through the leadership group to make the end of their time at school as memorable as possible given the situation we find ourselves in across the state, nation and the world.

Until then, the message is to look after themselves, and each other, continue to reminisce about all the great things they’ve been part of, the holes they’ve fallen into and climbed out of (by themselves and with a little help from their friends, to borrow a line from Ringo) and the many people they’ve been able to share their time with during their time here at the College.

Dane Fuller | Leader of Wellbeing - 12

Kim Kjaer | Assistant Leader of Wellbeing - 12