Year 7 with Mr Carver

Year 7’s first week in High School proved to be a big one. The first couple of days was very full on with trying to learn where all their classes were, remembering the names of all their teachers and packing the correct equipment for every class. By week 2 they were all on their way to making new friends and getting in the swing of things. Everyone was super excited to try new things like cooking with Mrs Lynch, Japanese with Mrs McKay and D&T with Mr Akers.

The kids were also given the opportunity to test out their computer skills with Mrs Griffith and Mrs Dobell for their Best Start testing and our new reading program. Mr Carver is happy to see all of Year 7 settling in well. It was a great start to the year and everyone at Molong Central is very excited to get to know them.

Quotes from some of our Year 7’s about starting High School:

Max Thurtell: “I’m really enjoying High School. My favourite part is swapping classrooms every 50 minutes. I am really enjoying sport.”

Lydia Philpott: “I am loving it up here! I love all the opportunities high school has and I like how I have a different teacher for every period.”

Riley Townsend: “High school is really FUN! I’ve enjoyed meeting new friends and swapping classrooms.”

SRC with Ms Vis

Last week the 2022 SRC signed off on their agreements to work hard as school leaders, reflecting school values and aiming to be the best role models they can be in their roles. The SRC have met to discuss possibilities for the year ahead, including attending leadership conferences, fundraising for a range of charities and planning some whole school activities for later in the year.

We look forward to working with our SRC and presenting them with many opportunities to build upon their leadership skills and help out the community where possible throughout the year.

CPR Training

All staff at Molong Central School participated in CPR and Anaphylaxis training last Tuesday evening. This is a yearly training session that we participate in so that we can keep our students safe and capable hands.

The Resilience Project

You may have heard by now that Molong Central Secondary have taken on a welfare program called the ‘The Resilience Project’. This program has been implemented state wide and has an 85% take up rate among schools in the Western region. The feedback from schools already running the program has been overwhelmingly positive, with reports of significant improvements in individual student’s academic achievement and wellbeing and significant improvements in school culture.

The Resilience Project is very much a response to the new and different challenges that our students face in their everyday lives and arms them with the ability to recognise challenges, communicate these clearly and to build a toolbox of strategies that allow them to strengthen their perceptions of themselves and to combat negative mindsets.

The program targets four main personal attributes for development:

Gratitude: the ability to focus on what they have rather than what they don’t have in their lives. The ability to recognise what will genuinely improve their lives.

Empathy: the capacity to see beyond themselves and to relate to others.

Mindfulness: the ability to focus on what is immediate rather than allowing the past to shape their current life or concerns about what may happen to create stress or anxiety. To be in the moment and present.

Emotional Literacy: developing the language to describe emotions and awareness and ability to recognise emotions so that they can be identified and the strategies learnt can be applied.

To be successful, this program relies on a whole school approach: students, teachers and carers. Students are receiving a lesson every fortnight focusing on one of the attributes above and developing strategies to develop these skills. This is reinforced by practicing a different strategy periods 1&5 each day for a few minutes. Staff are also undertaking the course and will be developing their own skills during staff meetings, with the aim making resilience strategies part of their daily practice. We will also be publishing information and strategies for parents in our newsletter regularly.

Our request of carers at this early stage is simply to discuss the project with their student, to take an interest and reinforce our efforts at school with their students through discussion. Carers looking for further information are encouraged to visit ‘The Resilience Project’ website at https://theresilienceproject.com.au/education-2/ where the importance and relevance of the program are discussed in much more detail.

Looking forward to a much more positive year,

Tony Keen

Primary Awards

Silver Award

Principal Badge 2