Senior News

Mindfulness

I heard the statement the other day, “don’t let the future steal your present”. Pondering this leads to a lot of questions, especially now, we are all wishing ourselves into the future, with the virus behind us and the community back to normal. In our present moment we sit with uncertainty and fear and an unshakeable feeling of foreboding. These feelings are probably highly magnified in our senior students, clouding the light at the end of their secondary schooling.

So, it is for them we may need to reframe the quote to read “don’t let the present steal your future”.

Reframing the statement is not meant to diminish the importance of living in the moment – mindfulness practices are incredibly important at all times and particularly valuable when things feel out of control. Along with this it is important to not write off the future by withdrawing or ruminating on the uncertainty and allowing negativity to become overwhelming. Ultimately it’s important to reassure students that society will adjust to accommodate these unfamiliar circumstances. This situation is happening world wide, we are not alone, our students are not alone, across the world students are completing their senior certificates and will move on to the next challenge. Students at Maffra Secondary will also complete their certificate and the future will bring an array of choices and exciting opportunities.

 

Planning For Term 2 : Academic Program

  • The Senior team are working on formats for online learning and are feeling optimistic about working in this way with our classes when necessary
  • Students will have classes as timetabled on Compass.
  • Compass will be the main platform for communication.
  • Along with this, teachers are working in different platforms as arranged with their classes. (ie Google Classrooms , One Note, Google Hangouts and Zoom.)
  • Assessment tasks may need to be completed from home and authentication processes have been formulated and will be clearly communicated with students prior to each task.
  • BONUS- develop purpose and initiative, active learning, intrinsic drive, direct correlation of effort on success.
  • Wellbeing
  • We will facilitate and encourage mindfulness and gratitude practices in Learn to Learn
  • We are working on ways to have the students meet in groups for discussions to keep connected
  • We are planning to continue with guest speakers during Learn to Learn
  • Senior team and Wellbeing staff support will be available via Zoom, phone or email.
  • Each family will be contacted weekly to see how things are going
  • Staff will be available via email- accessible through Compass
  • We will be working hard to reduce the feeling of isolation

Preparations at Home: Finding things to celebrate will be important, some strategies are;

  • Gratitude: think about three things you’re grateful for each day, this helps us seek the positives by searching for them, looking at the world with an admiring lens.
  • Laugh, find things to enjoy together
  • Play- board games, exercise, walk, cook together in the down time
  • Read the school novel and discuss it
  • Read the newspaper and discuss it
  • Watch a movie together and discuss it
  • Contact via email if you need support or have questions sarah.whitwam@education.vic.gov.au
Sarah Whitwam Year 12 Leader
Sarah Whitwam Year 12 Leader