HEAD OF SECONDARY SCHOOL

At the end of each term, I like to sit and reflect on all of the wonderful events that have occurred at the College. Yet again, it has been another busy term. It is wonderful to see the depth and breadth of activities that our students and staff engage in during the course of a term. From Agricultural shows to representative sport, Da Vinci Decathlon to debating, there are a huge number of different activities that our students are able to engage in no matter their interest. I continue to be amazed by the level of staff and student engagement in such a wide variety of activities. The increasing diversity we are seeing here at the College is in part due to all of these activities.

Our students on the Ag Show Team have continued to perform outstandingly. They have had strong performances in a number of different shows and they continue to grow in confidence. These include twelve first places, eight second places and four third places. These programs are available to all students who are interested.

Our DaVinci Decathlon teams also performed extremely well against a number of other tough school competitors. These results include two first places, a second place and a fourth place. These results, along with the fact that the College plays host to the event are a testament to Kylie Woodgate’s organisational skills.

College representatives also performed well in a number of sporting events, including defending the Hardy Shield, winning the Carroll Cup and Tracey Gunsen Netball tournament and performing strongly in a number of other events.

This term, we also had two wonderful House Days. House days will form a large part of our College Culture moving forward, and present an opportunity for a specific house to celebrate their history and raise money for their chosen charities. The diverse range of activities that are on offer during these days is a testament to the hard work and organisational skills of our Heads of House, their supporting House Mentors, along with the House Captains and Prefects. The House culture here at the College continues to grow.

Over the break, I hope that our students take the time to reflect on these experiences and to continue to look for ways that they can be involved in the College. To our Senior Students, do not forget to take time for yourselves by taking a brief break from study. We look forward to having everyone back at the beginning of Semester 2.

Burn Bright Leadership Workshop

On Monday the 31st of May, the Year 9 prefects attended a program to further improve our leadership skills and get to know each other better. It was run by Mel and Harry from Burn Bright, an organisation that is aimed at empowering young people to be better leaders in their community.

We played lots of fun games and participated in many activities that would make us work more effectively as a team. This included a game of instructions, and doing tasks after someone else's task has been completed. This game required us to listen and pay attention to our fellow leaders, remember our order and to undertake it as fast as possible. We finished in a time of 45 seconds after three impressive attempts. We then continued to do other activities to strengthen our relations with the group and further deepen our relations with each other.

Next, they had us define the term of leadership, and everyone gave a different answer. The Burn Bright definition is: being a leader means to have an influence, this being good or bad. They taught us that everyone is a leader, because everyone has an influence on their peers; this is called relational leadership. It is important that we recognise that every small action we do can have a huge impact on someone else. Harry shared a story of how his friend got him to go rock climbing and didn't let him give up when it became challenging. This story demonstrates how the power of having strong relationships, and motivating peers to get things done, can enable the whole group to achieve far more than flying solo.

The final activity of the day was brainstorming ideas for a common goal - to help our school community be a better place. During this final challenge, we realised that 24 heads are always better than one. We came up with ideas that we knew could help our school be more efficient and thought of some that would strengthen relationships throughout all aspects of our education. 

When the day of fun was over, we learned that we are always leaders, even if we don't realise it. We learned the true meaning of leadership and how to be a leader people respect, appreciate and look up to. Most importantly, we learned how to work together, with our cohort and with our own leaders. 

Many thanks to Harry and Mel who led us through these difficult tasks and taught us many vital lessons throughout it all.

Written by Isaac and Karin | Year 9 Prefects

Christopher Ingold | Head of Secondary School