7-9 Campus News

Welcome back!

The new school year has commenced with a renewed energy and sense of excitement. It is difficult to believe we have already been back at school for 10 weeks! Students have experienced full campus assemblies for the first time in 12 months and have finally been able to intermingle with their peers and participate in a more active environment. 

With the challenges of 2020 behind us, I feel confident that we are on a path toward a greater sense of normality. As we continue to move forward, we encourage students and parents to continue to use a Growth Mindset, encourage resilience and continue to nurture that important partnership between our school, parents and students. I am honoured to be a campus principal at this great school where the students are the heart of everything we do. The staff work enthusiastically with students to foster curiosity and communicate the importance of lifelong learning.  The families of our students are welcome and encouraged to keep participating in their young person’s learning on this important journey.  

Year 7

Our newest cohort to the College has embraced the challenges of secondary school with excitement and enthusiasm. They have settled into school life quickly and been a delight to work with. There is an old Chinese proverb that says “A journey of thousand steps begins with a single step.” We wish all students the very best for successful and productive years ahead and hope that they take each step forward with a growth mindset. 

Year 7 went on camp to Forest Edge from February 24th to 26th and a great time was had by all. The weather was kind to us and students participated in activities such as water sledding, river rafting, archery, high ropes, water slide and hut building. The year 9 mentors provided fun and frivolity in the evenings with entertainment such as a Talent Quest, Trivia, Chocolate eating competitions and musical chairs. Thank you to all the staff and helpers who made this such a successful camp. Special thanks to Student Manager Mr. Vasey for all his work with organising this event. Here are a few photos for you to enjoy. 

For privacy reasons, a link to a Sway photo presentation of the Camp was sent to year 7 parents only, so anyone who would like the link sent to them again, please let me know. A big thanks to Miss Daly for putting this fantastic presentation for us to enjoy. 

Year 8 

Students in year 8 missed out on many milestone events as year 7 students during 2020, so we decided to take them out on an adventure and bonding day to Gumbaya Park on 18 February. It was a great day and students and staff alike had a fantastic time together. Special thanks to Mr Cameron for organising the day. 

Year 9

The year commenced with the launch of the Djeembana Program for half of the Year 9 cohort. They have experienced self defence courses, Man Cave, field trips and environmental projects, with more exciting events still to come in term two. This program is designed to challenge and engage our students and help prepare them for the challenges of being a young adult and moving to senior school in year 10 and above.  This program will continue until the completion of semester one, when the second half of the cohort will have the same experiences in semester two. This program has been 2 years in its development and special thanks must go to Ms Rashid and the Djeembana team for their vision and leadership of this exciting new program. 

All year 9 students have undertaken their Morrisby testing, which will help identify their academic strengths, make decisions about subjects in VCE, courses at University and TAFE that may suit the individual, future career opportunities and apprenticeships to consider. The results will be available in term two, where an appointment will be made with the student and their family to meet with Morrisby Counsellors to discuss the outcome. 

Student Leadership

Thank you to all the students who applied for Student Leadership for 2021. We had many wonderful applications and interviews and Mr Kong, and I had a difficult time deciding on the outcome. Whilst all students can be leaders in society, we would like to congratulate  the following students who were allocated to Student Leadership roles for 2021:

The Student Leaders and SRC have already been very active in the campus community, making ribbons and cupcakes to celebrate International Women’s Day with all funds raised going to support victims of domestic violence. On Monday March 22nd, they also encouraged students to wear a touch of colour for Harmony Day, which encourages elimination of Racial Discrimination. 

We would like to encourage our year 7 cohort and all student members of the campus community to join SRC to have a voice in what happens on campus and support important college and community events. Mr. Kong runs meetings every Monday lunchtime in the Auditorium.

Thank you to Mr. Kong for his support and work with our Student Leaders and SRC. 

I hope that you all have a wonderful Easter break and we look forward to an exciting term two. 

Vivienne McElwee

Campus Principal