Senior Years
Year 10 Health and Wellbeing Day 1
The Year 10s were welcomed back to school with a full day of information, fun and for some, new laptops.
We recognise that students in the senior years are making the transition from being children to moving into an adult world. This presents challenges that are new and can be quite confronting. The Health and Wellbeing program aims to provide information and strategies on a range of topics that we have identified to help our students make this transition.
The main focus for the day was looking at protective behaviours online relating to students’ online reputations, cyberbullying and sexting. These are serious issues that can have long term impacts on students. A valuable resource for this day is available here: https://www.esafety.gov.au/. I recommend this as a resource for parents who wish to learn more on these topics.
During the day, we also had discussions relating to what to expect in the senior years, tips for surviving Year 10, Options Infinity and a deliberate focus on bullying issues. There was also some fun with a number of students receiving new laptops and the Hand WB Challenge quiz.
I am looking forward to working with this cohort of students. They have already shown a willingness to embrace new challenges and make the move into the senior years.
Darren Willsmore
Year 10 Year Level Leader
Year 11 Peer Support
Friday 29 January was Year 11 Peer Support Training Day. The focus of the day was to get the Year 11s prepared to teach the new Year 7s the Endeavour Way Values and help them make connections with the older year levels. The focus of Peer Support is to make the transition from primary school to high school easier and more comfortable for the Year 7s, as well as help them build relationships with other Year 7 and Year 11 students in their Village. I enjoyed partnering up with the Year 12 Village Leaders to see some of the activities they ran with the Year 7s, and learning about what they did in some of their sessions last year.
Peer Support is a really exciting time to bond with people from our Village and be able to help the Year 7s. The Peer Support day helped us prepare to work with the Year 7s because it showed us what we can do with them and how to keep the lesson flowing and engaging.
Alana Dolling
Year 11 Student
Year 12 Orientation
On Wednesday and Thursday last week, all Year 12s undertook two orientation days designed to prepare and inspire us for the big year ahead. Orientation began with a presentation run by yLead, an organisation aiming to inspire the younger generation to become leaders and to change the world. We had the opportunity to learn about ourselves, incite our passions and come out of our shells, whilst building deeper connections and bonds with our peers. A range of activities that encouraged us to communicate and think strategically in a team were useful and allowed us to decipher group dynamics and be leaders each in our own individual ways.
We then progressed to the latter half of the first day, in which we were commissioned to prepare dinner and cater for our Village groups in a certain time span. This proved to be a challenging task, as we needed to develop good compromising skills, and some of us who are more competitive (speaking from experience) got frazzled in this mad dash under the pressure. However, we all managed to gel as a team and only forged deeper friendships in this process. During the second day, we began to tackle the future of our schooling, with talks from Mrs Fitridge and Ms Vogt, allowing the year level to reminisce on our journey to Year 12, as well as the future career options we may embark on.
The day then continued with a presentation from Life Matters, a group who help encourage Year 12s on the last stretch of their journey. They introduced SMART goals, teaching us how to deal with stress and a lack of motivation. They also gave many strategies to deal with one of the biggest dealbreakers, procrastination.
These two days allowed for the year level to learn important information through communication skills and future career options, while also providing sense of confidence for the challenging year ahead.
Ryan Tang and Grace Gregurev
Health and Wellbeing Leaders
Joel Davidson - Governor's Civics Awards Recipient
The Governor’s Civics Awards for Schools program, which was inaugurated in 2019, provides an opportunity for young South Australians to develop their awareness of being an active citizen in a multicultural and democratic society.
The award specifically promotes the importance of Civics and Citizenship education in South Australia and serves as a means for students to become more deeply engaged in it.
The awards are managed by the Department of Education in conjunction with Government House and align with the History and Civics and Citizenship curriculum.
In September last year, Joel Davidson (then in Year 11) submitted an entry in the Year 11/12 section. He prepared a 2000-word essay which focused on the importance of engaging high school students in Civics and Citizenship education, and then offered some practical suggestions about how to increase student interest and participation in this vital area.
In late November, Joel was notified that he had been selected as an award winner. In the near future, Joel will attend a formal reception at Government House where he will receive a medallion and $250 for his efforts from the Governor, Hieu van Le. He will also participate in a meeting with His Excellency on the day of the award presentation with other award recipients to discuss ideas about furthering awareness of Civics and Citizenship in our schools.
The College congratulates Joel on attaining this prestigious award. In due course, we look forward to hearing about his visit to Government House and discussions with the Governor.
David Thiele
History Learning Leader