Year 9 Program

Home Group Partnership Buddy Program

Year 9 Home Groups had the pleasure and fun of visiting Prep and Year 1 classes on Tuesday 14 March. It’s a different world down there! They were introduced to their paired buddy, got to know them and played a game before Year 9 Home Group Captains prayed over both classes to start the day. We look forward to being involved throughout the year and, you never know, the younger ones might visit their older buddies in their primal habitats, that is the Middle School jungle, one day!

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together. Hebrews 10:24

City Cite 

The City Cite experience has been a valuable time for our Year 9s despite the daily elongated public transport trips due to Melbourne’s Big Build. It has been wonderful to see students engaging in the presentations with guest speakers, heading out and about and learning and interacting with our city. It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to firstly organise, then witness, their journey in Year 9 so far. This program has been the most recent obvious example of our key aims: growth, stepping out of their comfort zone and opening their eyes to issues and people beyond themselves. Other key skills developed were teamwork, research skills, surveying, public transport and navigation, communication, analysing and presentation skills.

Some speakers and visits have included: Eureka Skydeck, Refugee testimonies, Parliament House, Art in the Lanes walk and talk, Koorie Heritage Trust, Planetshakers including our own Easter Chapel, Police, FareShare Food Charity, Shrine of Remembrance, The Big Issue, Old Melbourne Gaol, Queen Victoria Market, ex-gambler and Muslim speakers, MCG Tour, Ice Skating and Tennis, Stencil Art and Live Radio Broadcasting. We concluded with the family presentation evening on Wednesday 5 April, where families were invited to see the campus and hear group reports on their individual big question research tasks.

I want to honour the students for the resilience displayed in seeing this program through and tackling the many challenges it brings. A massive thanks to the staff for their support of this great program. Particularly to Home Group teachers Mrs Fevrau, Mr Niemandt, Mrs Goodwin, Mrs Jetten, Mrs Thorpe and Mrs Salomans for their work before, during and after City Cite and to Mrs Kotzé for assisting with the ever-changing staff roster.

Gavin Fox

Year 9 Coordinator