We have had a smooth first week to date, with Year 7 and 12 students commencing on Tuesday to undertake a special program for those year levels; our Year 8-11 students except for Year 11 VM resumed on Wednesday, with Year 11 VM to start on Thursday.
The first day for our Year 7 students involved rotations between ICT set up, developing their class codes of cooperation aligned to our four core values, relational activities to get to know their new classmates and home group teacher, locker allocation and getting organised e.g. how to set up all their exercise books for their various subjects, starting to look at their first project for the year, Me in the LC, and the last lesson for the day was a Sport class.
Our Year 12 students spent their first day hearing from some of our high achievers from last year, rotating through some activities including Turning the dream into a reality – focused on goal setting, study timetables and time management/organisation, relational activities and writing a letter to their future self that they will get back at the end of the year. This was facilitated by our senior teachers and leaders. Students also had their locker allocated and an introduction by Mr Randell around our expectations of our senior students and the use of the Senior School Centre.
At the start of the day, it was fantastic to welcome back some of our high achievers from Year 12 last year who participated in a panel lead by Mr Randell to share their strategies for achieving their personal best with the current cohort of Year 12s. Some of the questions covered included: How important are your peers in Year 12? How important are your teachers in Year 12? How important are connections with other people when you are in Year 12? What are the most important study tips you can give to this year’s Year 12s? What is the most important piece of advice you would give to Year 12 students about having a balanced life?
Some of their advice included: regular completion of practice exam questions and getting feedback from your teachers, taking on feedback and re-writing answers or paragraphs for improvement, making use of the former students who come in to tutor onsite afterschool (this is free for students with the College paying the tutors), privilege time on the work you find most challenging not what you find easy, take regular breaks, focused study on what matters most, utilise your study periods and before and after school time in the senior study centre well, don’t let one disappointing SAC mark get you down, set goals for your pathway beyond school, take the time to build a strong relationship with your teachers and make the most of the support offered by teachers in and out of class time, talking to parents about what you are learning, little and often (don’t need to write an essay every time for feedback) instead regular submission of paragraphs for English to get feedback, take time out to enjoy the activities you like to do, you can lead a balanced life of schoolwork/study, work and sport or social activities.
Ultimately there is no substitute for effort in Year 12. Students need to be prepared to work to their Personal Best consistently over the year to achieve their goals. You get back what you are prepared to put in. Utilise the support of our fantastic Year 12 teachers and Senior Coordinator team, support each other through the highs and lows, stay positive, make the most of all opportunities presented and, of course, enjoy the final year together of secondary school.
Thanks to our students from last year – Aaliyah Zaph, Indiana Tsiros, India Thomas, Jeneya Tran, Aston Hewet and Alessia Gantos – for giving up their time to take part. We look forward to seeing them return, along with some other students from 2022, throughout the year to act as tutors to support our senior students.
Thanks to our Year 7 Coordinators, Jo Hannan and Daniel Mayadas, and Director of Senior School, Susan Cochrane, and Year 12 Coordinator Tim Randell for their organisation of these programs and to the staff involved in leading the sessions for the day.
Michelle Roberts
Principal