Welcome Back for 2023
A warm welcome back to school for 2023 to our Senior School Students. The Senior Sub-School is now inclusive of the Year 10 cohort and so we extend a special acknowledgement to those students.
For our Year 12s the year began in excitement and opportunity with a 3-day long “City Experience” in Melbourne’s CBD. We stayed in the heart of the city and from this home base explored both The University of Melbourne and Swinburne University, completed an Amazing Race to enhance teamwork, a workshop with the Reach Foundation to build students’ empathy and emotional resilience, and a seminar with Success Integrated to build students’ motivation and improve study habits. Here’s what some of our Year 12s had to say about the experience:
“I learnt how psychology impact your results.” – Allanah
“I gained an idea on how to control my stress and self-doubt heading into 12.”– Violet
“I feel a lot more confident in what I can achieve in year 12!” – Ethan
“I gained more knowledge on how to best prepare myself for this year and how to benefit from my classmates.”– Hayley
“I learned how to use positive self-talk to better my effort and motivation in schooling.”– Caiti
Our focus for Year 12 is “collective efficacy” – we want this cohort to be a great team, in which everyone is working toward the common goal of outstanding achievement in their final year of schooling.
We would like to extend sincere gratitude to the Rotary Club of Emerald for their ongoing support of our students. Rotary generously donated funds toward the camp, enabling us to increase the opportunities that the camp offered and decrease the cost for families.
Other important announcements and information from the Senior Sub-School:
- The VCE and VCE-VM information night is taking place in EPAC next Wednesday night (February 15th). All families and students are welcome, but the evening is targeted at students and families/carers in Years 10 and up. We will cover key VCE and VM policies and procedures and also promote the key drivers of success in senior schooling.
- There are many new student leadership positions now open for application. We strongly encourage our Senior Sub-School students to apply to these! Taking on a leadership role is great for building students’ soft-skills and will look fantastic on a student’s application for a job or tertiary schooling. The Expression of Interest form can be found on Compass Newsfeed.
- The VCE SAC schedules for Years 11 and 12 have been published to Compass Newsfeed. These are very important documents for students to assist in their planning and preparation for major assessment tasks. Students should review the relevant calendar carefully and make a note of all of their upcoming assessment dates. Please be aware that the dates are subject to change. Any changes will be communicated through Compass Newsfeed.
- The Senior School Student Policy and Handbook have also been published to Compass Newsfeed and the school’s website. Please read and save these documents for your own records.
Jack Talbot – Senior School Leader
Year 12 Camp
The Year 12 Class of 2023 started off 2023 with the Inaugural Year 12 Camp.
Monday 30th January 74 students of the cohort met at Belgrave Station and made their way in to the City. The camp was an opportunity to get together and create a positive culture to start their final year of school by getting to know each other, participating in workshops, breaking down barriers, setting up successful study techniques, visiting tertiary institutions and having some fun along the way.
On Monday we went to the REACH home base, REACH is the Jim Stynes Foundation which is all about unlocking the power of young people to inspire them to believe in themselves and get the most out of life. Our group were amazing in their approach to this workshop and concluded the session with the following messages as a group, that we will continue to reflect on in 2023:
- Be yourself
- We’re all in this together
- We all have our own difficulties
- Acceptance
In the evening after dinner all together we had a Trivia Night, where our Principal Mr Barut attended and joined in the fun. There were lots of laughs and fun had, with some bonus point challenges that included drawing Mr Barut blindfolded and eating an Oreo that was stuck on your forehead without using hands. In what we could say was a close finish, team “Chillybin” came away with the win.
Tuesday started with some team building activities before heading to Melbourne University for a tour and chat about all things uni. The Vocational Major students in this time went to Vic Market with Mrs Hay where they created a tik tok and taste tested a variety of food in which they may never have tried before, only one student tried everything on offer!
Tuesday afternoon was the “Amazing Race” which Mr Closter had put in a huge effort creating this. 14 teams started off with only 4 successfully finishing in the allocated time. Eating whole cans of spaghetti and dancing the Nutbush on the banks of the Yarra River were required to finish the race.
Tuesday night we had a session with “Success Integrated”. Darren and his DJ were entertaining all while providing a really clear message to the group.
Wednesday was pack up and reflect before partaking in our last activity at Swinburne Uni. It was really engaging and created a lot of interest for a lot of students. Cementing the importance of a positive start to this year and creating interest and eagerness for what lies ahead after school life.
The following are some statements from students after being asked “what was something you enjoyed on camp”:
“I enjoyed getting to know people in my year level better”
“The end challenge of the amazing race (doing the Nutbush for 30 seconds) with entire group”
“Camp allowed us to build trust and support as a group and helped us to build a stronger understanding of each other”
I am so proud of the way the cohort have started the year and am excited to continue to work with the group in 2023. Together Everyone Achieves More.
Emily Hay – Year 12 Engagement Leader
