Year 9 Leader of Wellbeing

Ms Emily Mattick

Reflecting on Term 3 with Year 9, it is clear they have embraced a host of new and exciting experiences. No longer the youngest in the school, they continue to step up and take on greater responsibilities in academics, sports, and extra-curricular activities. Their enthusiasm and commitment are truly impressive!

In particular, students gave consideration in choosing two elective subjects of their choice which included; Photographic & Digital Media (PDM), Physical Activity and Sports Studies (PASS), Commerce, History Elective, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Industrial Technology, Visual Arts, Music and  Food Technology. With these chosen electives, Year 9 was given more ‘freedom’ and the ability to be treated as more mature men, this came with opportunities not seen before by the cohort.

In these electives, students have taken part in a range of activities, incursions, excursions and stimulating classwork. For PASS, there was a wheelchair basketball incursion involving teaching the students firsthand how lucky they are and what sport in a wheelchair would be like. Students in History Elective had the chance to listen to a  Holocaust survivor describe the horrors of her time. Visual Arts students had an excursion to the Art Gallery of NSW, and had the chance to explore the 2024 Archibald entries which coincided with the Semester 1 portraiture study. Woodworking students dove into more advanced and elaborate projects. ICT taught students about important Excel functions and formulas to fast track calculating and data management of large data sets. It also taught students how to program their own website from scratch using HTML and CSS which are vital skills for people going into the realm of software development.

In sport, many of our Year 9 students have achieved exceeding results in sporting areas such as the swimming and athletics carnivals, cross country, SCS representative teams and selection for CCC teams, with quite a few winning awards for their respective sport at our recent Malloy Cup Assembly. Congratulations in particular to our European Handball team winning the Grand Final to be named SCS Champions. 

A smaller group of Year 9 students has been completing the Duke of Edinburgh Award and preparing for camp in early December, in which they need to undergo the required amount of hours in three categories (Skill, Physical Activity and Community Service). This has meant many students have been involved in learning new skills and community service such as participating in the St Vincent de Paul Society, in particular making sandwiches to distribute to the less forunate through the Vinnies Van. 

During recess and lunch, Year 9 students spent most of their time in the Cottage Yard, which has recently been renovated with marked lines and boundaries for both soccer and touch pitches. This group has transitioned from being the younger of the two sharing groups to now sharing the space with Year 8. This change has provided an excellent opportunity for students to build relationships with other year groups and develop leadership skills as they navigate the busy area.

Year 9 continue to share their gifts and talents in and out of the classroom and we look forward to a successful end of year as we prepare for Year 10.