Year 8

Mr Stephen McNamara
Leader of Wellbeing – Year 8

It has been another busy term, marked by a wide variety of challenging learning tasks, thoughtful pastoral development and tightly contested sporting events.

Year 8 piloted the Anti Bullying presentation as a part of our whole school commitment to ensuring that Marist College Eastwood remains an inclusive and safe environment. The presenter, Natalie Vella from The Social Compass, was extremely complimentary about the awareness and responsiveness demonstrated by our Year 8 cohort which was wonderful feedback to have acknowledged.

The presentation complemented the work undertaken during Pastoral lessons, where students engaged with material from The Resilience Project, focusing on building awareness and developing skills to navigate life’s challenges. The program also involved Vertical sessions, during which senior students led discussions and activities in House based groups.

In the last of these, students voted for their Homeroom Leaders for Year 9.  These leaders will be presented at a College Assembly next term. The process was very well received and strongly supported, reflecting the emerging maturity of our Year 8 students – something to be genuinely applauded.

A particularly meaningful moment in the religious life of the College occurred when Jack Le Fevre and Liam Cheng received Sacraments as a part of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults on 20 August at St Kevin’s. They joined 25 young people from our school, Marist Sisters College Woolwich and Holy Cross College Ryde in this significant step into the Catholic tradition.

 

Representative sporting involvement was impressive throughout the team, with students competing successfully in the Baseball and Tennis Gala Days, as well as the SCS Rugby 7’s, AFL and 7 A Side Football seasons. Notably, the AFL squad, coached by Ms Stern, were crowned Junior AFL Conference 2 winners, progressing to the SCS Conference Championships.

Several students, including one of the members of Year 8, proudly represented himself and the College at the NSWCCC Athletics Carnival. It was a highly engaged and competitive term, with achievements shared across the cohort. A special congratulations to Ethan Glavin, who was named as Junior Sportsman of the Year at the Malloy Cup, an outstanding accomplishment.

Another major highlight was the determined manner in which students approached their first Assessment Tasks of Semester 2, working to produce well organised responses and striving for consistent grades across all attitudes to learning.  Strong foundations have beelaid for positive Semester 2 reports and it is is now up to students to finish confidently in Term 4.   

Best wishes for a safe and well deserved term break!