Year 9

Year 9 students have been busy participating in a wonderful variety of activities over the past couple of weeks. These have included the Write a Book in a Day incursion at MLC School, the Thriving Minds Competition at Ascham School, Australian Music Day, the PASS Alpine Safety and Ski Camp, and a Commerce excursion to NSW Parliament House and the Police and Justice Museum. Our Middle Years leaders also supported the Year 6 Excitement Day, which was a lovely opportunity for them to contribute to the wider School community.

Continuing our focus on encouraging Year 9 students to become more active in their learning and to manage the increasing academic demands of Stage 5, this week’s Year Meeting centred on building effective study habits and developing a more senior approach to learning. We explored practical strategies for creating study notes and discussed the many different note-taking styles students may find useful. I encouraged the cohort to establish a regular revision routine that includes reviewing the work covered each day, adding to their notes, checking their understanding, and contacting their teachers when they identify gaps in their knowledge. In future sessions, we will build on this by focusing on the next steps after note-making, such as active revision and practising skills so students can apply their knowledge, rather than simply recall it. Our aim is to equip Year 9 with the habits and mindset needed to become increasingly independent, confident and successful learners as they continue through high school.

We want our pastoral care programs to remain collaborative and responsive to the current needs of our students. If you are noticing any areas of concern at home, whether related to wellbeing, such as healthy online habits or navigating friendship changes, or to academics, such as organisation, research or study skills, please feel welcome to reach out. These are often valuable themes for us to explore during our pastoral care time.

Wishing you and your family a restful weekend, and I look forward to another positive and productive week with Year 9 next week.

– Kate Schurch
Head of year 9