Year 8 Wellbeing Day

Last Tuesday, 17 March, Year 8 had the exciting opportunity to participate in a wellbeing day. Throughout the day, our Year 8 Motto: Be You, Act with Grace, Stay Curious, shone through and defined the day’s activities.

First of all, we gathered in the Great Hall to listen to an informative presentation from Sarah on sustainable and intergenerational living in Sydney. Using this knowledge, we were then sent to create a miniature house out of the cardboard and tools we had carefully collected. Laughter and chatter filled the Hall as we worked tirelessly to complete our homes.

The curiosity of our year group was essential in brainstorming and creating our houses. Everyone had creativity and a strong desire to learn as well as experiment with the materials we were given to make something wonderful.

My Form, 8Be, had a limited amount of cardboard, tape and scissors, so we had to share and take turns using materials so that everyone could build.

After a quick recess break to refresh, it was time for the second part of the challenge. We had to make a little community with both the houses we had made earlier in the day and new facilities or public spaces. We all split off into Forms, and our Form leaders assigned tasks for everyone to complete in pairs or small groups.

The first part of our motto, Be You, was incredibly important on Tuesday. Everyone in our year has unique talents and this activity helped bring them all together to create something amazing. My Form’s community, that we named ‘Beanville’, would truly not be complete without everyone’s different skill sets.

However, cardboard can be difficult to work with, and there were more than enough times when it fell over, broke, or went flimsy. When things got hard, we remembered how to act with grace and use problem solving skills instead of getting angry or upset.

It was incredible to see our community coming together and the work we had put in really paid off for the end result.

One delicious pizza lunch later, we were back in the Great Hall where we completed a feedback and reflection sheet on the day. The Form leaders presented a short speech on our villages and how we used the motto when building them.

Unfortunately, our communities couldn’t stay in the Hall, and the bins were stacked full of cardboard roads and buildings. Although Beanville is gone, the day gave me and everyone else a valuable opportunity and a great memory!

Orla O’Rourke
Year 8