ISSUE 50
|
SUMMER 2016
11
Year 9 Coordinator, Kate Barbat questions the stereotype of
Year 9 as every student’s most challenging year of school and life.
‘It’s a time of transition,’ she says. ‘The girls are leaving their
childhood behind, having to break free from their dependence
on their parents and carve out their own individual person.
That’s tough, but it is also exciting. Our aim is to help them to
bond together as a unit.
‘I want to provide every student the opportunity to be the best
version of themselves and in order for that to happen, they need
to realise their inner strengths and understand the power that is
possible as a united Year Group.’
In an effort to deepen connections and foster new friendships,
The Year 9 Coordinator organised a day-long retreat in Manly
in June. After participating in a range of wellbeing activities
from beach yoga to self-defence, sign writing and a gratitude
walk, the girls engaged in pizza making as a team building exercise.
They then invited their parents to join them for a dinner that they
had prepared themselves. Towards the end of the evening, the
girls shared with their parents the things that they are grateful
to them for.
‘Parents are core,’ Kate says. ‘Year 9 is a transition for them too,
as their daughters start to grow up. I don’t want to just call when
there is a problem. I hope to build a community in which the Year
9 Coordinators are synonymous with parents.’
Conversations Over Coffee is a week-long initiative that brings
Year 9 parents to school between 8.30am and 9.30am to meet
with each other and their daughters’ teachers and tutors. Up to
80 Year 9 parents took up the opportunity in 2016. ‘It has been a
very uplifting experience,’ Kate says. ‘It is a rare opportunity for
parents to share the positives, like how well their daughter is
doing and how pleased they are. More importantly though, it is a
chance to discuss things that parents have observed or might be
worried about so that as a school, we can better understand their
daughter and work to ensure that we are enabling her to thrive.’
Other programs to boost Year 9 students’ wellbeing include weekly
half-hour lunchtime exercise sessions in the Ravenswood Strength
and Conditioning Centre, along with an initiative that Kate calls
Locker Motivation. ‘Once or twice a term I’ll find a quote that is
meaningful for them in that moment and I’ll laminate it and stick
it on all of their lockers for when they arrive at school as a positive
focus for the week. One mother told me her daughter had stuck
her motivational message above her bed.
I think the result of this
combination of approaches
has been a real shift in
attitudes and sense of
community within Year 9.
They now see bonding and
looking after each other as
important. The turnaround
has been amazing.’
YEAR 9 RETREAT
During the transition phase of Year 9, a little extra attention goes a long way.
Taylor Quin, Elspeth McCutcheon, Lauren Gunson, Sian Hamilton, Clare Golja,
Lisa Bosch, Sarah Hertslet.
Pizza making on retreat
