The Year 7s have been on quite a journey this term settling into new routines, timetables, rooms and getting used to many new teachers and expectations. I’m sure it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride of excitement and nerves. In the first week, lockers were decorated by Year 11s with lollipops and ribbons to help welcome the students and make them feel more at home. The class settled in, and overall, they have made an excellent start as we have shared some fabulous experiences.

Our early days of getting to know each other kicked off on our ‘Launchpad’ day with team building activities, swimming and volleyball games. We explored our new way of learning in FUSE – a combination of subjects Foundations, History, Geography (combined as ‘Understanding Society’) English and also Pastoral Care – in our new open, shared classroom space. Flexibility and choice have characterised the way we do things in FUSE, with students encouraged to take on more responsibility for their own learning.

By the time the swimming carnival came around in February, new friendships were developing as we spent time together.  We have had guest speakers present on strategies for studying, taking notes and generally on how to handle being in secondary school. We recognised Clean Up Australia Day by rolling up our sleeves and cleaning our little patch of Australia at GCC in our Legacy Cup challenge, we had our formal class photos taken, and we endured immunisations with not too many tears.

Now as the term draws quickly to a close the students will be very busy with assessment tasks, demonstrating what they have learned over the weeks of class activities. I encourage them to continue to dig deep, to focus on the task at hand, to be persistent and persevere. As we’ve found out in reading our autobiographies this term, in the words of Bethany Hamilton, “I don’t need easy; I just need possible.”

Great possibilities are ahead, starting with our Student-Led Parent Conferences early in Term 2 on Thursday 27 April. These will be run in the style of a museum exhibit with students displaying ‘Who Am I’ in various creative ways. Make sure you save the date now as this will be a showcase of the students’ work in FUSE in Term 1. You will be able to book a specific time on the day from 1:30pm to 6:50pm. I look forward to seeing you all then.

Tania Calais