Year 7 News

Apparently one of the best things a person can do for their wellbeing is to be grateful, so I’d like to start this edition of the Year 7 News by thanking some people.  Thanks, of course, go to the wonderful Year 7 teachers we have – never before in my teaching career have I had the privilege of working with such a committed, positive and talented group of educators.  

Apparently one of the best things a person can do for their wellbeing is to be grateful, so I’d like to start this edition of the Year 7 News by thanking some people.  Thanks, of course, go to the wonderful Year 7 teachers we have – never before in my teaching career have I had the privilege of working with such a committed, positive and talented group of educators.  I’d like to thank you, the parents, for your continuing dedication and support of what we’re doing here at Buckley Park College.  And finally, I’d like to thank the students, whose attitudes, and commitments to both academic and personal growth, knock my socks off on a daily basis. 

We’re now two weeks into Term 2, and students have really started to seem settled into their new school.  I like to think that part of this has been due to the Connections program, with its emphasis on positive thinking, and getting to know both themselves and each other.  This term the Connections themes are Relationships and Fairness, but because it’s a longer term, we may also sneak in some sessions on the next theme, Health. 

The first of these, Relationships, is particularly important at Year 7.  Relationships doesn’t only mean romantic relationships – rather, it means any interaction we have with another person, whether they be teachers, parents, siblings, teammates, bosses, shopkeepers, anybody!  It’s easy to understand that Year 7 is a time of changing relationships, and that sometimes that can be difficult to manage. 

So with this in mind, we emphasise at Year 7 that while students don’t have to be best friends with everyone, they do have to treat everyone with respect.  This might mean that when they are placed in a group with someone they don’t get along with, they still need to be polite and understanding.  They don’t have to hang out with that other student in the yard, don’t have to be their best friend, don’t have to follow them on Instagram.  But they do have to treat them with respect. 

Sometimes, however, it can be really difficult for students to get along with each other.  When this occurs, I’d strongly encourage students to come and talk to a teacher about the problem, in the same way that we all ask for help when there’s a problem we don’t know how to solve.  So often do kids end up in trouble because they overreact to someone who is annoying them, where if they’d come and talked to a teacher, the problem could’ve been solved in a much easier manner. And while amongst students there is still sometimes a stigma around talking to teachers, if the problem can be reframed as ‘asking for help’, the stigma starts to drop away.  Students don’t hesitate to ask teachers for help when they have a problem with their Maths or English, and I’d encourage them to think the same way when they have a problem with other students.


Briefly, and in conclusion, NAPLAN testing will be occurring at Year 7 from the 10th to the 12th of May.  NAPLAN should not be seen as an objective measure of a student’s intelligence, but rather as an assessment that gives us an opportunity to understand where each student sits academically, and where teachers can best focus our efforts with those students, so that they can continue to improve.  At Buckley Park we welcome any opportunity to understand our students better, and as such are looking forward to seeing the NAPLAN results later this year.

 

Brendan Bailey

Year 7 Student Engagement and Transition Leader

Buckley Park College

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