Year 9 Pastoral Care

On Wednesday the 22^nd of June, Year 9 took part in an all day Pastoral Program.

The female students attended The Butterfly Effect - Enlightened Education Program http://www.enlighteneducation.com/enlighten-school-programs/the-butterfly-effect/

The male students completed The Self-Esteem Education and Development Program http://www.seedworkshops.com.au/for-boys.html

Both programs were a huge success for the students!

Issues such as self esteem, asserting yourself, respectful relationships, stress and how to deal with it, affirmations and having a healthy body/mind, were on the agenda for the day. I’d like to thank Year 9 for representing our College in a fantastic way and getting involved in all of the activities.

Here are two testimonials from two Year 9 girls – 

"We had a great day getting to know Chloe – she was lovely. My favourite part was the friends affirmation session. I don’t think we tell our friends how much they mean to us yet the value in doing this is important for all of us. I learnt that we can be self-destructive and how much there is we can do to build ourselves and those around us up. The media is playing a big part in this problem... we are all beautiful. This is a message that EVERY GIRL needs to hear! Thank you so much."

"Before the workshop, my friends and I were groaning about having to go and not looking forward to what we thought would be a boring day. However the sessions defied all of our expectations! Everyone was talking about how much they enjoyed the workshop and were reciting the funny yet inspiring quotes like ‘I am an Amazon’ and ‘Stop! I don’t like it!’. It was truly an inspirational, hilarious and extremely fun workshop."

I look forward to seeing how the students use the skills they have learnt on this day in the coming months of Year 9.

The Yr 9 boys spent the day in the Hall with Ben, their presenter. They participated in a range of activities and talks that addressed topics such as Respectful Relationships, Media Wise, Talking the Talk, The Best of Mates and Stress Less.  It was a great day, and the students got a lot out of it.

Here are some of the comments from the boys about the day:

"This was interactive and helpful. The Stress Less part was the best as it was very interactive. I learnt ways to relieve stress, that there are many people who go through abuse, some relationship advice, and about gender equality."

"I thought this would be very boring and pointless, but it turned out to be good. I really enjoyed making the pockets, and the Stress Less workshop. I learnt how to have a good relationship, to respect women, and to deal with stress."

"This was all really good. The best part was the creative visualisation. I learnt to be more confident, and that you can change your self-talk and be positive."

"Stress Less was the best workshop because it was good to learn how to stress less. I learnt to be assertive not aggressive, to take time out for myself, and SOS (Stop. Observe. Steer)"

"I expected this workshop to be boring, but it was really good. I enjoyed doing the creative visualisation. I learnt about honesty, caring, respect, to stress less and to treat people right. This was great."

"These workshops were really good. I liked Stress Less the best because we got to relax. I learnt to be respectful, to be positive, and to treat people with respect and equality."

"The best part was learning the methods on how to stress less because it was interactive with the audience and very effective. I learnt that there are games to calm you down, some better study habits, ways to recover, how to recognise a good relationship, and the difference between genders in the media. It was all very good."

"I thought it would be boring, but it was excellent. The best part was lying down when we were relaxing. I learnt how to deal with stress, how to communicate, what feminism means, and that people go through the same things that I do. It was a really good day."

Sue Copper
Leader of Learning Pastoral Care