From the Head of Year 11

It is with much enthusiasm that all our Year 11 students begin their VCE journey and it is my privilege to support these young ladies through their final two years of schooling.

We warmly welcome two new Year 11 students and their families to St Catherine’s School, Harmony Hughes from Tasmania and Cindy Li from China. I have enjoyed spending the first few weeks getting to know all the girls and I am excited about the coming months and what they will hold.

Our Year 11 Form teachers are Ms Tamara Andrews (11HK), Mr Darren Plunkett (11BB), Ms Anna Pianezze (11LT) and Mrs Brigid Weereratne (11DS). We welcome Mr Darren Plunkett to St Catherine’s School and to Year 11.

Under the weThrive banner, the Year 11s focus this year will be weAccomplish. This Year level focus on weAccomplish builds on students’ sense of who they are, a sense of looking after themselves, a sense of self-worth and a sense of being tolerant of others’ differences. We will also focus on maximising opportunity, striving for our goals and developing leadership.

Henrietta Paterson enjoying lunch with the Year 7s.

So far this year the students have already been busy, with many volunteering to be a part of the Year 7 – Year 11 buddy program. The girls have already met up once over a shared BBQ lunch which was a fun way for the girls to introduce themselves to the younger students and begin to establish a relationship and to get to know each other. Regular meetings will now take place throughout the year.

A member of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade working through a scenario with the Year 11 girls during their F2D program.

Two weeks ago, the girls participated in the Fit To Drive (F2D) Program. This program follows on from the Keys Please program in Year 10. The workshop experience supports our students to make good decisions when faced with risky driving situations, both as passengers and in terms of their future driving safety. F2D is about changing attitudes and behaviours, not their driving skills. The workshop helps young people by using active learning methods that draw upon their own experiences to develop a respect and pride for safe road use. The overall purpose of the F2D Year 11 Workshop is to reduce youth road trauma. One question in particular invited much discussion from our students: What causes crashes? The Year 11 students were quite shocked to hear that 93% of car accidents are due to human factors – speed, drowsiness, not wearing seat belts, inexperience, drinking and distractions (other passengers, eating, looking at your phone). We were fortunate enough to also have members of the Victorian Police Force and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade speak with the students about road safety and the part our young people have to play in it.

The Year 11 students, along with the Year 12s, have participated in a ‘sleep’ session. The session highlighted the importance of sleep, especially throughout VCE. Teenagers need nine to 10 hours sleep a night. The reality is teenagers get seven to eight hours sleep, some even less. The session highlighted the causes of sleep deprivation, the risk factors of sleep deprivation and the many advantages of a good nights sleep. If parents are interested in the PowerPoint from the session, it can be found on the Year 11 and Year 12 portal page. In the words of the Dalai Lama, “Sleep is the best meditation.”

Receiving the stimuli: Year 11 Drama Captains receiving their stimuli packages from Mr Brown, Head of Performing Arts.

With much excitement, the Year 11s have commenced their House Arts 2018 preparation. This has involved the Year 11s from each House being presented with their stimulus pack. These stimuli will now be the foundation of many months of planning, scripting and development, culminating in the end of year House Arts presentation in December. Let the fun begin and may the best House win!

In typical St Catherine’s style, our Year 11 students are already availing themselves of the many co-curricular activities on offer at the School. Many of the Year 11s are heavily involved in the Rowing program, many involved in rehearsals for the upcoming Senior Musical Crazy For You, many have volunteered for the upcoming Red Cross Door Knock, many more are involved in the numerous and varied Clubs at the School and many are involved in activities outside of School.

I would like to highlight just one of those students, Lucy Gray. After sailing for several years, Lucy participated in the 420 World Championships in Perth over the recent summer holidays. During her time in Perth, she was constantly challenged with massive seas and strong winds but over the three weeks Lucy grew closer with her Australian friends as well as making friends from across the world. This was an experience unlike anything she has ever done before and we hope it is the beginning of many more international events for Lucy. Training continues towards the National and Youth National Championships at the end of the year in Tasmania. In preparation for the Victorian and New South Wales Championships, Lucy has been competing locally over the past few weeks and has come second in both events. We wish Lucy every success for the upcoming championships.

Mrs Melissa Braddy, Head of Year 11