On Friday 16th November 2019’s sizable Year 9 cohort descended on the college for their introduction to the the next phase of their school life.

According to transition dean Jeff Bryant, there were two main objectives to the day: to reduce anxiety about the transition and to make students feel excited about where they are heading. 

 A team-building water activity on the field run by outdoor education teacher Sally Josenhans was part of the programme. Its purpose was to get to know each other and build on the challenge the students were given by principal Daniel Wilson earlier in the day: to meet two new students who they didn’t previously know, preferably from a different school, and on day one next year to find them and say hello.

Another activity included an induction to using the school’s Microsoft 365 operating system where students learnt how to log in, send each other an email, and create documents.

The third activity was a timetable treasure hunt. “We teamed them up with some Year 10 guides and gave them a story about what a typical Year 9 might do during the day. We gave them a timetable and a map and then they had to follow through what that student did. So maybe they were late to school, so they had to come and sign in. There were about seven different scenarios and the idea was that they were orienting themselves around the physical school and getting used to our campus,” Mr Bryant said.

A spontaneous positive outcome from the visit was the way that a good chunk of the Year 9s and 10s came down at interval off their own bat to mingle and make the new intake feel at home. “They were really cool, they just said hello and walked around and said hi to their friends and introduced them to some other people,” Mr Bryant said.

Mr Bryant was pleased with the way the day went. “The feedback was really positive and we think it had value (...). We’ll do our best to refine it and get it even better next year.”