‘On the beach hike, you couldn’t do anything but talk and walk. I personally got to know Adrian, who had seemed really shy, but he didn’t turn out to be!’
Year 7 student, Emma, made this observation of how she had developed Connectedness, one of the Carey Positive Learner Attributes, while on Year 7 Toona camp. Valuing both academic performance and the development of the ‘whole student’ is the core focus of Carey.
All Middle School classes, activities, subjects, clubs, sports, camps, bands and events provide opportunities for students to use and develop in each of the nine attributes, thus encouraging personal growth and the building of character. With the help of Year 7 and 8 students Sam, Piari, Annabel, Emma, Tom, Jonah, Daniella and others, and a little bit of poetic licence, I hope you enjoy the following ‘attributes in action.’
In co-curricular activities:
- ‘Band has been my main source of collaboration. I am always paying attention and trying my best.’
- ‘I have used collaboration during APS when I am competing with a range of different students and working together with them to represent Carey with pride.’
During Outdoor Education:
- ‘When I injured my knee on camp, I showed resilience as I didn’t go home even though it was painful. Mr Coleman and my friends helped me and found activities that I could do.’
- ‘There was lots of hiking, it was tough but you just had to use resilience to push through.’
- ‘If you didn’t use communication on the scavenger hunt you couldn’t find the places.
- On the night before expo I noticed I was using courage because I was very nervous at the for expo but I still found things to look forward to. And then I used courage again because the backpack I had on expo was really heavy but I had to toughen up and walk because I didn’t want to hold everyone up.’
- ‘We met an Indigenous man, Will. We were all curious and he answered lots of our questions about his life and the Hattah region. His job was to maintain his ancestor’s burial sites which are continually under threat as the winds pick up the dust and expose the sites.’
- ‘On Hattah, we were divided into four activity groups and were responsible for cooking, tent-making, cleaning and environment. We all had to work together and collaborate to make sure that we reduced our footprint so that you couldn’t tell we had set up a camp.’
In history class:
- ‘I work well with groups of people, trying to make the best work we can present, by sharing ideas and collaborating.’
- ‘Studying the Romans made me think and reflect on how humans have evolved.’
At home with COVID-19:
- ‘I used communication with teachers and my friends online.’
- ‘You have to use resilience if you stopped school but then had to catch up.’
Creating the Transformative Art project:
- ‘We made a foam and clay waterfall using a teapot base. We definitely used our imagination for that and courage too, as it was all very unknown to us. And one of the other groups needed resilience because their clay wall fell-down in slow motion.’
Throughout Enterprise Week:
- ‘You needed lots of resilience because some group members were not there on the last day. And you needed courage to present because there was not much time. And we used knowledge from maths, English and history.’
At the Rural Experience in Warrnambool:
- ‘We heard all about the Loch Ard shipwreck. Standing in the Gorge, you had to imagine the storm, the thick fog, the sound of the ship crashing onto the rocks and Thomas Pierce climbing up the cliff in search of help.’
- ‘I gained lots of new knowledge about the history of ice-cream making. We also learnt about the local Indigenous history, bush cooking and the lemon bush.’
During the Human Rights Convention:
- ‘There was lots to learn from the Holocaust survivor and you put yourself in their shoes and connected with her. It made you think and was very sad.’
- ‘The week made us think and reflect on issues like racism, sexism, reconciliation, refugees, homelessness and our human rights.’
Many more attribute opportunities are still to come this semester, including academic classes; House athletics; Year 7 Enviro Week; and the Year 9 Wabonga, Civics and Challenge Week rotation. The current round of interviews are a wonderful opportunity for students to explain their engagement in the attributes. The Learner Profile Term 3 Report, where our nine attributes are summarised in the broader domains of Relationships, Self-management and Thinking, will be available for parents online from Tuesday 6 September.
Meredith Plaisted
Deputy Head of Middle School – Student Learning
