Newsletter | Hear the Call of Jerusalem: widen your horizons

Monday 18 November
Staff Correction Day (no students)

Tuesday 19 November
Smart Start begins
Year 7 2025 Parent Information Evening

Wednesday 20 November
VCAA Exams finish
USA Partnership Program Pre-departure Parent Information Evening, 7.00 pm

Thursday 21 November
Year 12 Graduation Mass and Valedictory Dinner, 6.00 pm, Marvel Stadium

Monday 25 November
Year 8 Camp

Wednesday 27 November
Year 8 Camp returns
Year 10-11 Mass and Awards
Years 10-11 students final day (1.00 pm finish)

Thursday 28 November
Sion One Day

Friday 29 November
Year 7 2025 Orientation Day
Year 9 iPad return date

Today marks the conclusion of the Year 10 and 11 exams. Next Wednesday will see the final Year 12 VCAA exams also conclude. On Tuesday the VCE and VCE VM students will begin their Smart Start program in preparation for 2025. This week we have wished our Year 7 students well as the concert band performs in its first Victorian Schools Music Festival and we have celebrated our traditional Year 7 Spring Concert with their families. We have congratulated the Year 6 students who will formally join the College next year for their achievement as part of our Sion First Band Music Program. Year 8 students are in the final stages of preparing for the Year 8 camp and Year 9 students are concluding their Ayin program with our very special Mind Body & Soul program. The final social justice project has been launched with each student invited to contribute to the St Vinnie’s Christmas appeal. On Tuesday evening we will warmly welcome the families and students of Year 7 2025 and in the coming weeks these students will attend Sion One Day and Orientation Day.

When we experience these milestones, we know that the end of year is fast approaching and very soon the corridors and classrooms will begin to become more and more quiet as students conclude their academic year.

And yet, in the last few weeks, the classrooms within our new Ratisbonne Discovery Centre have been anything but quiet as students have undertaken an array of Art and Science lessons within the new spaces. The smiles on their faces as I have walked around and the positive responses when I ask them what they think and what they like about the new building reflects the excitement they have for learning even at the very end of the year. With only a few weeks of classes left, I encourage students to continue to enjoy all that the College aims to offer them and to look forward with great anticipation for the what the future holds for them. Despite the challenges in our world today, our students are beacons of hope for building a just and cohesive community. It is a privilege to support them in their learning and personal development.

With every blessing for the fortnight ahead.

Tina Apostolopoulos

Recently, our Year 9 students moved away from the chapel and spent time on the oval for a different type of prayer experience. Mrs Tilley, the Year 9 Wellbeing and Growth Leader, created a beautiful set of prayer cards for the students to read and reflect upon as they walked around the oval.

To begin with, the year level gathered in the piazza where they commenced with prayer together. The students were then given a card, with a particular focus, which contained a piece of scripture and a reflective question. Scripture included:

I am confident of this, the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6

How have you grown and changed this year?

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

John 3:16

Who are the people that you love?

I hereby command you: be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:9

Who do you feel most safe with?

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

What is your purpose?

I am confident of this, the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6

How have you grown and changed this year?

The students were asked to walk quietly around the oval as they read and considered the scripture and question how they might connect with them in some way. The year level then concluded with a final prayer together. It was a lovely way to start the day and highlighted for the students that prayer can happen in different ways.

Wishing all members of the College community many blessings.

Exams and Studying

We are approaching the end of the exam period for Semester Two, with the completion of the Year 10-11 exams and with just the smaller exams for our Year 12s to go. This is a major achievement and our students should be really proud of the way that they have conducted themselves through, what can be, a stressful process. Below are some comments that the Year 12s have made as they came in to study or for their exam. Perhaps these could be discussion starters for our Year 10 and 11 students as they finish their exams and start thinking about Smart Start.

• Studying here at school has been good, it means that I don’t get too distracted and helps with routine
• When I get overwhelmed and lose motivation, I swap to a smaller revision task (like reading my flashcards). This way I feel like I am not wasting time and yet I get a brain break
• I went back and read over all of my feedback from my SACs and made a list of things I do well, and things I can focus on. This really helped me to decide what to do with revision
• Really appreciated my teachers answering all my questions. I never felt like I was a problem for them.
• Smart Start

Years 10 and 11 students will shortly receive their Smart Start timetables. Families are reminded that as the timetable changes in 2025, the teacher and class composition may also change however the students will receive a common experience as the teachers have collaboratively planned the learning. Teachers will be very understanding if students do not have the materials from the Learning Resources list.

End of Semester Assessment

As we move towards the end of the term, all of our students are finalising units of work and could be feeling some pressure of the assessment. Families are encouraged to use SEQTA as an overview and to reach out to the subject or Homeroom teachers if they have any concerns.

2024 Night of Excellence

The Night of Excellence, scheduled for Thursday 5 December is drawing closer. As we need time to calculate the different awards, staff have been given a timeline for entering Colours Points and for the Academic Awards data. Please be mindful that students cannot calculate their own Academic Awards as some tasks contribute whilst others do not. This is at the discretion of the Learning Area Leader who ensures that the process is meaningful and equitable.

More information about the Our Lady of Sion College night of nights, will be circulated shortly.

Supporting Family Self-Care After A Busy Year

The end of the academic year brings exams and assessment deadlines, and it’s a time when productivity often peaks. Students feel the pressure to revise and prepare, and the usual adolescent tendencies to procrastinate are overridden by the reality of impending due dates. While this period can be productive, it can also be stressful—for both students and their families.

“Encouraging young people to balance hard work with moments of rest and self-care is essential,” says Dr Lisa Damour, a psychologist and author known for her work with adolescents. During exam time, the heightened focus on academics can strain family dynamics. Parents and carers may have found themselves tiptoeing around, suspending usual expectations like chores, family meals, and shared activities to reduce stress at home.

As senior students wrap up their exams and begin our Smart Start program, we hope they enter this new phase with a renewed sense of purpose. Smart Start allows incoming Year 11 and 12 students to engage in the subjects they’ve chosen as they look ahead to life beyond school. This transitional period, along with the holiday break, provides an opportunity for families to reconnect and recharge after a potentially challenging exam season.

We encourage families to prioritise “family self-care” by planning activities that nurture connection and wellbeing. Ideas include a family movie night, outdoor activities, cooking a meal together, taking a short trip, or simply enjoying quiet time together. By planning intentional moments of connection, families can enter the holiday break refreshed and ready to support each other in the year ahead.

The holidays offer time to restore, reconnect, and prepare for the experiences, goals, and social dynamics of the coming school year.

Hands up if you are ready for a new challenge...

I hope that all of our Year 10 community members just put up their hands. With the Semester 2 exams now in our revision mirror, our next challenge is to commence our Smart Start program in which all students will commence their 2025 course work.

With every new challenge comes growth. Our growth is based upon our prior learning and experience and throughout this year our Year 10s have consistently shown much growth and through this growth it has allowed the development of the skills required to be accessed during Smart Start.

Organisation, curiosity, patience and persistence are some of the skills and habits we have seen from our Year 10s. Over the coming week (and into the commencement of 2025) I encourage all families to support your young person to grow and be challenged from a position of strength.

That is, play to your strengths and apply your skills and habits into your new environment and I encourage this to be done with confidence. All our Year 10 students have the required skills necessary to meet their new challenge head on. The transference of knowledge and understanding learned this year will allow a positive start to their new challenge.

Change can be a little scary, because we don’t know what it might be like. We might be unsure of how I will get everything done, and what if I’m not in a class with all of my friends. All of these thoughts are valid, but I want all families to remember, that the best way to move forward is to have conversations around these feelings, to look for the positives in new environments, and remember that adjusting to new challenges and new environments can take a little time (and that’s ok) BUT, with a positive attitude, new challenges allow us to become better versions of ourselves.

Duke of Edinburgh

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of speaking to our Year 9 students about the continuation of their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award. We spoke about the importance of ensuring that all students are continuing to stay up to date with completing and logging their hours for their skill, service and sport. The aim is to have all of these hours completed and logged onto their Online Record Book (ORB), prior to the end of this year. Progression of this will be reported upon in the upcoming Semester 2 reports.

We then took a look at what our adventurous journey might look like. We investigated that we will have the opportunity to complete a combination of bush walking, rafting, canoeing and cycling. In addition to setting up our tents and cooking on our tranjias.

We also investigated what type of clothing will be required for our journey.

Finally, I’d like to share some important dates with all our Year 9 families so you can plan ahead:

• Tuesday 11 March, 2025 - Packing day. On this day students will bring all their clothes, food and equipment needed for their adventurous journey and we will pack this into our backpacks that will be used. This is a normal school day.
• Wednesday 12 March - Friday 14 March, 2025 - Adventurous Journey. We head off to Lake Eildon National Park on Wednesday morning to embark on our final element to achieve the Duke of Edinburgh, Bronze Award.

I am very much looking forward to our continuation of the Duke of Edinburgh award for all our Year 9 students and families. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to make contact with me.

It has been lovely to return to the Year 8 area following a period of leave! It kicked off with the Homeroom Netball Competition which takes place every Thursday. The LHC was full of enthusiastic players and spectators.

On another note, next week during our pastoral lesson, our focus will be preparing for the most exciting event of the year…CAMP! Below are some key points that will be discussed, so please continue these conversations at home to maintain a positive attitude so that camp is a wonderful experience.

1. Part of the permission forms that were signed and returned, acknowledge that if required, a student will be sent home from the camp for not following the expectations/instructions of school or camp staff. We do not permit any phones so your support would be greatly appreciated to ensure these are not brought on camp. These expectations are predominantly in place to ensure that everybody is safe and able to have a great time!
2. “Be a lobster” – we will watch a video by Rabbi Twerski, in which he outlines the process for a lobster to grow. They are a soft animal with a hard shell, that must leave their current shell in order to cast a new shell. During this stage they are vulnerable but it is a crucial step for them to grow. We can compare this with the idea that through pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zones, into the stretch/growth zone, we are able to grow. It is a great chance to make new friends rather than sticking to those they already have, in preparation for Year 9 where they won’t be with their Homerooms for most of the time and will be in electives with a variety of different students.
3. Nerves/fear/anxiety and excitement feel the same – we will compare the physical responses we have to these different feelings and that there are many similarities. We will look at the key difference as being our mindset, moving from focusing on the threats/things that could go wrong to the opportunities. Studies have shown that by simply saying the words “I am excited”, rather than approaching a challenge with fear or trying to just calm down, we are on average more successful in completing that task. Please see video here: How to Turn Anxiety into Excitement Video.

Finally, please check the ‘what to bring’ list to ensure that all necessary items are packed. This was included with the permission through EdSmart and a copy has been placed on the year level Google Classroom for students, along with some basic rules and expectations. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to your daughter’s homeroom teacher or me and we would be happy to help out!

As we progress towards the final weeks of Term 4, we are beginning to reflect on the successes, challenges and growth that has occurred for our Year 7s in 2024. The transition has commenced with students putting in preferences for Year 8 Homerooms, as well as receiving their language allocations. With this stage of Year 7, we do often see mixed emotions in our students, ranging from anxiety to excitement. Parents, carers and family members are often a key support during this time, and we encourage you to consider the following when discussing this period in your child's schooling life:

• Active listening: Give her your undivided attention when she's speaking. Validate her feelings and avoid interrupting. Let her know that you're always there to listen, without judgement.

• Encourage independence: Empower her to make decisions and solve problems on her own, without dwelling on the ‘what - ifs’ that may drive anxious thinking. If she has concerns, please direct her to speak with myself, her Homeroom Teacher or another trusted staff member.

• Help her develop coping strategies: Teach her healthy ways to manage stress, such as mindfulness, grounding techniques, journaling, or spending time in nature.

• Offer support, not solutions: Help her brainstorm solutions and encourage her to take ownership of the situation.

Remember, every student is going to have a different approach to these life transitions. By fostering a strong parent-child-school relationship, we can help them to navigate these challenges with confidence and resilience.

We have had so many brilliant experiences in Drama this term and the enthusiasm of our students has been on full display.

The launch of the College Musical for 2025 was held in the Miriam Theatre last week. We are so excited to announce that we will be performing Mamma Mia! Students were thrilled with the choice and are set to audition next week for roles in the cast. We always have a very high calibre of talent on display during auditions. Ensure that you prepare and put effort into all aspects of the process. We will also be auditioning Whitefriars students for some places in the musical. We are excited to offer these opportunities to Whitefriars students and continue the relationship with performing arts teams.

The Year 11 Unit 2 students performed their group devised Ensemble Evening inspired by the events of The Black Saturday Bushfires. The two group performances were unique interpretations of the prescribed structures and wonderfully creative non-naturalistically styled pieces. Well done to these students on their very fine performance work.

Our Year 9 Drama students performed in An Evening of Shakespeare. They performed scenes from various Shakespearian comedies and tragedies. Our Year 9 performers did a wonderful job of interpreting the scenes and performing with excellent characterisation.

Our new Drama Captain for 2025 Chanel Thompson delivered her first Drama Club Workshop. Chanel designed and facilitated an Audition Workshop in preparation for the College Musical auditions. This was a valuable experience for all participants with some brilliant tips! A copy of the resource Chanel created can be found on the 2025 Musical Classroom.

Last week the Year 7 Humanities classes visited Edendale Farm to learn more about water. This is what they had to say about their Geography field trip:

The focus of our excursion was to learn about water as a resource, and consider our actions and natural events that impact on the quality of water in the Diamond Creek. To do this, we learnt how to measure acidity, electrical conductivity, and turbidity. Lessi G (7 White)

The focus of the excursion related to what we have been learning in class because they gave us new ways and ideas of how we can save water and reduce our impacts on what goes into oceans, rivers and creeks. They also spoke to us about how they measure the acidity, electrical conductivity and turbidity levels in the Diamond Creek and the dam of Edendale farm. These things all relate to the topic of our classes on how water is a resource while also further extending our knowledge on how we can help stop the negative impacts on water. Ava M (7 White)

On our recent excursion to Edendale Farm we learnt a range of interesting and new things during our three rotations. I learnt how I can measure the acidity, electrical conductivity and the turbidity on four different water qualities. These four water qualities were water from a dam, creek and a tap. After we collected all our data I was surprised to find out that the dam had the worst water quality whilst the tap water had the best. Lucy G (7 White)

From the knowledge I have learnt at the Edendale farm excursion I have learnt how to properly take care of our natural environments and areas such as Diamond Creek. At Diamond Creek, the residents who live in the area and who work at Edendale all focus on keeping their area clean by properly disposing of rubbish to prevent it flowing into their creeks and dams. Speaking of water resources, the creeks and dams of the area are highly important for everyone including residents and animals because it provides them with a clean and safe water resource for their homes. Sophia Z (7 White)

During this semester, our Year 7 students have worked hard and made incredible progress in their Italian language skills. To celebrate and reinforce all they’ve learned, they embarked on a special project: creating a board game that incorporates vocabulary, grammar, and Italian culture in a fun and interactive way.

The students showed great enthusiasm and teamwork as they put their knowledge into practice, designing a game that reflected their learning journey.

We thank our Italian teacher Ms Cristina Cardaci for organising this creative project. The board game activity allowed Year 7 students to review their Italian skills in a fun, collaborative way, fostering both learning and teamwork. We appreciate her dedication in making their language journey so engaging and memorable. Well done to all our Year 7 students of Italian for their hard work and commitment!

Some of our students would like to share their reflection with us all:

My group made an Italian version of ‘Monopoly’. The board was in the shape of a pizza and the places that you purchase are pizza restaurants or maybe stalls. The characters are ingredients in a pizza such as sauce, cheese, dough and many others. We made pepperoni cards so when you land on certain spaces you must pick up a card and there is sometimes a question and sometimes you must move back five spaces or maybe collect euros. We went to the Learning Resource Centre and created it on Canva then printed it out and we laminated some of them. We kept adding more because we kept having more ideas of things to add. While making the board game it was a great experience cooperating with people in my group and I really enjoyed doing this task. This taught me to create ideas that I have never thought of before and to explore new ideas together. Keira M (7 Blue)

My group made a 'Snakes and Ladders' board with every three squares you had to pick up a question card that had Italian related questions on it such as ‘What is cheerful in Italian?’ and you had to answer the question to move forward to complete the game and win. Gemma C (7 Blue)

The game that my group and I made was an Italian version of ‘Guess Who’ where you must describe the characters with different Italian adjectives. Overall, I really enjoyed this task, and I would do it again. Isabelle M (7 Blue)

My group came up with a card matching game, with English cards in one colour, and Italian cards in different colours. The idea of our game was that each player would choose a colour from the pile of Italian cards and collect their hand. They would then go to their colours allocated space on the board. The players would take turns placing an English card face up on the board, and each player would place their card that matches to the one in the middle of the board on top as fast as they can. The player that placed the English card would then check to make sure the cards were correctly translated and give out the points earned. It was an enjoyable experience creating this game with my group, and watching it come together. Alana Y (7 Blue)

My group made our own memory game for Italian vocabulary where you flip two cards and match them until you find all the pairs. Working together with my peers was an enjoyable experience to create a fun way to remember our vocabulary. Olivia W (7 Blue)

Year 10 Food By Design Students have had a wonderful semester applying their design skills.

They have designed pancakes, ice cream sandwiches, pumpkin soup garnishes, bento boxes and modified muffins according to dietary requirements of their clients.

Over the last few weeks they have been creating a Christmas hamper. They learnt the skill of flooding and created beautiful soft cut-out sugar cookies and decorated them with royal icing. They made delicious homemade strawberry jam, created their own unique granola, made chocolate biscuits and two different types of savoury crackers. The crackers are designed to be eaten as part of a charcuterie board. They made cheese rosemary crackers and wholemeal crackers.

It was wonderful to see the students working in groups to create a hamper suitable to give away as a gift. Hopefully they will apply their design skills at home and create more Christmas hampers for friends and family as Christmas draws near.

Victorian Schools Music Festival – Year 7 Bands representing Our Lady of Sion College

Congratulations to the 83 members of our two Year 7 Concert bands (the Monday morning group and the Tuesday afternoon group), and members of the Sion First Year 6 Music program, who performed at the 2024 Victorian Schools Music Festival on Monday. The girls presented the repertoire that they have been working on in the magnificent Hawthorn Arts Centre. Students also benefited from an on-stage tutorial with the adjudicator and got to listen to bands from other schools.

Instrumental Music Private Tuition 2025

Enrolments are now open and available online for Instrumental Music lessons in 2025. All the details including fees, instrument hire charges and conditions are available here. Confirmation of enrolment needs to be completed here. Please note that charges will be applied to your college fees statement in early 2025. Address any enquiries to the Head of Music at: mmacaulay@sion.catholic.edu.au

Instrumental Music Lesson Scholarship Applications

A limited number of music lesson scholarships, lasting two years, will be made available to students currently in Years 7 and 8 for the following instruments:

• Viola
• Cello
• Double Bass
• French horn
• Euphonium
• Trombone
• Percussion
• Guitar

Interested students/families should email Mr Macaulay for an application form mmacaulay@sion.catholic.edu.au

Year 7 Spring Concert

All Year 7 ensembles, small groups, and those Year 7s in Intermediate level ensembles performed at the annual Year 7 Spring Music Concert earlier this week in the LHC. It was a celebration of the hard work the girls have done all year in their large ensembles and small tutorial groups.

Term 1 Trials 2025

As the 2024 calendar nears the end, we begin planning for a big start in 2025! Weekly sport returns with Softball, Tennis and Volleyball (swapping with Indoor Cricket in Term 3). Below are dates and times of our trials. With a busy start to the 2025 calendar we are limited with time to trial next year, so to help with selection, the majority of trials will be completed this side of the Christmas break.

We look forward to the new Year 7 students next year who will be joining the sports program, they will have their first experience following Orientation Day on Friday 29 November. More information will be shared on Tuesday 19 November at the Year 7 2025 Parent Information Evening. An EdSmart form will be sent out on Wednesday 20 November to incoming families to consent to the trials for Softball, Tennis and Volleyball if students would like to participate in Weekly Sports (Thursday morning and afternoon commitments).

Student Leadership 2025

Our 2025 Sport Captains, Hannah G (11 Blue) and Natasha N (11 Blue) have been busy reading applications and conducting interviews for Sport Representatives in 2025. We have been extremely impressed with the standard of interviews across all year levels so far. Next week, current Year 7 and Year 8 students will have their opportunity at lunchtime to interview for the role. Sport Captains for 2025 Year 11 – Year 8 students will be announced in the final days of the year to students.

Individual Sport Captain applications were sent to Year 9, 10 and 11 students for 2025 at the start of Term 4. In total, 44 Senior students applied for captaincies which shows that we have many passionate students who want to lead teams and squads in future seasons. Individual Sport Captains assist with the running of their chosen sport and help with trials and coach younger year levels as well as working alongside Sport Representatives to facilitate opportunities for students. Individual Sport Captains for 2025 will be announced next week.

Thanks again to all students who have applied for leadership positions, it is a great way to develop as a person both on and off field. If you are unsuccessful in your application, remember a title does not define you nor limit your influence as a leader among your peers.

St Vincent De Paul School Conference

Wishing Tree Appeal

The St Vincent de Paul Christmas Wishing Tree Appeal is all about bringing joy and festivity to families who may be in need of some extra support.

Through the St Vincent de Paul College Conference, Our Lady of Sion would like to put out a call for families who wish to purchase and donate items for Christmas hampers which will be distributed to families supported through the St Vincent De Paul Soup Van program. These hampers will be filled with household and a few luxury Christmas items to help families celebrate and enjoy the festive season together.

St Vincent De Paul have invited the Sion community to donate the following - please see flyer below.

These donations will be given directly to the St Vincent de Paul Society Soup Van program, assembled into hampers and distributed to families in and around the area.

All families wishing to donate items can place them under the Wishing tree located in Student reception. Gift Cards can be handed to Reception staff for safe keeping. This Christmas initiative will be running from Monday 11 November to Thursday 5 December 2024.

SnapShot

This is the last SnapShot for the year. We continue to learn how the work of the Society aligns closely with the key principles of Catholic Social Teaching.

St Vincent De Paul Society and Catholic Social Teachings

The St Vincent De Paul Society Conference at Our Lady of Sion College actively reflects Catholic Social Teachings in our actions.

Care for our Common Home

We all have a responsibility to be stewards of God’s earth. It is a reminder not to be wasteful of our resources. We must not create waste which is more concerning when we think of those who constantly go without. It is also an opportunity to give what we can through programs such as food drives, the Winter Appeal and the Christmas Appeal.

Preferential Option for the Poor

We are called to take care and show love to our neighbour, in particular, Jesus always encouraged us to give priority to those in greater need or the most vulnerable in our communities. One initiative that the Sion St Vincent De Paul Conference has organised is the Baked Goods Drive where students donate ingredients and bake special treats for those on the streets in Melbourne. We shouldn’t just be providing the bare minimum but lifting people up.

Subsidiarity and Participation

St Vincent De Paul aims to engage with the vulnerable to identify the best ways to support them. One way we have realised this is through listening to guest speakers who connect closely with those in need. Another strategy used to help the disadvantaged is finding ways to lift them out of a challenging situation such as finding jobs, education and other resources. Abi H (8 Gold), Sophie J (8 Gold) and Clare N (8 Gold)

Are you in a Reading Slump?

As we approach the end of the school year, many students are reflecting that they feel like they are in a “reading slump”. For many of them, they are quick to label themselves as “not a reader” because they don’t fit the image of a bookworm.

We all read in different ways; a bit at a time, large books at a time and when we have the time.

I was thankful to hear Stephen Krashen speak a few years back about the importance of students having age-appropriate books within reach in their bedrooms. That way, when they are not in the mood to start a new book, they can reach for something that they have already read and get back on the reading horse.

Having time off from technology also helps us to reset our reading habits. Checking on our screen time habits can often reveal that we do have that “20 minutes to spare” to pick up and read a book every day.

At Sion, we try to encourage students to regularly read by producing Summer Reading Challenges, Book Bingo Cards and the Victorian Premiers Reading Challenge. We have an excellent collection of both physical and digital fiction and are happy to take requests.

Article to read: Teens and the ‘book slump’: Why we should diagnose a situation rather than an identity

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently. Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

Students and families can find the fortnightly Careers newsletter here.

In this fortnightly Newsletter there is information relating to:

• Dates to Diarise Term 4 – 2024 Year 12 VTAC dates reminder
• Upcoming Events: 2024 Year 12 Change of Preference period, 2024 VCE Results and ATAR: Accessing VCE results
• Things to consider: ANU – Year 12 applications 2025 and beyond, Tuckwell Scholarship for 2026
• Researching options: William Angliss important changes to bachelor’s degrees from 2025, 2025, VCE Summer School Programs, Deakin College-Pathways for students interested in Deakin University, RMIT – Bachelor of Engineering (Electronic and Computer Systems Engineering), Swinburne University (Advanced Diploma of Building Design (Architectural).

Perfectionism in Teens

Perfectionism can be challenging for teens, often leading to stress and self-doubt. Here are some actionable strategies for you to help your teen manage perfectionistic tendencies and set realistic expectations:

Understand the Difference Between High Achievers and Perfectionists

• High achievers focus on doing their best, view failures as growth opportunities, embrace constructive criticism, and are willing to take risks, which fuels creativity and innovation.
• Perfectionists often fear failure more than they enjoy success, leading to self-doubt, avoidance, and limited creativity. Mistakes and criticism may feel like proof of not being good enough.

Encourage a Growth Mindset

• Praise effort, progress, and resilience rather than just results.
• Focus on the process rather than the outcome.
• Emphasise that mistakes are normal and valuable learning opportunities.

Set Manageable Goals Together

• Help your teen break down big goals into smaller, achievable steps.
• Celebrate small milestones along the way to build motivation and reduce the pressure for “perfect” outcomes.

Model Self-Compassion

• Share your own experiences of learning from mistakes or handling setbacks.
• Use positive self-talk to set an example, reinforcing that everyone’s worth extends beyond their achievements.

Focus on Balance and Wellbeing

• Encourage activities that aren’t focused on achievement, like hobbies or spending time outdoors.
• Remind your teen that downtime and relaxation are essential for mental health and overall success.

Reinforce Unconditional Support and Acceptance

• Remind your teen that they are valued for who they are, not just for what they accomplish.
• Check in regularly to offer support and listen to any worries they have about school, activities, or other pressures.

These small adjustments can help teens approach challenges with confidence, enjoy their accomplishments without pressure, and understand that they don’t have to be perfect to succeed.

As always, if you have any concerns about your child’s wellbeing that you would like to discuss, please speak to their Homeroom Teacher, Wellbeing and Growth Leader, or email the Counselling Team.