Looking back at Year 7

This week I started school again. At school I found myself reflecting on Year 7 at St Vincent’s College. I had just turned 12 and my first year of high school was a year to remember! At the beginning of the year I was overwhelmed by all the differences between primary school and high school, all the new teachers and all the new kids. By the end of the year I’d made myself comfortable in my new shoes (my attempt at a double entendre, because I started the year with blisters!).

All the new opportunities! All the new rules! Who knew you could get a detention for not having a fully charged iPad? Despite this, I embraced as many changes as I could with open arms. I joined the SRC (Student Representative Council), the school production, tried dance, did my first drama exam, did my first proper ‘exam week’, learnt how to study and had 10 different teachers.

 

WOW! Time for a reflection….

Joined the Year 7 SRC (Student Representative Council)

At the beginning of the year I took up the option to apply to be the Year 7 SRC (Student Representative Council).  I didn’t know what this role really entailed because there wasn’t an SRC in primary school. I completed the application form and then delivered a short speech to Year 7 and I was lucky enough to be voted in.

Two people were chosen in each year. We met every two weeks and I was pleasantly surprised by the impact we made over the year.

• The SRC created a new tutoring system whereby the older students helped the younger students with their studies.
• Getting a drink required a long, long walk, so the SRC helped with the wants of the girls by installing a few extra bubblers, this time thankfully they were installed in a convenient location in the middle of our playground.
• A big pain point for the girls was missing public transport home, mostly by just a minute or two! They believed the culprit was the rule of keeping our bag in our locker during school hours. When the bell rang, every student needed to go back to their locker to collect their bag. If only students were allowed to take their bags with them to the last two periods of the day… We delivered on that one too!
• We also started a suggestion box, to allow for more feedback from the students.

Those were just a few of the highlights of being on the SRC.

Took part in the School Production

I joined the school production “Peter Pan” and it was such a cool experience to be part of a production.  I was one of the “Indians” and I learnt being in the production required serious dedication. The rehearsal nights after school went for 10 weeks and sometimes we were there until well after 10pm. We did four sold out performances and I especially loved the night that my parents and friends came.

Joined the dance ensemble

I also joined a dance ensemble and a contemporary dance class.  This was my first introduction to dancing and I really enjoyed the experience and I improved a lot during the year.

Did my first drama exam 

Drama is a passion of mine and this year I was introduced to Drama Exams, more precisely the “Trinity Exams”.  I prepared three pieces, a mime, a monologue and a poem. I presented these to an external examiner. #GreatExperience

Homework

One thing I really missed from my primary school was Edmodo. At primary school we submitted all our homework electronically and the teachers marked it usually by the next day. Going back to a manual system was a bit sad.

The exams

St Vincent’s College has end of semester exams, that is twice a year. My first Exam Week was really stressful. Each subject had an exam, so we had nine exams in a five day block.

I had to learn how to study for the first time.  I studied hard following the study plan that each teacher provided and I was happy when mum and dad saw my grades. Many people have told me that I am fairly organised and I think now that organisational skills might be even more important than hard work!

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That is my Year 7 reflection done. I covered a few of the changes from primary school to high school, but I believe the main difference is going from one teacher for all subjects, to one teacher per subject (or in my case, two for Religion). I enjoyed this change because with a teacher per subject, we were given deeper explanations as their knowledge was more concentrated.

Year 7 was a great year, I learnt heaps, I met some great teachers and kids and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I will always remember Year 7 at St Vincent’s.

Anyway now I have a new pair of shiny shoes that I need to break in.

Cya

-Eve