Transition and Peer Support
Year 7 Transition
Our goal is to facilitate a seamless transition between primary and high school, ensuring that incoming students feel a sense of belonging, acceptance, and familiarity within their new surroundings.
This process begins with Year 6 Orientation Day, where students are immersed in a range of fun and engaging activities across many learning areas. This day aims to introduce students to the College and build positive relationships with those who will join them on their high school journey. This day is paired with our Parent Information Evening where parents are provided with information and opportunities to ask questions regarding their child’s first year of high school.
At the commencement of the school year, new students are involved in transition activities designed to familiarise them with College life, build their confidence, and immerse them in the College’s Faith Story.
Peer Support
Irene McCormack Catholic College is Christ Centred and Student focused. Together with our faith, students are placed at the centre of all decision making. Student voice and agency is critical to both academic growth and mental health and wellbeing. We recognise that each student requires varying levels of support as they transition to secondary school. Therefore, ongoing support for students social and emotional wellbeing is paramount for them to navigate secondary school confidentially and successfully, as well as life beyond school.
The Peer Support Program develops a nurturing and protective culture within the College, where senior students become mentors and points of contact for younger students to seek out in times of need. This develops a supportive environment that fosters student relationships between year levels and creates a more connected and compassionate school community.
Our Peer Support Program involves students from Years 10, 11 and 12 volunteering to provide support for younger students. The Peer Support Program develops partnerships between students across year groups.
- Year 10 students mentor Year 7 students.
- Year 11 students mentor Year 8 students.
- Year 12 students mentor Year 9 students.
At the conclusion of Year 9, students undertake a training program to become mentors themselves in Year 10.
Peer Support leaders are trained to deliver scheduled workshops with students from younger year levels, covering a variety of topics and skills that are designed to help them make friends, build confidence and flourish in the years ahead.
The skills based, experiential learning program empowers younger students to support each other and contribute positively to the school climate. It provides younger students with a supportive learning environment in which they can develop the skills, understandings, attitudes and strategies to improve their social and emotional wellbeing. It allows our senior students to engage in authentic leadership opportunities and develop key skills such as assertiveness, decision making, problem solving and leadership in support of our whole school approach to support positive student wellbeing.
The aims of the Peer Support Program include to:
- create a safe school environment for younger students to attend school without fear of judgment, misunderstanding, harassment or abuse.
- build social connectedness and generate a sense of belonging within supportive peer networks.
- develop senior students as positive role models who demonstrate appropriate ethical and moral behaviour for younger students.
- support younger students to develop a positive self-belief and high self-esteem.
- increase students’ confidence through enhanced communication and social skills.
- empower younger students to build personal resilience and improved help-seeking behaviour through;
- increased knowledge of available support;
- reduced stigma associated with mental health difficulties and help-seeking; and
- the development of positive coping strategies and the development of skills needed to access help;
- prevent the onset of mental health problems.
- encourage a sense of hope and optimism in a bright and positive future.
