Year 7 Students Complete First Term at High School With Lots of New Friends

10 Apr 2024

Catherine McAuley Westmead students
Year 7 students from left Jenolin, Nelisha, Liya, Nishka and Georgie.

Chatting with Year 7 students this week it is apparent that the stand out feature to most of them, as they complete their first term at high school, is that they have made lots of new friends and are enjoying the varied activities.

Nelisha A. started at Catherine McAuley by herself as she was the only student from her primary school. “Coming to the school by myself was really hard because I didn’t know anyone and I was scared I wouldn’t have friends”, Nelisha said. “However now I have found friends and I am enjoying all the new friends I have made”. Jenolin P. says when she started high school she was determined to get involved and was hoping there would be extra curricular activities she could join as she knew this was one way to meet new people.

“I was surprised how many clubs and activities were on offer”, Jenolin said.

“I very quickly saw on my Compass newsfeed that I could join these clubs and become involved. I have joined Sleek Geeks (a STEM group), the Glee Club (musical choir) and the Earth Action Committee (environment group)”.

“My friends and I don’t like just sitting around and eating our lunch”, Jenolin explains. “We like to be together but doing collaborative group work. Sleek Geeks in particular allows us to do this and is really fun”. Both Charlotte A. and Annalise H. say they have settled in easily and have found everything fun. “Just joining a new community and meeting lots of new people is the main highlight for the first term”, says Charlotte.

Two Year 7 students from Catherine McAuley Westmead
Annalise and Charlotte say they have both settled into Year 7 easily.

Nishka T. says for her the most enjoyable thing about high school has been moving around during the day and having a range of different teachers. “I like not having to stay in one classroom like we did at primary school. I also enjoy having a range of different teachers. Mr Johnson, my Science teacher, is one of my favourite teachers because I find Science really interesting and my teacher goes into depth with the subject, much more than we could do in primary school”.

Liya A. also likes moving around during the school day and likes the structure of having a timetable. “I like having set periods on the timetable for different subjects and I like that every single day is different”, she says. “Even though the timetable repeats every two weeks it still feels like a new week every week”.

Many Year 7 students are just enjoying the chance to become more independent as they evolve from primary school students to high school students. “I have really liked becoming more independent since I started high school”, says Georgie G. “Catching the bus to school, getting all my items organised and walking to classes and not staying in one spot for too long has been the most enjoyable thing for me. I like all the different subjects but if I had to choose what I am enjoying most it would be English and Religion”.

The students are all looking forward to seeing what Term 2 will bring with the netball tryouts one thing many are looking forward to. “I play netball outside of school and I would really like to represent McAuley at netball too”, says Georgie. For Liya it will be wearing the winter school uniform. “The winter uniform will be something different so I am keen to wear it”.

Jenolin would like more Year 7 students to check their Compass noticeboard and take advantage of all the different opportunities on offer. “Catherine McAuley has so much available and they can have fun with their friends while working on something together”.