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Learning that Matters
With exams on the horizon, Beaconhills’ Head of Wellbeing, Yvonne Ashmore has put together some wonderful tips for students on coping with exam stress.
Many of these ideas are simple but truly effective if put in place early. If you haven’t already, now is the time to start.
I would like to wish all our students a restful holiday break and look forward to seeing you in term 4.
Yvonne Ashmore’s exam advice:
• Ask who can help me? Identify a person or people who can help and challenge you as you head toward exam times. This person can be a kind ear when you are feeling stressed and someone to push you when you are procrastinating.
• Develop a coping menu. Think through all of the things that help you remain calm and focused. Share these with your support person and encourage them to remind you to use these strategies. They may include writing a study plan, studying in a common family area away from your bedroom, regular exercise, mindfulness and relaxation techniques.
• What’s the point? Be clear about why you are doing exams. Consider more deeply the reasons you are putting time, energy and effort into your education. It is easy to say “I am doing it because I have to” however more significant reasons may include wanting to go on to further study, looking forward to a well-paying career, developing a sense of achievement. This is not about knowing what you want to be in the future, this is about how you grow and develop your skills for the future.
• Use your class time. Students have frequently said that the simple idea of using class time well to complete work and ask questions can significantly impact on lowering your homework load and keep up to date. So arrive on time, sit alone or with others that are working hard, bring your questions and appropriate learning materials and review what you learned and still need to know. This will make a big difference to future stress.
• Take care of yourself. You need about nine hours of quality sleep to ensure you can concentrate, absorb information and maintain positive mood. Eat well, exercise daily and create balance in your day.
• Practise mindfulness. A calm brain learns more effectively. Practise short mindfulness techniques that help your brain to calm and focus.
• Develop a study plan and share it with your family. This plan will help you and others to see when you are studying effectively
• Put in effort. With effort and practise you will improve and so the greater the effort, the greater the improvement
• Ask for help. At school there are many people such as counsellors who can help you to maintain positive mental health and teachers to help you with specific learning topics
The upcoming issue of our Lux Luceat magazine has a wellbeing theme, with more helpful information from our teaching staff about exams – and much more.
Congratulations to Beaconhills College Berwick students Josh and Lachie, recipients of 2017 Queen’s Scout Awards!
Representing Berwick’s own Venturer Unit, they will be the 2nd and 3rd Beaconhills College winners of this outstanding award in just 12 months.
Beaconhills College’s Deputy Head of Beacon Explorers, Tegyn Angel, has just completed one of the world’s most gruelling ultramarathons.
On his annual leave this month, he competed in the Tor Des Geants Mountain Ultramarathon, traversing 338km of mountain passes and ancient villages in Italy’s Aosta Valley. The event involved climbing and descending over 24,000m.
Mr Angel’s time of 106 hours and 47 minutes placed him 52 out of 462 finishers (from a total of 867 starters). It was the top result from Oceania in 2017 and makes him one of the highest placed Australians in the event’s eight-year history. Incredible effort!
P.S. And he just got engaged. Congratulations!
Congratulations to our dancers who stole the show at the SEISA 2017 Dance Festival.
We are incredibly proud of the students and staff for their effort, and the fantastic results that they achieved.
In 1st place, Berwick Campus on 378 points, closely followed by our Pakenham Campus in 2nd place on 359 points. What a fantastic result for the College!
Happy birthday to Mungi the turtle from Little Beacons Learning Centre, who has just turned three. Mungi was the guest of honour at the ‘pet party’, which included the centre’s others pets Lizzie lizard, Chai the guinea pig and budgies Sora and Kumo.
Mungi was showered with gifts. Children from the Riverbend and Growing Patch program made him hats, badges and a new backdrop for his tank. And of course they sang Happy Birthday.
EducationHQ has published a wonderful article on Beacon Explorers, Beaconhills’ outdoor and global education program.
Read about it here
Year 9 student Chelsea Magee has created care packages for people experiencing homelessness as part of her ‘Personal Best’ project at school.
Chelsea’s project, called ‘Hope in Hardship’, involved her gathering donations from the school community and local businesses to assemble into care packages.
They contain various essentials such a poncho, hat, a top, a bag, socks and a range of hygiene products.
“I named my project Hope in Hardship because the bag that I am giving these recipients is like a small glimpse of hope for them,” Chelsea said.
“I also incorporated sewing into my project by making ponchos that can then turn into blankets and pillows.”
Today (13 September), Chelsea and other Year 9 students from Berwick Campus will take part in the Brotherhood of St Lawrence’s Urban Camp. The camp in based in Collingwood, but students will travel to the CBD where Chelsea said she would distribute the packages.
Each year Beaconhills students undertake Personal Best, where they choose a project or passion and spend a term bringing it to fruition.
Chelsea said the most challenging part of her project was trying the “get the ball rolling” for donations.
“I won’t deny it, this project was a huge challenge, but my passion for common good and social justice just grew the whole way through the process and I wouldn’t change a single thing about it,” she said.
Grandparents and special friends enjoyed a visit to the Berwick Campus Junior School recently for the annual ‘Grandparents and Special Friends’ morning.
Students were thrilled to be able show off their classrooms and involve grandparents in handcrafts, quizzes, stories and creating portraits.
Beaconhills College athletes achieved some spectacular results this week at the South Eastern Independent Schools Association Spring Sports Carnival.
Our teams came away with no less than six premierships:
Junior Boys Volleyball Junior Girls Volleyball Junior Girls Football Intermediate Boys Netball Senior Boys Volleyball Boys Golf
Congratulations to all of the students and staff who worked so hard to achieve these great results.
Beaconhills College are now the proud owners of a lovely Grand Piano. This beautifully maintained, second-hand Yamaha G5E piano has taken up residence on the Berwick Performing Arts Hall stage.
The Grand Piano will be making it’s debut during the Junior School Grandparents’ Day and Spring Concert on Thursday 7 September, and the music department encourages all piano students to sign up for an assembly performance to experience this amazing instrument.
Queen’s Scout Award winners
Marathon man
Beaconhills College dancers steal the show
Pet party at Little Beacons
Beacon Explorers explained
Care packages to help the homeless
It’s great to be grand
Stunning success at the SEISA Spring Sports Carnival
A GRAND addition to our Performing Arts program
Exploring Walhalla
To market, to market!
Year 12 Beaconhills College student Callum Porter taking the TAC Cup by storm
Timely advice for exam time
Senior School leadership seminar
Farewell Andy
Why Year 9?
Calling for senior scholars
Wellbeing in action
Reports that tell the whole story
School funding landscape clearer
Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC Week
Think before you click
Lunches with the Year 12s
Performing Arts at its best
1300 002 225 | Int: +613 5945 3001
reception@beaconhills.vic.edu.au
Pakenham Campus
Berwick Campus
Little Beacons
Gate C, Syme Rd, Pakenham VIC 3810