Welcome to Term 3! I hope everyone had a restful break, with some time to relax and recharge before another busy ten weeks of learning. 

This term, we have a new addition to our Year 8 team. In addition to Ms Tiller (Year Level Assistant), Mr Breese (Head of Year) and myself; we welcome Mr Berrell as a Head of Department for Year 7 and 8. Mr Berrell will lead student engagement and wellbeing for our Year 8 cohort, enabling us to enhance our intervention and support. Mr Berrell is an existing Foxwell staff member and is fully committed to our school and our students. We are excited to have him working more closely with our Year 8s this semester.

It's been lovely to chat with our Year 8s this week and hear about their new electives. In The Arts, students will have swapped from Media and Visual Art to Dance and Drama. In Technologies, they will have swapped from Engineering and Business and Economics to Workshop and Food. With timetable changes, there may be instances where your child has been re-enrolled in an elective that they have already studied in Semester 1. In these instances, assessment tasks have been adjusted. If you have any concerns about your child’s timetable, please don’t hesitate to contact me to discuss options.

Numbers have been finalised for Year 8 camp, and we are also working on an alternative program at school for students who are not attending this event. More information will be available regarding both camp and the alternative program in the coming weeks.

For Year 8, our big focus this term is on our SPIRIT value of teamwork. At assembly, students have been reminded of all the staff members who are on their Year 8 team, and we have also reinforced that every class is a team of learners. I posed the challenge of being a good teammate in every class and supporting each other to focus on learning and doing our best. These messages will be reinforced throughout the semester, and it’s been exciting to see the new learning underway in classrooms this week. 

It's been lovely to have students return this week and hear about their holidays and new topics that are underway in their classes. Our Year 8s are enthusiastic and energised for the term ahead, and I’m looking forward to working alongside them again throughout the semester. Please remember to reach out to myself or another member of the Year 8 team if you have any questions, concerns or celebrations – it is through working together that we get great outcomes for our students. Again, welcome back to Term 3!