Enhancement Having to adapt to a new way of learning for much of the year from home has provided its fair share of challenges in 2020 for our Enhancement students. While home schooling cannot replace the interactive learning and social environment a classroom provides, our Mazenod Enhancement students nonetheless have made the best of a challenging situation. Indeed, if framing this year in a positive light, I believe our students have largely become more independent learners. Furthermore, their overall engagement in their lessons and self-motivation has been pleasing to see. The cancellation of the popular Year 7 da Vinci Competition back in March was one of the first indicators that 2020 was going to be different. Not being able to compete in a student team against twenty other schools, packed into a hall, was disappointing for all. However, all was not lost, as Year 7 Enhancement students were still able to complete some of the academic challenges in an online format. Fortunately the annual anthology of creative writing by students from Catholic schools across Victorian was not impacted by mask wearing or curfews. Indeed, this year’s theme of ‘respect’ was used by Enhancement students in their poems and short stories to explore their thoughts and feelings while living in a COVID world. Without doubt, the 2020 anthology will be an important insight for future readers into the thoughts and feelings of students living through these difficult times. Around the school, or rather, suburbs, students in Year 8 Enhancement History debated whether ‘Richard the Lionheart’ was a hero and also learnt about non-violent protests associated with historical figures such as Mahatma Gandhi. While Year 9 Enhancement students argued the merits or otherwise of living in the genetically manipulated world depicted in the film Gattaca. Finally, as this is my last year of coordinating Enhancement I would like to thank the whole Mazenod teaching community and students for their support and efforts over the last ten years. No doubt we are all looking forward to next year and a safe and productive 2021. James Tranter
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