Year Eight Year 8
C
ommencing Secondary School remains a significant milestone in the life of any student. Symbolically it reflects a new landscape that young people negotiate on the journey from childhood to adolescence and beyond. It is largely foreign terrain and poses a myriad of new Mr Robert Armitage Head of Year 8 challenges for the traveller. Within the space of a sixweek summer holiday students plummet from pole position in the Primary school and enter quietly through the gates of a larger educational environment, one where their hosts quickly bombard them with a challenging set of rules, procedures and expectations. I am pleased to report that the Year Eight class of 2003 adjusted to these demands with great initiative and endeavour. I am sure all of the boys quickly appreciated the need to participate enthusiastically in the academic, spiritual, sporting and cultural pursuits of the College and most importantly the value of taking some personal responsibility for their day-to-day organisation within often incredibly busy schedules.
62
The initial onslaught was relieved early in the first term by the opportunity to engage in the annual Year Eight Orientation Camp at Camp Kelly in Dwellingup. Each homeroom group was on camp for three days and were involved in such activities as hiking, rafting, boat building and learning to cope in the great outdoors without the help of Mum and Dad. Socially it is important that each boy has the opportunity to develop new and existing friendships in an environment of tolerance and acceptance. The mateship between the boys developed at Trinity will not only be an important source of strength at the College but will extend well into adult life. Our orientation camp was successful in giving the group the opportunity to become acquainted with more of their classmates and teachers while also forcing them to step outside their comfort zone. Some took rather reluctant steps. The least enjoyable experiences were the hike, and the lack of flushing toilets while camping. The most enjoyable were raft
building and taking on the perilous dangers of the roast dinner at Camp Kelly. Following the camp, each homeroom group elected two student councillors whose role was not only to represent the interests of their peers but also to serve others by assisting in homeroom and wider College activities. They were all good role models and performed well in providing positive leadership. Spiritually the boys’ commitment to genuinely participating in the whole school and year level masses has been another admirable dimension of their growth throughout the year. The Year Eights were also very proactive in supporting the missions and made worthy contribution in the Run for India day. Year level assemblies while restricted in terms of number provided students with an effective forum to provide feedback to their peers about the diverse activities they find themselves involved in. We had three social events through the course of the year, a games night at Iona, a quiz night at Mercedes and a dance at Penrhos. I congratulate the boys on their mature and good spirited participation. In closing, I would like to offer my deep gratitude to the pastoral care group for 2003. Mrs McGibbon, Mr Messer, Mrs Prior, Mr Shackleton, Mr Connell, Mrs Kauhanen and later Mr Ludera who offered guidance and support to the students in a manner that was characterised by great generosity, compassion and commitment. Robert Armitage Head of Year Eight
