Connections High School

Please share with your wider communities and come along and say hello.

So that's a wrap on our first semester. And what an amazing adventure it has been.

I could not be prouder of our staff and students and the incredible community and personal growth we have experienced over the past 6 months.

There are far too many firsts and highlights to list them all but here are some:

- We finished the semester by coming together to watch the World Cup and then having a disco in the hall, with a great playlist chosen by students. Many of the students took the opportunity to don their suits and gowns which was such a surprise and delight to see. Students from all year levels and staff from across the school danced their own dances, separately and together, and the pure fun and joy they displayed was heartwarming.

- Many students commented (and some even shed some tears) that they were sad that it was end of term and they would be away from school for three whole weeks. In all my years of teaching this is not something I have ever experienced.

- We finalised our MOU with the University of Canberra, and this allowed our Year 9 and 10 Science classes to benefit from the UC Science labs and lab technicians. There were some great chemistry experiments and demonstrations conducted over the past few weeks and we look forward to continuing these visits next term.

- We issued our first reports and conducted our first parent-teacher-student interviews. It was so good to be able to focus on the progress the students had made across multiple facets of their learning. Our families were wonderful in their responses and very grateful to our amazing staff.

- We held our first round of Work Experience for our Year 10 students in fields ranging from zookeeping, to hairdressing, to floristry, to baking, to criminal law, to digital design and animation. The feedback from employers was that many of our students were some of the best work experience students they had ever had.

- We held our first camp, and the students really rose to the challenges presented, enjoyed their time with nature, and came together as a group so beautifully. Our group leader commented that he had rarely had a group that demonstrated so much growth over only a few days.

- We conducted tours and meetings with our prospective 2027 Year 7s and are now fully enrolled. We are looking forward to meeting together as a group of Year 7 families for the first time this school holidays.

- We had so many fabulous outings in our minibuses and our students are so great to take out into the community. There were trips to playgrounds, parks and the botanic gardens, ice skating, bouldering and music studios. We have even more outings planned for next semester.

- We took a group of students to weekly equine therapy, and this was great to help build emotional regulation, communication skills, and self-esteem through safe interactions with horses.

- We saw every single student achieve so much socially, emotionally and academically. So many positive relationships were formed between students, staff, and students and staff. There were sometimes difficult interactions and big emotions to navigate, but this was conducted with genuine care and respect for each other.

-Our families and wider community continued to support us with such grace, gratitude and kindness. We feel truly blessed to be part of such a wonderful group of humans.

I could continue for so long with all the highlights of the semester.

It has truly been such a rewarding experience to watch Connections High School evolve and I appreciate the part that every student, staff member, family, board member and wider community member has played to enable us to get us to where we are.

We made it through our very first Term 1!
Thank you to our fabulous staff, students and families.

It has definitely been a big term as students have settled in, got into routines and re-engaged with learning. There have been many wins, some losses and many lessons learned. And through it all we have maintained our focus on doing our best for our students.

Our students seem happy and keep coming back so that is a definite win. Many of them have attended more days of school in the past term than they have in the past few years. They are generally starting to really get into the swing of their learning. They are making friends (some for the first time) and navigating complex social situations. They are creative, funny, kind and unique individuals who accept each other for who they are. I am so proud of them and feel privileged to get to spend time with them.