Transition to High School

Preparing for Year 7 2023

Head Start to High School is a transition to high school program that is unique to Gymea Technology High School. For Gymea, it has proven to better prepare students, emotionally, socially and academically for high school, while also building that proud excitement as we begin our partnership in the high school journey of your child.

This year has brought challenges to everyone and as a result of necessary restrictions in schools, we have re-designed the delivery of Head Start to connect with families and students in preparation for a successful start to Year 7. The mode of delivery may come back on site for families this year but the information below identifies the program in a remote context.

One part of the program is delivered online through a designated site to support our families for our incoming year 7.  You will receive weekly updates to link you into the site to view videos, screencasts, virtual classroom tours as well as imagery to build that familiarity with Gymea to support your child in Year 7.

Head Start to High School In-School Workshops

For this part of our Head Start program, our incoming Year 7 2022 students have the opportunity to participate in exciting face-to-face lessons delivered by our teachers, as well as enjoy the unique chance to forge new friendships with other Year 7 students starting at Gymea next year.

The two week program for our Head Start afternoon Workshops for students is outlined below:

Weekly Online Program for Families

Introduction 17 September Welcome to our school and Gymea Connect

Week 1    5 October  Introducing our Year 7 Advisers

Week 2    12 October  Digital Devices for Learning

Week 3    19 October Year 7 Curriculum and Learning

Week 4    26 October Positive Strategies for Success

Week 5    2 November  Innovative Learning Environments

Week 6    9  November Student Organisation App – MyGymea

Week 7    16 November Get Ready for High School

Weekly Program for Students

For our student program we are using an online platform called Edmodo.  This will be managed and monitored by our Year Advisers, who will be leading your children and learning about them through a variety of activities that include:

• Virtual classroom involvement and quizzes.

• Building positive and respectful friendships, including digital citizenship and understanding around Positive Behaviour for Learning.

• Relevant literacy and numeracy activities.

• Peer Leading – connecting with peers and our Peer Leaders.

Each week, a different virtual lesson will be posted on the Edmodo site showing what learning is like at Gymea across the different key learning areas:

Week 1    5 October  Safety First!

Week 2    12 October Ancient Civilisations

Week 3    19 October Crack the Code

Week 4    26 October Space-X Design Challenge

Week 5    2 November  What’s in a Logo?

Week 6    9 November Continental Explorers

Week 7    16 November Escape VR Detention

Week 8    23 November Get Up and Moving

Week 9    30 November A look into Past Eras

Week 10   7 December Drills and Skills

Students can access the Edmodo site here https://new.edmodo.com/.   They have each been sent their own user name and login which have been sent out to parents by email.  This login also provides students access to our numeracy skills site, Essential Assessment, which is accessed here https://essentialassessment.com.au using the school code 8386.

If they are experiencing difficulty accessing or need their user name and password re-sent, please contact Heather in our office on 9521 3244.