Years 7, 11 and 12 students started the new school year on Wednesday, January 31 – a day earlier than the other grades.

This gave the students starting secondary school a chance to adapt to their new environment which includes a timetable of subjects and moving from class-to-class.

Teacher and year advisor Trudy Dixon said this was the largest Year 7 cohort the school had seen – 182 students – in the past 10 years.

Mrs Dixon said getting to know the physical layout of the school seemed to be the biggest challenge for the Year 7 students each year.

Their first day is dedicated to introducing them to new routines, expectations and the subjects they would undertake.

The school also invited Year 10 peer support leaders to come in a day early, to help guide the Year 7 students through their first day of high school.

“I guess I know what it felt like to be nervous starting high school, because I was pretty nervous,” Year 10 student Hayley Martin said. “I guess I just wanted to be someone they could come to for help and to be there to support them a bit.”

Among the new students experiencing high school for the first time were Nyalla Gordon, 11, Angel Hodson, 12 and Madeline Lilley, 12, who all finished primary school at Tanilba Bay Public School last year, Eleanor Wakley, 11, who finished at Raymond Terrace Public School and Kallie Bailey, 11, who finished at Medowie Public School.

Nyalla said she was initially nervous about starting but was very excited once she got to school.

“I couldn’t wait to start all the new and different lessons that I didn’t do at Tanilba Bay,” she said.

“I was just so excited to jump right into my first class,” Angel added.

Eleanor said she was excited for her first Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) class. Kallie was excited for her first math lesson.

“I was having mixed feelings before I started,” Madeline said.. “After day one I feel more confident and I am hoping that 2018 will be an amazing year for me and everyone else in Year 7.”