The Departure - Year 9 Rite Journey

On Thursday 18 May, Year 9 students and their parents/guardians gathered in the Savio Centre to take part in ‘The Departure’, one of the ceremonies that occur as a part of The Rite Journey - our Year 9 EMPOWER Program.

Using the Empower program and performing this ceremony helps us stop and take time for a while and lets us celebrate our childhood, while we are still young.

The Departure is a way of saying ‘thank you’, and expresses a student’s gratitude towards their parents/guardians for everything they have done for them.

The main focus of this exercise is for students and parents to celebrate their childhood and to recognize that physically, socially and mentally their children have begun to develop into young adults. Childhood is coming to an end as these Year 9 students mature in preparation for becoming Year 10 students and leaders of our school in the coming year.

Students were asked to read aloud their gratitude letter they have been working on in their Empower class.

Parents and guardians respond to the student.

This was then followed by a BBQ and time to reflect what we have learnt on this special occasion.

This is a significant part of the Rite Journey as it helps students realise that they are not little kids anymore and it’s time for students to start taking more responsibility for their actions and acting like young men and women.

Tori Stringer - Bosco Creative Arts Captain 7-10