The Secondary Campus Through the Eyes of Year 7 Students

An article by Charlotte Zhang

The experience of transitioning between two very different campuses can become quite daunting but what is it that truly differentiates them?

I now find that the Secondary Campus has quite a unique set of systems where ,unlike in primary, we now begin to commute between lessons and climb lots of stairs. Whether on the bus or in class, being punctual has become much more important and, when we compare our experiences to the Primary Campus, we don’t have anymore playgrounds, and instead we are met with spaces designed for new hobbies and to simply chill out.

Here are some comments from different year 7 students:

Student 1

"The lunch system is different in secondary where we now have to buy our own meals. We also now have more opportunities to participate in different events and activities. The new campus has lots of music rooms for break and lunch time practice and the curve also helps us study quietly and focus on work while enjoying different categories of books. On top of that, we also meet many more different people."

Student 2

"In secondary school, we have many more responsibilities. We must manage our own plans, auditions, and even small things like money and our ID card. We also have 4–6 more subjects and more teachers than in primary school, which means more homework and heavier workload."

Student 3

"In secondary school, you will have more responsibility. You must manage your own homework, deadlines, and materials without constant reminders. Teachers expect you to be independent and organised. You also need to be punctual, classes start on time and will not wait for you, so arriving late means missing important learning."

Student 4

"We have to be more independent, like in primary there are people helping you for lunch but now we have to pay with our own money. We have teacher registration in primary, but ID cards to sign in and out in secondary. We take responsibilities of losing properties ourselves and be mature around school."

Student 5

"Secondary is generally harder because we have more homework, activities and longer school days. Primary is easy, we have more time for lunch, easier topics and learning is like playing. Secondary schools have loads of different classes and it is very tiring to carry our bags around. We have to take secondary seriously and start planning for our future."

I interviewed 5 students, each stating that secondary school is very hard through different perspectives like being mature and punctual, productive and lots of subjects and works. Moving from primary to secondary is a difficult process, where you are in different systems and are introduced to a rapidly changing environment. With more opportunities to explore new interests, we all look forward to our future in the Secondary campus.