As a reflection on their LangLit exam, Year 9 students developed a reflection/advice piece for Year 8's entering Year 9.

Letters to GSLC's Year 8 students

Some examples from Middle School (grades 6-8), made in Book Creator.

Middle school books

Dear Year 8's, Year 9 isn&#8217;t scary. I promise you this. But I also promise you that by the end of it you will have grown quite a bit compared to now, whether that is into a better or worse person is up to you. You&#8217;ll probably know this already, as I did when I was changing into Year 9, that sometimes it&#8217;s not going to be easy. There are people who will try to pull you down out of jealousy and anger or spite. These people probably won&#8217;t grow for the better, because their minds aren&#8217;t open enough to see that pulling people down isn't what&#8217;s really cool or funny. I still haven&#8217;t mastered the art of loving myself. It&#8217;s a difficult art to master with certain people constantly around. But I know myself, and as long as you have that, and you don&#8217;t plan on changing for the worse, you&#8217;ll be fine. Sometimes certain things are hard to look past, certain comments on your body or character, they are demeaning and all in all depressing. But love yourself. Know who you are. Be proud of it and do your best. This is my advice to you.

Hello Year 8 student who is going to be Year 9 I am going to say this to you. You are probably going to be fine in Year 8 as it is not that different from Year 9. It is basically the same but a bit harder like Year 7 to Year 8 or Year 6 to Year 7, it just keeps getting progressively harder. Except maybe Year 10, 11 and 12, I can't speak of those because I haven't been a Year 10, 11 or 12 student yet. But that isn't the point, the point is that you will probably be fine. But if for you Year 8 was really hard and you just read this and thought to yourself "Oh no Year 9 is just going to be like this year but worse that sucks." If this is the case for you then I have to tell you something, you have to be RESILIENT (all caps for emphasis). So that when life knocks you down you can get back up and when you are probably knocked back down again, you stand up and get knocked down again and you keep doing this until you knock the thing that knocked you down in the first place. This is what it means to be resilient. Even if life is really hard you gotta keep walking and making progress even if you get knocked down and get back up and make a few steps of progress. Congratulations, that is still progress. So don't worry because if Year 8 was really horrible for you and you are worried about Year 9 and think to yourself that you can't do it, think about it you have already survived in Year 8. You are already tough, what's another year going to do?

Self-esteem is incredibly important to have a better experience in Year 9. One way you can develop self-esteem is to always do the best you can in everything you do. Never think you will fail something before you even begin. Thinking you will fail before you begin will make you feel like you cannot accomplish anything. If you try your best, you will get higher grades but more importantly, you will become more proud of yourself.

You will need self reliance in Year 9 because you will have to take responsibility of yourself and your school work in class. So make sure you don't lose any of your work. Don't be naughty in class because you don't want to get into trouble. It is your responsibly to make good choices. Younger kids will follow you and copy what you do in school.

I was you one day, and Year 9 doesn&#8217;t change us that much. I just want to tell you to be a warrior. Don&#8217;t let people, kids in your class, your peers tell you what to do or force you to do something. Don&#8217;t let kids stop you from your future if kids tease you, tell someone or either step up (don&#8217;t fight them) and tell them to stop. If it gets bad and you do fight them, there will be consequences. Just be yourself, live how you want to live. Be your own warrior that has the self-esteem to push to where you want to be and don't let anyone force or tell you what to do.

My advice for Year 9 will be to do your homework when handed out and also keep your locker organised so that way you don&#8217;t spend most your time getting ready for class then getting to class. Also don&#8217;t be afraid to ask a quick question it is better to ask now instead just sending it and write about the wrong things.

When going through school you will need to have defiance, but it needs to be in the right place and the right time. Whatever you do, don&#8217;t be defiant towards teachers, but be defiant with your opinion in a respectful manner. Always stand by what you think is right and what is wrong in a situation but remember that there&#8217;s two sides to every story, so therefore you have to be open-minded. If you choose to be defiant in terrible situations don&#8217;t be surprised when getting shut down immediately. You will be getting closer to Senior School which means you have to be open-minded, defiant (in a good way) and true to yourself. If your not true to yourself this will lead to you not knowing who you are and what path you want to take when leaving school.

Persevere in everything you do. Do not allow the doubtful voice in our mind that says: &#8220;oh no that&#8217;s not good enough&#8221; or &#8220;what will people think about me?&#8221; to influence your decisions. Try your best and don&#8217;t give up because in the end the things that you should of done you will wish you had done. Year 9 goes fast. It&#8217;s a bumpy roller coaster and you tend to try and give up but in the end you will be glad you have persevered and you did your best that you can. You may be the best at one thing but not good in other circumstances. I encourage you to be a Xiomara Batista (a character you will come to know in Year 9 Language and Literature) and mark yourself on your flag and become the best that you can be. You can have people on your side helping you but when your older they are not going to be there for you. So learn to not give up and persevere.

One key message that you should know is that there will be times when you need to stand up for what is right, even though the whole world will be against you and will try to push you down. You need to get back up and show them that you&#8217;re going to stand against the wrong and fight instead of taking flight. The people around you and the people you surround yourself with will test your patience and emotional strength. They may believe that something is right and they will be relentless and argue their point and twist the truth. Nevertheless, you must show them that there is a better way and believe in yourself that you and others can make a change for the better. You need to persist in what you believe and fight for your place in the world. Even if you are a gamer who likes to live online, you still need to stand against the politicians who want to take others land. Or if you're a member of the military personnel you have to work with your teammates and your family in the ongoing war to stop the Islamic Extremism forces who want to take away women&#8217;s rights and free will. There may even be those who want to take you away from your family. These same people will destroy all they can to get what they want. You need to fight for what is right.

Going into Year 9 is not as difficult as you would think. However, if you need some advice I would say: be yourself. You have heard this already and that's because it's true, no one is going to see the real you if you are trying to be somebody else. You have got you whole life to figure out who you are in society, so don't spend Year 9 being somebody else. Many kids have their parents telling them what to do or others have their parents criticising them over the smallest things that really put them down and can lead to more serious things, you just need to do your own thing. Don't ignore people, listen to them and if you disagree about something they want you to be, then take my advice and choose to be yourself instead. As a kid we have many opportunities, do not let somebody take that away from you, if its your friends, family or strangers picking on the small things you do because they think its weird, impolite, disguising, don't worry, you do you. This will enable you to to learn from your own mistakes and know why things happen the way they happen.

Self-reliance is a lovely quality to have. Some don't have it and while that's ok it can cause problems for that person and in some cases the people around them. It's good to be able to take responsibility for your own actions, instead of blaming it on other people. I know, I know you're always being hammered for responsibility, I mean I still get it too. Responsibility this, responsibility that ... but it is important. Being principled and taking action is a great model for younger year levels. It gives them a sense of what is right and wrong and what they could be. Self-reliance shows that you don't always have to look to someone else. You can rely on yourself and know that you will always be there. Taking responsibility for yourself means you have your own back. It's not always responsibility of another object or thing it is also yourself. You are responsible for your own person.

Be kind, it sounds really clich&#233; but it&#8217;s true. Look for the things that are wrong, and be kind enough to make a stand and be brave too. It gets harder, with friend groups and school work, but your teachers are there to help, and they have a fountain of help waiting for you. But you have to ask. Find a place to hide from the wolves sometimes, take a break. Make sure that your being kind to yourself too, don&#8217;t beat yourself up about that low mark ... learn from it and keep fighting. Don&#8217;t let anyone tell you that you're not worth it either. Your future is as incredible as you make it. So try hard, the world isn&#8217;t always kind or safe, so make it kind. Push back against it, mould it into a kinder place for others, who mightn&#8217;t be as strong as you. Your learning is an incredible privilege, so use it, make the most of every resource that you can get. And be passionate about what your doing. So when you leave, your ready. And finally, don&#8217;t ever, ever give up. Not on yourself, not on others. Your kindness is like a wildfire, burning up all the weeds of doubt and anger that you see in others. You can&#8217;t help everybody though, trust me I&#8217;ve tried. But some are consumed with negativity, it&#8217;s like a hollow tree that holds their spine up, so sometimes don&#8217;t fight for them. But be kind to them, slowly life will eat away at that diseased tree and hopefully something new will flourish in its place. So always be kind, to everybody.

Be self-reliant and take responsibility for your actions. Year 9 is going to be harder than Year 8. You will have to do things yourself, so your going to have to grow up and take responsibility by being self-reliant. In life people are not going to carry you to the finish line and cheer for you. You will need to fight for your goals. This fight can begin with simply not talking to your friends too much in class because this is the start of your future, the start of your fight. Don't blame anyone else for your mistakes, be self-reliant and take responsibility for your actions. As a side note, I don't recommend playing Fortnite when there are 6 exams in one week.

When you finish Year 8 and go into Year 9 I want you to try new things. Try to make a new group of friends, try saying I love you to the ones you care about every chance you get. Don&#8217;t hide in a shell, let your feelings out for everyone to know. Just try new things, please.

If I were to say anything to a Year 8 student that&#8217;s about to enter Year 9 I would say get motivated, get up and do something, something that makes you feel happy and joyful. Don&#8217;t waste your time sitting around and feeling lazy, because before you know it, you will run out of time. If you want to play a certain sport, then play that sport. If you feel like being creative, then make something amazing. If you&#8217;ve always wanted to ask out a certain person, then ask them out. And don&#8217;t feel like you have to abide by any of society's &#8220;rules&#8221;. You make your decisions and you own them. Don&#8217;t worry about judgment or peer pressure. Follow your dreams, your life is what you make it. So yeah ... get up and get motivated.

Stand up for yourself. Fight back. What l mean by fight back is that there will always be something or someone out there who will try and stop you from doing what you want to do. l believe that we should always fight back against these things that might want to stop us. Year 8's anyone else out there, there is always going to be something that tries to stop you but the most important part is that you don't let them and you fight for the things you want to fight for even if it seems impossible.

Front cover image source: relationship advice by MRFA from the Noun Project

Dear almost Year 9, A lot can happen in a year. The person you are right now is not who you will be in 5 years or 10 years time, or maybe even next year. It is important to always maintain a level of love and respect for yourself. I know this is hard but you have to eventually learn to accept that this is who you are and if you don't like it, change it. Grow into the person you want to become, don't rush the process, it takes time. 365 days can do a lot to someone. Make sure to be yourself and don't change for others, if you want to change do it for you. Stay calm and don't stress out about school work or friends or anything else. Everything eventually works out in the end, it always does. Self acceptance comes in many ways, it can be by just remembering to do good for yourself and for others. Be kind to teachers and the other kids, it's not hard, it takes the smallest amount of time to say thank you or even a simple hello. These things will shape you into you. Year 9 is nothing to stress about, so don't. Just enjoy.

I am a current Year 9 student who is moving into my Senior School years. To make your time more useful in Year 9 you must work hard and strive to become a hard working individual as it will help you not just in the education department it will also help you in general life. Also creating a habit or work ethic will also help when either moving on into the senior years and also when you obtain a job. Become a role model to the younger students around you and your community as that will make the environment positive and healthy. Leadership qualities are also looked upon when being chosen for a role such as (Team Captain/School Leader/Boss) any of these things matter. Who wants a childish leader that will not do anything for the community and will not help others. Also some people suck, they have always sucked so choose wisely who you would like to be spending your time with. Do not have "friends" as it were have acquaintances and best friends, people that you understand and people that you constantly around are different people. Make good CHOICES.

As most people know, the world isn&#8217;t perfect. Sure you may get perfect scores on test but there are always irregularities in people lives. That&#8217;s were empathy comes in, as people get older they are always getting some sort is experience whether it be work or at home. The people around you, like people in your lives have the most influence on you. People have experienced things you have and don&#8217;t think that they haven&#8217;t. Empathy is used so then people are able to related to each other build better relationships. Being empathetic towards your peers is one of the best ways to get around hard times as having someone there for you makes it easy. When things get tough and you can&#8217;t handle it someone else can help you through it, you can get help if you don&#8217;t help yourself.

Self-belief can have a different meaning to everyone but what every Year 8 soon to be Year 9 needs to know is never stop believing in yourself. Always have faith in yourself that you can do whatever you want as long as you believe in yourself and work hard you WILL achieve your goals. Never stop believing in your religion. I'm not religious but if you are you should never stop or feel embarrassed because your classmates think it's a bit weird or lame because to you it's special. Believe in what you want and never stop. Believe in your abilities, dont put yourself down because you didn't get the grade you wanted, use it as motivation to try harder so you don't feel that way again. Believe in your teachers and educators because they know what they're doing and will do what they can to help you. There's always going to be teachers you don't like or class your find more difficult than others, but just remember it's only a few more years of hard work and you'll be set for the rest of your life. Year 9 has been tough for me, it's tough for everyone. Never stop believing in yourself and you'll get through it.

I have found that it is incredibly important to never back down or give up in Year 9. This idea also works its way into all aspects of life, because if you want to strive towards something, you have to put in the effort and if you give up you will never achieve your goals. I will now bring this context back to Year 9 as it might seem like an easy chilled out do nothing Year 9. Which it can be, but only if you make it that way, if you actually pull your head out of your ass and try in assessments and in school you might actually find that you learn something and that you have prepared yourself correctly for Senior School. Never giving up also goes towards your teachers as well as you might not particularly like some of them well tough, that's life. Just try to work around the teachers problems no matter if it is term one or term four, just keep on trying in that class and make things work between you and your teacher. This will make your life so much easier as you don't dread going to that class as much as you normally would and your marks for assessments will improve as you will be listening to that teacher. This occurred to me as I gave up on one of my teachers and in the process I learned nothing and I still hate going to that class. A key state of mind that will help you now and later on in life is to not start assessments and finish them the night before they are due. Don't give up working in class and talking to your friends instead, finish all your assigned work to your maximum potential in class and when you have finished that then you can talk to your friends. The same thing goes for being at home, because if you get homework don't go home and watch YouTube, do all your homework as soon as you get home and then you can relax. This is why I think that never giving up is a key point in life that will make you an overall better person, so listen and take in these points as it will make Year 9 a breeze.

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