JourneyOnline
November is the whirlwind month of activity around the end of Year 12 as more than 40 000 young Queenslanders finalise their study program; attend graduations; head for Schoolies Week; and negotiate jobs, university entrance, Gap Years, college or other life changes.
It is also the time when young people sweat on their OP scores and renegotiate their relationship with parents and the world.
Almost two-thirds of the school leavers will continue on next year with some form of education, most combining study and part-time work, but first will take time out to let their hair down and party.
Soon the images of drunken, boisterous school leavers crushing into Cavill Avenue at Surfers Paradise will reappear on our television screens; other young people will seek more benign options to mark this important part of their journey.
Whatever the choices, Schoolies Week is only the marker of the more important transition between school and whatever lies beyond.
Some churches are taking seriously the challenge of supporting their young people through this important life stage and others will work to protect young people from the risky behaviours associated with the Schoolies event.
Throughout November Journey looks at life after Year 12 and encourages congregations to take an active interest in a significant group of people at the most crucial transition point in their lives.
READ ALL ABOUT THE END OF SCHOOL in the November issue of Journey available now as a PDF file or in your local church.
Photo : Arriving at the Gold Coast for Schoolies in 2006 are Thomas Chadwick (driver), Graham Rigley (white hat) and Nathan Dabicich, all 17, from Redcliffe. Photo by Newspix / Riley Paul
