Welcome Back to Our Lady of the Southern Cross College

What relief it was to see our 553 students streaming back into the College on Tuesday and Wednesday!  In the past weeks, we have been flat out as we prepared for an amazing year ahead, though there was much excitement in getting all our people back together in one place.  This year we welcome 49 new Prep students to the College, as well as many other students who have had a change of school over the break.  I have been most impressed by the manner in which the entire College has begun the year in earnest.  Today I had the joy of seeing all of our Faith Development lessons in the high school (Religious Education, Religious Education & Ethics and Study of Religion) taking place the same time across yellow, blue and gold block.  The alignment of the religious life of the College through our new Living Your Faith program is already very rigorous and was a great privilege to see the great collective capacity of our staff in delivering a very high standard of Faith Development. 

This year we have the mantra “Every Child, Every Chance” and the rigour of the classroom learning as well as the professional attitude and aptitude of staff means this is certainly being lived up to.  There will be plenty of information for the new year coming home via class newsletters, Dojo and email, though please remember and commicate with your friends that the primary mode of communication to parents is through SchoolZine.  This can be accessed online or via the SZApp.  We also use Facebook to communicate some successes, challenges and important information to get the message out.  I encourage all parents to get onboard with at least the SZapp to ensure that they are not missing out on any important news and updates.

Our Strategic Agenda

Below are the 5 components of our strategic agenda for 2019.  We have a very pointed agenda and based on our progress in student learning outcomes from 2018, we strive for continual improvement as a College, and as individuals.   

Visible Learning: Developing assessment-capable learners through the implementation of effective feedback and other high yield strategies.

Senior Schooling: Successful implementation of the new QCAA syllabuses units 1 and 2 whilst also maintaining focus on last cohort of Year 12 students for educational success.

LYF: Enhance the Catholic Identity of the College through the development and implementation of Living Your Faith (LYF)

Quality Leadership and Wellbeing: To develop a College culture that is progressive, aligned strongly to a succinct strategic agenda, strives for excellence, and expects professional performance from all staff.

Quality Leadership: To create predictability and clarity regarding systems, processes and the allocation of resources to attain the strategic direction and maintain a high standard of facilities at the College.

Within this agenda there are some key organisation and educational changes which will affect parents and carers and as such, I include a very brief outline of some key aspects as the year begins:

Uniform – our expectations have shifted slightly as per the multiple communications via multiple modes at the end of the 2018 school year.  The biggest changes are that Year 5 will now wear the Middle Years uniform (with 2018 as a grace period – so either uniform is acceptable), we are following through with the expectation regarding uniform standards and joggers must be predominantly black with only red or white trim.  We also expect that boys from Years 5-12 have their shirts tucked in, and all boys have their sock up.  Girls in formal uniform are expected to have their top button done up also.  For more information please read the policy under Back to School on the website.

Digital Enhancement – Ove the holidays, 40 interactive panels were installed in classrooms and wiring was corrected to enable digital enhancement of the curriculum.  Teachers have also started their training in using a Learning Management System called CANVAS.  With these enabling tools we can begin teaching in ways in which students will be expected to work when they graduate.  We are developing 21st Century Learners with 21st Century Skills. Feel free to have a look in the classrooms and ask a teacher to tell you about them – they’re pretty amazing and will allow all board work to be saved for later reference.  Students with laptops (see below) will also be able to access this information for revision and consolidation at any time using CANVAS on their laptops.

Years 7-12 student laptops – Wowsers – what a journey!  The laptops are here and ready.  We are awaiting the cases, identification labels and the finalisation of the Family Zone software before rolling out as soon as possible, likely next Friday or early Week 3.  It is quite the task to have the College prepared for such a transformation and I would like to acknowledge the work of all of external providers as well as Mrs Kuruilaca, Mr Sankey and Mr Alikutty for their vigilance and dedication in getting us to where we are.  Like I mentioned plenty of times last year, this is not simply about rolling out a bunch of computers to students, its about recreating the way we work and think to enhance the curriculum for the benfit of our students’ learning.  Tomorrow afternoon Mr Hodge and I will talk to all Year 7-12 students regarding the laptops and how they are to be used, as well as the general use of IT at the College, including mobile phones.  Please note, from when the laptops are handed to students, all mobile phones must have Family Zone installed in order to be permitted on site.  On 5 February, all Year 7-12 parents will receive a log in to Family Zone including an invitation to a webinar on the 7 Feb.  This is a great tool to ensure the cybersafety and responsible use of IT for our students and families.

College Leadership

Our College now has 3 sectors, Early Years (P-4), Middle Years (5-8) and Senior Years (9-12).  Each sector has an Assistant Principal, Mrs Walton, Mr Gillespie and Mr Hodge, and students will be grouped in these sectors for all activities, events and assemblies.  It creates greater clarity and organisation for our College and already this year we have noticed the impact on the administration of the College and the clarity of our purpose.   Should you have any issues, feedback, compliments, questions or queries, your first port of call for communication is your child’s teacher.  If they have multiple teachers, ask any of them.  Your next port of call is the Assistant Principal for the Sector.  You can call the office to speak to them or make a time with the staff in the front office and they will get back to you as soon as possible. 

There will be more about our exciting 2019 journey in faith and knowledge to come in the next newsletter.  I trust everyone had a great start to the school year, and we all look forward to seeing you soon!

Peter Cuskelly

Principal