Student Engagement

Engaging students in the Middle Years of schooling can be particularly challenging due to the significant physical, emotional, and social changes they experience. Here are some effective strategies that our teachers are implementing to boost engagement during this critical period in your child’s life:

• Relate lessons to student’s lives
  Connecting academic content to real-world scenarios and students’ personal experiences to make learning more relevant and interesting.
  
  
• Make learning authentic
  Incorporate hands-on activities, projects, and experiments that allow students to apply that they learn in practical ways.
  
  
• Provide Choices
  Giving students some control over their learning, such as choosing topics for projects or selecting from different assignment options, to increase their motivation and engagement.
  
  
• Use Technology
  Integrating technology in the classroom, such as interactive apps, online resources, and digital tools, to capture students’ interests and make learning more dynamic.
  
  
• Foster a task-orientated environment
  Emphasising effort and improvement rather than being solely focused on a single outcome to help students remain focused and motivated as they work through our Learning Pit.

Additionally, our pastoral sessions in House Connect and Year Level Connect aim to foster interpersonal skills which are essential for effective communication and building strong relationships among peers. During these sessions, students will focus on:

• healthy communication,
• empathy,
• teamwork,
• conflict resolution and restorative conversations,
• adaptability and resilience,
• patience and respect for others and different perspectives,
• problem solving and being solution focused,
• leadership
• a positive, growth mindset.

While these skills fall outside the curriculum, they are no less important in a wholistic education. It is important that we work hard to develop each of them so that the children under our care continue to grow into great people.

Leadership

Leadership skills are a particular focus at our College. Many schools operate with a traditional model of student leadership - they offer badged positions to a handful of elected students in either Year 12 in the secondary context or Year 6 for primary schools. While we too have similar roles for our Year 12 students, we also believe that developing leadership skills is important for students of all ages.

A focus on leadership plays an important role in education wholistically as it can boost confidence, increase responsibly and accountability, foster community engagement, and generally has a positive impact on the wider school culture.    

Leadership Passport

There is an old Chinese proverb that says "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second-best time is today."

Well, with that in mind, we should not wait for our students to be in Year 12 before we begin to develop them as leaders. We need to start today with the future leaders in mind. This is why we have a voluntary student leadership development option for students  from Years 3-12 called the Leadership Passport.

For those new to the College, the Leadership Passport is a model designed to guide aspiring leaders from Year 3 to Year 12 to become not only great people but wonderful leaders with more refined leadership skills prior to their graduation.

This model provides students a structure that promotes frequent leadership skill development, exposure to a range of leadership opportunities, and encourages the use of initiative to seek out further avenues for leadership and personal growth. There are a few key principles behind this model:

1. Leadership is not about having a badge – anyone can lead.
2. Leadership skills are just like any other skills in life, they can be learned and strengthened through coaching and practice.
3. Leadership is about transforming values and goals into action.  

There are many different ways to lead. Unfortunately, schools have traditionally provided a very narrow viewpoint on what leadership is by limiting leadership positions to either the oldest cohorts or a very limited band of events, such as sporting carnivals. Leadership within schools, however, can be so much more than this. Everyone can lead in different ways, and this makes leadership skill development an integral part of student personal growth.

Utilising the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership framework (Kouses & Posner), we aim to develop our student leaders through these key areas:

1. Model the way
   Words and actions must be consistent. Leaders set the example by aligning their actions to shared values.
2. Inspire a shared vision
   Leaders enlist others by helping them to feel that they are part of something that really matters. Something that will make a difference, and something that people believe is important.
3. Challenge the process
   Challenge is the crucible of growth. Overcoming adversity and embracing opportunities to grow, innovate, and improve.
4. Enable others to act
   When you strengthen others by increasing self-determination and developing competence, they are more likely to give their all and exceed expectations.  
5. Encourage the heart
   Showing appreciation for the contribution of others so they can appreciate how their actions connect with their personal values and the values of the group.  

How it works for the students?
If a student in your class is showing an interest or is demonstrating attributes consistent with leadership (age-appropriate level), have a chat to them about beginning their Leadership Passport journey. All students need to do is touch base with their relevant Assistant Principal to register and collect their first passport.    

 The first page of each passport outlines the requirements of that particular level. For instance, student who are on Level 1 need to complete two Above and Beyond tasks, one Public Speaking Task, and show a commitment to special College events by participating in at least 80% of them.

How many levels are there and how does a student progress?

The passport model is designed to gradually increase the commitment required and challenge of each task as the students develop their skill set through successful completion of tasks. Please note that while speaking at a sector assembly may qualify for a Public Speaking Task for Level 1, it is unlikely that a student who is on Level 3 could use this. Instead, they would need to move to a more significant event like Whole College Assembly, reading at mass on the weekend, or speaking at the town’s ANZAC Day service. Once a student completes the requirements of their level, they can book a meeting with their Assistant Principal to discuss their progress. All up there are seven levels.

So far, we have experienced a wonderful response from students. Here is a breakdown of the of students in each level as of February 2025:

Considering this is a voluntary process, it is wonderful to see over 150 students putting their hand up. Even better, 23 have graduated at least one level, with 6 having completed both Level 1 and Level 2 already.

How can my child get a passport? 

If your child would like to volunteer and begin their leadership skill development journey, please have them speak to their Assistant Principal.

Below are some shots of students who currently have their passport: