Principal's Pen
Thank You
This Term, we farewell 4 staff from the College including Dr Kym Ford, Miss April Strand, Mrs Rebecca Martin and Mrs Michelle Garside. Dr Ford is finishing up at the College after starting back in 2013 and has been instrumental in the teaching of Middle School Mathematics and Science as well as Senior Chemistry throughout that time. We wish Kym all the best as she moves onto bigger and brighter endeavours. Miss April Strand has served our College community since May 2016 as our Lab Assistant, quietly assisting the teaching of Science in the College diligently. She has started her employment in her scientific field recently and as such we wish her all the best in her new role in Oakey. Mrs Rebecca Martin has been working tirelessly in 3B in Mrs Jensen’s absence and although she will be back as a supply teacher, her class will dearly miss her. We also thank Mrs Garside who has stepped in on Mondays this term to support Mrs Martin in the education of the 3B team. Thank you to Dr Ford, Miss Strand, Mrs Martin and Mrs Garside for your contributions to our great College!
Welcome Back
We welcome back Mrs Geraldine Jensen who will never ride a quad bike on ANZAC Day again as well as Mrs Tania Fraser. Mrs Jensen will resume teaching 3B and despite the absence, am sure that she will slot straight back in to where she left off. Mrs Fraser will be stepping in for Dr Ford in the Middle Years areas of Maths and Science. We look forward to having you both on board!
Year 11 Leadership Camp
I attended Leadership Camp with 4 prefects last night and we were all impressed by the teamwork and leadership of the Year 11 group. In their night walk, they set some of the fastest times that the instructor had seen and the way they worked together as a team was inspiring. Their courageous and selfless approach to the challenges they faced are a credit to themselves and the journey they are on to become our leaders of the future. I am looking forward to seeing what this amazing group can achieve over the coming 12 months!
Visible Learning in Melbourne
On Monday and Tuesday, I had the pleasure of working in Melbourne with Corwin (Educational Publishers and Consultants) seeing Visible Learning in schools that have been on the journey for a number of years. We were fortunate enough to visit Sacred Heart in St Alban’s, St Vincent de Paul in Strathmore and also received a presentation from Kolbe Catholic College. These schools were wide and varied, some rich, some poor, one had 98% of student with English as a second language, one was surrounded by multi-million dollar residences. What I took from my visits through the classrooms and through meeting with the leadership team and seeing the improvement in learning data, was the consistency of language and teacher practice for the students that makes the difference. It isn’t the programs, or the facilities or the text books, or the number of kids in the classroom, learning occurs best where every effort is focussed on the core intent of students learning. Whilst there is an inundation of information that I am yet to process into an orderly fashion, I am working with peers from other schools on a similar journey to create clarity for our community and students about what learning is, what students are required to learn, how digital technology will support the attainment of mastery learning, what assessment looks like and the best ways that students learn. This will underpin our work going forward, and all strongly aligns to both Visible Learning, the Reading Improvement Strategy, and the underpinning expectations of the new QCE and ATAR systems in senior schooling.
Pupil Free Day Tomorrow – Year 7-12 student only
Due to the planning for the implementation of the new syllabuses in 2019, tomorrow will be a pupil free day for all Year 7-12 students. All students in Years Prep-6 are expected to intend their regular program of instruction as always.
Attendance
Students who attend less than 93% are disadvantaged in their learning. Students who attend less than 80% are grossly disadvantaged and find it remarkably difficult to make connections in their learning. We are currently analysis learning data against attendance and there is no surprise in guessing that many of our students who receive targeted intervention which is extremely costly for the Diocese and College, are attending at substandard levels. Next term, make sure your child has 2 or less days away from College to ensure they can continue in their learning. The idea that teachers can make a child “catch up” simply is fictitious – we don’t have the time or capacity to reteach whole lessons over and over again simply because a child is absent.