Celebrating Learning, Talent, Spirit and Energy at SPC
By Mrs Liz Illingworth, Principal
It has been another busy and eventful fortnight at the College where learning is prioritised and in full swing. On top of full days of learning there have been many opportunities to celebrate and share the amazing talent, spirit and energy of our students.
This week has seen our Year 10 students participate in Mid Year Exams and our Year 11 and 12 students are half way through their exam period. These exams are a valuable experience for our students to gauge where they are with their academic learning and to help them in planning and prioritising their study for the remainder of the year.
Last week I was lucky to attend the performance of Animal Farm by our Year 11 and 12 TASC Drama and Theatre Performance students. Having just come off the back of Midnight we are all aware of the breadth of talent within our College in this area. This talent was again highlighted watching the classes come together to perform Animal Farm. Congratulations to all involved.
Not only in the Arts, but in all areas of the College, our students are committed, work hard, are extremely talented and very lucky to be supported by staff who are equally as committed, hard working and talented.
Progress Reports will soon be available for all students through our Schoolbox Parent Portal and Parent Teacher interviews offered. I encourage you all to read your student's report with them, celebrate their successes and work with them to look at any opportunities for growth that may be evident in their learning. Together then discuss and plan ways to ensure that learning is a priority. These conversations can be continued as part of a parent-teacher interview, so that together students, parents/guardians and teachers can work to ensure that each learner reaches their full potential.
Working in partnership with our parents/guardians is an essential part of a successful College culture. On enrolment at St Patrick’s College a commitment is made to support the Policies of Catholic Education Tasmania and the Protocols of the College. Concerns have recently been expressed by staff around attendance, punctuality, uniform, mobile phones and meeting our behaviour expectations in the classroom, playground and when representing the College. These expectations are not optional, but are a part of being a community member of the College. I thank those parents/guardians who support us in maintaining our expectations, and encourage others to support us and their students in aligning fully with our College values.
One of the highlights of my week is each Thursday afternoon when I teach a Year 7 and a Year 8 BeSPC Class. In Year 8 BeSPC we have been focusing on Community. Last week the focus moved to a focus on ‘Self’, centred around social media platforms with the Lesson Intentions being to:
Recognise the effects of excessive phone use on your mental health.
Devise strategies to reduce phone use.
It was interesting that during the lesson we found that 75% of our class spent more than three hours a day on their phones. We discussed strategies including changing our settings to ‘black and white’. There is some research that indicates changing your phone setting to grayscale reduces screen time. Maybe you might like to give this a go and encourage your student to do the same?
This can be done in Settings > Accessibility > Display and Text Size > Colour Filters, then select Grayscale. Goodluck - I’m giving it a go this week as well!
Congratulations to our Senior Seconds Footballers who won the State Final against Guilford Young last weekend. The team demonstrated composure during a close game to come away with the win. A highlight for me when watching sport is seeing our students give their all and at the same time display what it means to be a good sportsperson.
