Principal's Report

Dear O'Connor Community,

This week I was in Melbourne attending the National Catholic Education Conference. This is the first conference since the Covid pandemic and saw 1400 educational leaders from across Australia and the Pacific come together for three days.  The  theme for the conference was 'The Future is Listening'. We as educators, were challenged to provide opportunities to influence and engage our students in a hope filled future. 

It was great to see members of our diocese coming together to improve the outcomes of all our students. Principals from our schools as well as Chris Smyth and the Leadership team from the Catholic Schools Office came together in partnership. On Tuesday morning, at St Patrick's Cathedral, mass was celebrated by Archbishop Comensoli and afterwards we all made our way back to the conference. 

Today I was also invited to meet with The Hon. Benjamin Franklin MLC, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Minister for the Arts, and Minister for Regional Youth and Mr Adam Marshall MP at a regional youth forum. Bridie Giles and Fletcher Schultz represented O'Connor Catholic College with pride and distinction. I was particularly interested in the reasons and at times sacrifices many of our regional young people have to make in order to attend Universities and Higher Education facilities. The concerns highlighted by Bridie and Fletcher surrounding the cost of study and access to courses were taken onboard by the Minister. We were also reminded of the Regional Youth Taskforce which will begin looking for interested regional students for 2023 shortly.

Year 10 2023 Electives

This year we have been looking at how we can offer an alternative pathway for our Year 10 students who are interested in an apprenticeship or traineeship. Students in Year 9 have been given a number of talks from our Creative and Performing Arts, Technologies, PDHPE and HSIE Leaders of Learning on our usual elective offerings. 

Next year we will also be offering students an opportunity to begin one of the following Vocational Education HSC subjects (VET). These subjects offer students an opportunity to begin one of their HSC subjects early as well as allowing them to begin their traineeship/apprenticeship while still at school. Our VET subjects also come with a dual qualification of the HSC and a nationally recognised certification. Please note that the VET subjects will be timetabled so that these students do not miss any of their core classes. 

Our VET subjects on offer are:

Business Services

Construction

Fitness

Information and Digital Technology - New

Primary Industries

Information and Digital Technologies is a new course we are offering. This course has core units in innovation, protecting data, safety and working in industry. The elective units offer students the opportunity to learn animation, cloud computing, data security, digital media, ICT and web development. This new course will offer students interested in a career in the IT industry a unique opportunity in our Diocese. 

A website with all the details regarding the 2023 Electives for both Year 9 and Year 10 will be released via Compass shortly. 

Information regarding VET Subjects can also be found on the NSW Government website.

Please do not hesitate to contact the College if you have any questions regarding the electives. 

God Bless,

Clare Healy

Principal