Assistant Principal
-Curriculum
Mr Stephen Chapman
A pathway for everyone!
Welcome back to a new school year, everybody. How exciting it is to have our school community together again this year. I’m really enjoying the enthusiasm of our staff and students as I walk around the school. For me, I begin this school year in a slightly different role as Assistant Principal - Curriculum. This means I’m responsible for subjects, programs, the timetable, and reports, with the specific support of the Curriculum Officer (Mrs. Julie Burton) and the KLA Leaders of Learning. To put it mildly, it has been a busy start to the year. In this article, I’ll touch briefly on recent events that have made an impression on me. Then, I’ll mention upcoming events. Finally, I’ll focus on one particular issue: A pathway for everyone.
Recent School Events
On Wednesday this week, we had our opening school mass. This incorporated the Cross and Dux ceremonies. The cross ceremony saw past captains pass the cross over to our 2023 Leaders.
The current leaders also announced our theme for 2023: Dreams Work. There was a very entertaining and professional video that we all watched.
https://www.facebook.com/OConnorCatholicCollege/videos/887391812522844/
The Dux for 2022 was announced: Fletcher Schultz. He is at Newcastle Uni as he starts the next chapter of his life. He made a speech via a video that explained the importance of hard work and keeping life in perspective.
On February 3, we celebrated the anniversary of the opening of De La Salle College, Armidale. Back in 1906, 17 students walked through the gates of our school to begin the legacy that continues today.
The swimming carnival, held yesterday, was an amazing experience and really bought our college together. House Spirit has never been higher with spine-tingling chants still echoing through my brain. Especially Benilde's! Well done, everybody. I think part of the reason that house spirit is so high this year is that we have moved to house-based Pastoral Academic Care (PAC) classes. In each year, there are four PAC classes. Merici, Benilde, Ursula and Lasalle.
If you want more details and photos, go to our facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/OConnorCatholicCollege
Upcoming Events
Assemblies: Every Monday odd-numbered weeks, period 1
Parent Meet and Greets: Yr 7 20/2, Yr 11 27/2, Yr 8 6/3, Yr 9 13/3, Yr 10 20/3, Yr 12 SLC 27/3
NAPLAN for Year 7 and 9: Week 7 to Week 9 Term 1
Focus of this article: A pathway for everyone
In my role, I have been working with many students on their subjects. In particular, Year 11 students have been seeing me to put the finishing touches to their pattern of study. Here are the lines:
Link to the Yr 11 Subject Lines
You can see in this table that there are many subjects that students can choose from. Many students are following an academic pathway that will result in them getting an ATAR at the end of Year 12. In addition to the courses offered at school, you can see the TAFE / Distance Education box at the bottom. This means that can study a TAFE (TVET) course while at school. Courses like Retail Services, Automotive, Animal Studies (Vet Nursing), Dental Assisting, Real Estate, Electrotechnology, Early Childhood, and Human Services (Nursing). Some of these are done online and some are done at TAFE Armidale, face to face.
These are on top of the VET subjects we run here at school. We have many many students studying Construction, Business Services, Information Technology, Hospitality, Primary Industries, and Fitness. Students who study any of these VET (Vocational Education and Training) will get a Certificate 2 or 3 at the end of their study (or a Certificate of Attainment).
In addition, some students are enrolled in a School-Based Traineeship (SBAT). This means that students are employed by a business and work there one day a week while attending school on the other days.
All of these options contribute to the units needed to complete Year 11 (12 Units) and Year 12 (10 Units).
Other academic subjects that are completed via Distance Ed. Spanish, Economics, History Extension, Japanese, Arabic, and English as a Second Language (ESL) are some of the courses students are studying via distance education.
Finally, we have more and more students being accelerated. They are completing Year 11 subjects while still in Year 10. This included Music, Agriculture, Mathematics Ext 1, Construction, Business Services, Information Technology, and Primary Industries.
The point of this article, which has become so much clearer this year as I work directly with these students, is that everybody can find a pathway that suits them at O’Connor. The result, we hope, is that each student is motivated as they are studying subjects that suit them.
Stephen Chapman
Assistant Principal
Curriculum
