Pastoral Academic Care (PAC)
Pastoral Focus: Junior – POSITIVE EMOTIONS
Senior – SELF GENERATING POSITIVES
Wellbeing Element: POSITIVE EMOTION + GRATITUDE
Character Strength: brainstorming how they can build their wellbeing and resilience using Social-Intelligence.
Parent Wellbeing: a valuable resilience and social-connectedness skill to develop in yourself is to seek help when you need it by reaching out to the right people. Who are three people that you trust to seek help from? Reflect on a time that you have done this and what was the outcome
Year 7
Welcome Year 7, parents and carers to O’Connor Catholic College and the beginning of your highschool journey!
Year 7 have had an exciting start to high school and should be congratulated on how well they have adapted and settled in. The first week saw a lot of new information, new people, new spaces and new expectations and the students took it all in their stride, soaking in all the information and enquiring into what school life will look like for them in their new beginning.
This year at O’Connor, Year 7 will look slightly different to how it has previously. In order to better support our students and their transition from primary school to high school each class will be based in a home room in the La Salle building. The majority of the classes will take place in these home rooms, with students leaving this space for specialised subjects such as Tech, PE, Science, Visual Arts and Music. Through adopting a middle school model approach we are striving to provide a safe and secure learning environment as a part of improving academic performance, guided by consistent structure, expectations and positive student wellbeing. This model will also encourage flexible learning spaces and the teachers are extremely excited to be presented with the opportunity to co-teach with such enthusiastic students. In the photos below you can already see some of the wonderful learning opportunities presented to Year 7.
PAC and Wellbeing
I would like to take the opportunity to introduce the Year 7 PAC team for 2023. This Year PAC classes have been established in House groups in order to continue to grow our strong house group culture. Your child’s PAC teacher will be your first point of contact if you have any concerns or questions. You can contact this teacher via email through Compass should you ever wish to speak to them in regard to any social or wellbeing concerns which you may have.
Felicity Magann - Leader of Learning Wellbeing Year 7
Lily Fryar - 7 Ursula
Carleigh Eastlake - 7 Merici
Elizabeth Plane - 7 Benilde
Megan Wooster - 7 La Salle
Melissa Bell - Assistant Principal Wellbeing
Tanya Simmons - Chaplain / Wellbeing
Important Dates
Term 1 has already begun to fill up on the calendar. Some important dates for this term to keep in mind are as follows:
8/2 - Whole school mass - please wear your summer uniform. If you have a practical PE class on this day, you will need to bring your sport uniform to change into after mass.
9/2 - Twilight swimming carnival. Students are encouraged to wear their house colours. Please come prepared with your swimmers, towels, hats and sunscreen to school. Students will be bused to the pool at 2pm for the beginning of the carnival. The carnival is estimated to finish at approximately 8pm. Parents and carers are welcome to come along and spectate and support all our swimmers. Students are not required to bring any money for this event.
16/2 - School photo day. Please wear your full school uniform.
20/2 - Year 7 parents meet and greet. Please come along to the school and meet your child’s teachers. The classrooms will be opened and students are encouraged to share the work which they have been completing in class.
Week 8 and 9 - NAPLAN. This will take place on various days. Additional information will be issued closer to date.
30/3 - Vaccinations. Once again, additional information will be available close to date.
Thank you again Year 7 for a fantastic start to the year. I am looking forward to sharing your educational journey at O’Connor.
Felicity Magann and the Year 7 PAC team.
Year 9
Welcome to Term 1 2023!
We have had a wonderful start to the school year and would like to congratulate everyone for commencing 2023 in a curious, confident and connected way. There seems to be a real buzz around the College as students reconnect with friends and teachers, and make new acquaintances.
As we arrive back to some sort of routine and normality, I’d like to take the opportunity to remind our students and families of our Living Well, Learning Well framework and how it underpins everything we do here at O’Connor. Remembering that our student support framework works to help develop a student as a whole and that we are all a part of a team in this process.
Our first day back to school started with students spending time together as a Year group and then they moved to their new Pastoral classes for the year. PAC classes have been selected by House groups this year and we’re really excited to grow and cultivate our House culture here at O’Connor. Currently, the O’Connor Catholic College House Cup is a culmination of points collected from a number of different events held throughout the academic year. The main ones being the Swimming Carnival, Athletics Carnival, Cross Country Carnival and the Spiller Cup for Founder’s Day. Points can also be awarded for academic achievement through the commendation system, community service and other events.
I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the Year 9 Pastoral Team for 2023. We have a number of new staff and staff in different supporting roles. Your child’s PAC teacher should be your first point of contact (via Compass), surrounding any issues and/or concerns with your child’s academic pursuits or social and emotional wellbeing concerns.
Natalie Mellowship - Leader of Learning Wellbeing Year 9
Mark Fulloon - 9 Ursula
Marie Gould - 9 Merici
Kara Spicer - 9 Benilde
Jenny Frazier / Nick Bolger - 9 La Salle
Melissa Bell - Assistant Principal Wellbeing
Tanya Simmons - Chaplain / Wellbeing
Safer Internet Day 2023
This week, the College is recognising Safer Internet Day. The e-safety Commissioner is a great source of information for parents and carers surrounding safe internet use. They also hold a number of free webinars. These live webinars give parents and carers the knowledge, skills and tools to support their children to have safe online experiences. The 2023 webinars include a broad range of topics that will be delivered by an expert education and training team. Information on the free webinars can be found here.
Important Dates
During Week 7, on Monday 13th March, the College will be hosting a Year 9 Parent Meet and Greet. This will give parents, carers and families the opportunity to come into the College and meet key staff that work with their students. More information on this evening will be sent out in the coming weeks.
Natalie Mellowship and the Year 9 PAC team
Year 11
Welcome back to 2023!
Watching students progress through the years at school is one of the best things about working in schools. We have the unique privilege of seeing students develop and grow, in both the very obvious - physically, as well as the more subtle changes made mentally, socially and emotionally. As our 2023 Year 11 Cohort commenced 2023 I found myself stopping and reflecting on their journey from fresh faced Year 7’s to being part of Stage 6 and the leadership of our school. It’s always refreshing to see the Year 11’s in new uniforms and coming into Stage 6 with excitement and enthusiasm and our current Year 11’s have certainly done the same as they have commenced 2023.
Year 11 is a significant year in the lives of our students and extremely important in establishing a strong foundation of knowledge and positive habits for the HSC year. It is vital that students ‘pull together’ as year group and previous year groups have shown us that the individual achieves to a higher level when they are tightly entwined and supported by the collective. These observations have led to our 2023 Year 11 theme - ‘Together with Purpose’. This theme will be referred to constantly with students as a reminder of working together, and working hard to put each student in the best position possible at the completion of Year 11.
Speaking of Well Being, there have been some slight tweaks made to our our Well Being Structure and students in Year 11 will now meet each day in house groups. This Change has been made to assist senior students to foster enthusiasm and passion for our houses and build a culture of friendly competition and striving for excellence in learning as well as on the sporting fields. In 2023 we have a wonderful team of educators working alongside our students.
Ursula - Mr Luke Andrews
Benilde - Mr Steve Chapman
LaSalle - Mrs Amber Smith
Merici - Mr Steve Kirkaldy
If you have any questions or concerns about the wellbeing or learning of your child please contact the relevant Well Being Teacher for their house in the first instance. As a team, we are here to work with parents to support and encourage our students and we look forward to doing so across the year.
Patterns of study are very much in the front of everybody’s minds as students move into Stage 6 study and this has been a focus in the wellbeing space as students during our first few days. Many discussions have occurred and for some students, positive changes have been made to their patterns of study to meet their learning needs and future aspirations. While it is important that subjects are finalised quickly to ensure a good start, it should also be remembered that there is some flexibility around subject changes in the first half of Year 11 if needed. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact our Year 11 Well Being Team or the Leader of Learning for the given subject.
James Russell on behalf of the Year 11 Well Being Team