Pastoral Academic Care (PAC)
Pastoral Focus: Junior – FAMILY & FRIENDS
Senior – SOCIAL CONNECTION
Wellbeing Element: RELATIONSHIPS & EMPATHY
Character Strength: Brainstorming how they can build their wellbeing and resilience using Gratitude.
Parent Wellbeing: Think about and write down what you want others to experience when you meet them. When you are about to interact with other people, pause, to give yourself self-awareness time, and then deliberately practice what you want them to experience. Being self-aware gives you have the power to choose how you will respond.
This week we hear from the Year 7, Year 9 and Year 11 PAC Leaders
Year 7
Welcome back to term 2! It’s been so wonderful to welcome back year 7 to their second term at O’Connor and to hear about all the great things they did over the holidays. I would just like to remind all our students, parents and carers that as we are now in term 2 students are expected to wear their winter uniform everyday. Days where “oval” is displayed on Compass during a PDHPE lesson students are expected to be in their sport uniform. Classes for practical lessons will continue to be outside and students are encouraged to wear warm clothing.
Student Representative Council
At O’Connor we are extremely proud of the ongoing commitment made by our Student Representative Council (SRC). The SRC are a group of students elected by their fellow peers to represent all students in the school. Last term students across all year groups were asked to nominate themselves if they were passionate about representing their peers in a leadership role followed by all students voting. I am proud to announce that we have five SRC members representing year 7 in 2023 on the SRC. These students are Isabella Brodbeck, Samuel Pavy, Hunter McDonald, Piper Doran and Tahlia Burney. We are all looking forward to seeing you in your new leadership position on behalf of year 7, congratulations!
Apologies as Piper is absent from the photo.
Safe on Social Media
There are many risks to sharing personal photos on any platform. Smartphones make it very easy to take and exchange pictures, and although it is good to share special moments over a social media network with family and friends, it is not always safe. By sharing personal photos, there is always a chance that this information will be shared or used for unintended purposes and as we are now aware once something is on the internet it is extremely difficult for it to be removed. Most importantly it is against the law to post images of other people without their consent or permission. Having these conversations with our students is extremely important and ensuring they are aware about safe use of social media, in particular when it comes to our rights and responsibilities of social media use.
Student Led Conferencing
Over the course of this week we held our Student Led Conferencing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening. It was really wonderful to meet the families of our year 7 students and to be able to share in conversations about each student's learning, something they are proud of and identifying ways to ensure success in the future. If you were unable to attend on one of the evenings and you have any questions in relation to your child’s learning in the classroom please do not hesitate to reach out to individual teachers via email.
Ms Felicity Magann
On behalf of the Year 7 PAC Team
Year 9
Welcome back to Term 2!
Uniform
Students should be reminded to be wearing full winter uniform. If students do not have the correct uniform, they need to book an appointment by contacting the College via phone 6772 1666 or email our Uniform Shop Manager Mrs Vickie Cooper, vcooper@arm.catholic.edu.au to organise a time. For 2023 our Uniform Shop hours will be the following: Monday 8am to 12pm, Wednesday 12pm to 4pm and Thursday 11am to 4pm. If you have any questions or concerns with accessing the correct uniform items, please don’t hesitate to contact Natalie Mellowship (Leader of Learning Wellbeing Year 9) or your child’s PAC teacher at the College.
For 2023, we have introduced a school jacket that can be purchased for $80 from the uniform shop. These jackets are a great addition to the college uniform and can be worn either with or in place of the college blazer.
Student Led Conferencing
This week has bought the Stage 4 & 5 Student Led Conferencing. A student-led conference is a meeting with a student and his or her family and teachers during which the student shares his or her portfolio of work and discusses progress with family members. The student facilitates the meeting from start to finish, allowing them to take ownership of their learning. This process also allows them to reflect on how they engage in the learning opportunities provided and what they can identify to help move their learning forward.
I was super impressed with the level of preparedness from the Year 9 students in attendance. Their hard work in ensuring they had the correct work samples and the levels of engagement in the process was outstanding.
If you were unable to attend the conferences, please feel free to contact your child’s Pastoral Academic Care teacher to arrange an appropriate time to meet either in person or via Zoom.
Student Representative Council
At O’Connor Catholic College, we take much pride in listening to and acknowledging student voice. The Student Representative Council (SRC) is the voice of the students and represents all students' views on academic and experience-related issues to the College. This week, during our introductory mass, I was delighted to present four Year 9 students with their SRC badges. A huge congratulations to Skye Barley, Madeleine Cowley, Sean Healy and Vanessa Riggall for their election onto the SRC. We look forward to seeing all the hard work that you put in to make our College a better place for our students.
Ms Natalie Mellowship
On behalf of the Year 9 PAC team.
Year 11
As we progress into our second term of our Year 11 studies, you are likely to have completed one assessment task and received marks and feedback for this task. I know that some students in my Investigating Science class were very happy with their result in their first task, whilst some were a bit disappointed.
The first point I want to make is that the most important part to take from an assessment task in Year 11 is the feedback! This is where you need to take the time to read through where you have done well and areas where you could make improvements (where applicable). Sometimes you have made some simple mistakes, that with a close check of the task description, criteria and marking guideline, you can avoid next time. If you lost marks and still do not understand why or how to correct this, ask your teacher – they will appreciate your efforts to improve.
The second point is that organisation plays a huge role in you being best prepared to succeed in your studies. Get started on the task as soon as you can, submit drafts wherever possible, act on feedback provided and utilise all resources available for you to succeed. This includes your teachers, support staff, family, friends and your peers. Remember, Together with Purpose!
Mr Luke Andrews
On behalf of the Year 11 PAC team.