Brigidine Campus Update

The Whole School Assembly last Friday was a lovely celebration of the great things we have done this term. We congratulate the House award winners from the Brigidine Campus and Rose Byrne (Yr 10/Chisholm) for winning the positive behaviour card draw. Rose had two entries in the draw with the winning card a reflection on her positive work ethic in Maths so far this year. Rose selected a voucher from Cotton On as her prize. 

At the assembly Harry spoke about the opportunities students have to build hope for ourselves and to promote hope for others. This can be done through kind words, offering to help, and through getting involved in school life, whether it be during LM, classes or the extra curricular activities provided. I would encourage all students to embrace school life, and to not just let it happen around them.

In our Learning Mentor wellbeing lessons over the remainder of the term, students will be doing a deeper dive into what it means to have a growth mindset and how having a growth mindset can improve performance outcomes in our subjects. The focus needs to be on improving, learning and growing. One of the main ideas about having a growth mindset is that growth and improvement is quite likely when we do the work to improve.

Over the coming weeks, students will be completing assessment tasks across most subjects. This is a time for them to be organised so they get started straight away. They should break tasks down into smaller chunks that they can work on each night, rather than leaving it all to the last minute. This gives them time to get the feedback and help they need to ensure the work they submit is their best effort. Their report will then be a truer reflection of their skills, capabilities and effort.

To assist students in the classroom we will have two key areas of focus for the remainder of the term. 

Firstly, students need to arrive at class on time and be ready to learn. The second bell after recess and lunch is the start of class time, not the ‘start moving to class’ time that some students are treating it as. There is now a second bell at the start of the day. At the moment, many students are still out of class when the second bell has gone, and therefore are missing vital class time, as the start of the lesson is when new concepts and the work for the lesson is explained. To encourage students to improve in this area, we have asked teachers to ensure students are making up the time they are late. If it is just a few minutes this can be done quickly at the end of the lesson and may include staying in, or picking up rubbish in the yard. If it is more than 10 minutes, Learning Mentors and House Leaders will be keeping an eye on this and if it starts to add up over time, students could be expected to make the time up after school. For example, if 60 minutes of class time has been missed from across all subjects over 2-3 weeks, then students will need to make 60 minutes up after school. The aim is to make students accountable to get to class on time. No student will need to stay after school if they are meeting this simple expectation. 

Secondly, students need to attempt the work given to them by their teachers. I have been informed that some students have sat in class and refused to do any work at all. This is not OK. Students should have a go at the work that has been set. If it doesn’t make sense or is too hard, they can ask to have the task broken down into smaller steps/tasks, or have an alternate task set. Students with learning adjustments will still have these met, but we don’t want students to simply say ‘No, I’m not doing that’ or ‘No, I’m not doing any work today’. Adopting a growth mindset and a positive attitude will allow students to focus on their learning growth and they will then start to feel more successful in the classroom. Making sure students are using their laptops for their intended purpose is part of this. Students should not be playing games on their laptop when there is work to be done.

At the end of this week, there are only 9 school days left for the term! In that time, there is much work to be done. Please seek out support from classroom teachers and Learning Mentors to ensure that students are meeting deadlines and giving their best effort at all times.

When we do the work we will continue to build a future of endless possibilities.

Geraldine Ryan

Brigidine Campus Director