DEPUTY PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

We are all starting to see the end of Term 2 on the horizon and we know that after the holiday break, Semester 2 brings change for everyone. Our Year 7 through to 10 students change electives, starting a new subject for the semester. Our Year 11 students move closer to their final year of secondary school and our Year 12 students begin to count the days until that journey comes to an end. It is often a time for a change in focus.

Most weeks I meet with our four school captains for morning tea. During this regular meeting time, we invariably eat chocolate of some form but we also set short term goals based on the Stop, Start, Keep model. We reflect on the week we have had, and talk about what has been successful for us, where we need to put our energies and what is not helping us. We affirm each other for working towards our goals and we support each other in reframing or refocusing where things are not working all that well. Then we set the new list for the week ahead. This is a really simple exercise that has a lot of value. Essentially it is an audit of behaviours/processes/habits where you consider what is working for you that you want to hold on to, what is not supporting you that you want to let go and what you want to bring into your life. We usually give ourselves a rating out of three as well since some weeks we are dragging our feet and others we are smashing it!

This week, however, we changed our focus somewhat and we reframed this reflection to be statements that describe what sort of people we want to be. For example, I want to be a person who is kind. I want to be a person who is efficient or I want to be a person who is curious (and not judgemental for all those Ted Lasso fans). We shifted the focus from what we do to who we want to be and then of course, we need to think about the behaviours and attitudes that will make that happen.

The change in Semester offers an opportunity to reflect on how things have been going for us in our life at St Mary MacKillop College and gives us all the chance to affirm, to refocus and reset.  This could be a time for students to ask themselves the question, ‘what sort of person was I in Semester 1’ and consider what sort of person they want to be in Semester 2. It may well be the same but there might also be something, a habit or an attitude that they want to cultivate. Imagine our College Community Expectations written in a different way:

• I want to be a person who is open to learning
• I want to be a person who is cooperative 
• I want to be a person who makes people feel good by what I say to them and about them.
• I want to be a person who makes other people feel respected and safe
• I want to be a person who can be trusted

We are all, everyday, becoming the people we are going to be and we can all be very intentional about it.