Deputy Principal

It is that time of the year when students in Year 8 are choosing their electives for Year 9 next year as well as our Year 11 students, who are choosing their final pattern of study for their HSC. This time seems to roll around so quickly each year when students begin to ask questions about what courses they should choose and I am well adept at answering them, having been a teacher for over 20 years. However, this year I find myself internally conflicted as I have a son who needs to choose his subjects for Year 11 and a daughter who is choosing her electives for Year 9.

For years I have been telling students and their parents that they must choose subjects that they feel they will enjoy. In Year 9, choose subjects that you think you will not only enjoy but that you have always ‘wanted’ to try. 

As students choose subjects for Year 11, once again it is important for students to pick subjects that they think they will enjoy and will find interesting; subjects that they think will best suit them. There is no point choosing subjects because they think they will scale well. If students do not enjoy the subject, they are unlikely to do well and therefore they will not scale well. 

I remember my days when I was choosing subjects for Year 11. I chose subjects that my father wanted me to choose. I ended up dropping two of the subjects that he wanted me to do as I had no interest in them, and I did not enjoy them. As a parent now going through this myself and having to give advice to my own children, I have become conflicted. I have given the same advice above: to choose subjects that they think they will enjoy, yet I have questioned both my son and daughter as I have questioned their desire to do subjects that I think are subjects that I would never have conceived them doing. 

Walking through the playgrounds earlier this week I was talking to one of our Year 12 students. We were talking about his results and the need for him to put in more effort to achieve his best. He also had the same experience as me as he chose subjects because his parents wanted him to do subjects with ‘academic rigour.’ It was during that conversation that it crystalised to me that it was time for me to let go. I must allow my children to create their own pathway. I will work with them during their time at school. However, ultimately it is their journey and if I want them to do well, I need to let them choose subjects that play to their strengths, not mine. 

It is hard for me to let go but if I want them to do well, then I need to practice what I have preached to so many families over the years. It is times like this I believe it may be easier to parent other people’s children than my own. Then again, my wife and I are blessed to be the parents of three beautiful children and for that I will be forever grateful.

Adrian Byrne

Deputy Principal