Pastoral Academic Care
PAC
Pastoral Academic Care (PAC) Focus
FEEDBACK AND GROWTH
Wellbeing Element: POSITIVE ENGAGEMENT
Character Strength: PERSPECTIVE
Parent Wellbeing: Grit is your long-term passion, persistence and self-regulation to achieve something you set out to do. It is more important than intelligence and natural talent. Describe times you have shown grit to accomplish something. (Acknowledgement: Angela Duckworth)
Focus - FEEDBACK AND GROWTH
Learning how to give and receive feedback is an essential lifelong skill for students to develop. They don’t know what they don’t know and developmental feedback enables them to consider other perspectives. Quality feedback builds social connectedness by others feeling they matter, and broadens and builds students’ engagement with others and themselves.
When giving or receiving feedback, students are forced to slow down their thinking, to be in the moment and think hard to consider, compare, evaluate and analyse what is being said.
Positive learning and teaching communities rely on feedback to build open, trusting and respectful communication lines, which in turn strengthen the wellbeing of everyone. The key is to welcome feedback as positive encouragement rather than negative criticism, even if it is advice we don’t want to hear.
The purposes of feedback include listening to ideas and concerns to improve a situation, suggesting alternative approaches and strategies, monitoring attitudes, behaviours and performance.
When having conversations, it is apparent when others aren’t listening with their eyes, their ears and their hearts. Is it that they are not interested or that they have never been taught how to mindfully listen? Empathetic and attentive listening needs to be role modelled; respectful relationships rely on it.
“A wise person hears one word and understands two.” Proverb
Year 7
A reminder that our focus for the year is around kindness so all conversations and interactions should be shaped and guided by kindness. What kind actions can you do this week to make someone’s day?
Congratulations to Reegan Jackson for being announced in the NE representative football squad. Well done.
A reminder about online safety and our responsibility when posting online. If your child has a mobile phone, remember to discuss with them their digital footprint. Here are some tips for having a positive digital footprint https://parentinfo.org/article/having-a-positive-digital-footprint
Congratulations to those year 7 students who have received Commendation and Year Leader awards this term. It’s great to see so many students focused on their learning.
Yolanda Kreuzen
Year 7 PAC
Year 8
A big second half to the term coming up for year 8.
Some year 8 students took a trip to the Armidale City Gymnastics Club to show off their flexibility and skill on a trampoline. Well done to everyone - your behaviour and application was outstanding!
Week 6 brings with it the start of the elective selections for Year 9, the Diocesan Athletics carnival and rugby 7’s. Good luck to all the athletes who are running, jumping, tackling and throwing for O’Connor.
I hope the subject selection evening on Monday answered lots of your questions and started conversations around your students' interests and possible links to subjects. There is a wide range of subjects available for students to select, Physical Activity and Sports Studies, Music, and Agriculture just to name a few. Students should be seeking further advice from subject teachers and if you require any more information feel free to email me
at: lhonnery@arm.catholic.edu.au
Lloyd Honnery.
8 PAC
Year 9
We have half the term left to focus on our learning; to try as hard as we can to be the very best students we can be; to be punctual, to be organised and to treat each other with respect. Most of our students are doing their very best in class, and at home, to maximise their learning opportunities. They are the ones who understand that the more they put in, the more they will achieve the results of which they are capable. They are the ones who listen to their teachers, ask questions, take risks, complete the set tasks, practise at home and enjoy the total learning experience.
Parents and carers often ask me how they can best help their child to be a better student. My advice is to get involved through regular conversations. Ask some questions. Are you organised? Do you have the right books for tomorrow? Do you have pens, pencils, books, erasers, a calculator, a ruler, a fully charged device? Have you done your homework? Are you preparing for any forthcoming learning tasks? This should be a daily routine. We’re all in this together. Let’s support each other to achieve the best possible outcomes for our children, our students, our future leaders.
This week’s PAC focus is all about positive feedback and growth. The aim of the week is to be able to add to our Positive Engagement through the process of giving and receiving feedback.
Feedback is sharing our thoughts and listening to others’ thoughts about what we and they are doing. Often, we hear points of view we hadn’t thought of, which enables us to reflect on the reasons supporting our ideas.
Feedback is about learning more, rather than making judgements. Non-judgmental feedback from family, friends and teachers is a powerful way to build trusting relationships. It also nudges mindsets towards growth oriented ones to encourage us and others to try new more intelligent ways to grow our brain’s abilities.
Thanks for your ongoing support.
Peter McLeish
Year 9 PAC Leader
(on behalf of the Year 9 Pastoral Academic Care team)
Year 10
Year 10 have now had the opportunity to choose their chosen subjects and pathways going into next year. In the next few weeks they will see more structured subject lines to make final choices or changes to these choices. Year 10 have now only a month of lessons left for the term and should be working hard to ensure they are working well academically and focussed on their learning.
There are also many extra-curricular opportunities for students to be involved in DIocesan sporting teams and squads as well as the and up-coming rehearsals for the new school musical Mary Poppins, I hope to see as many Year 10 students to be involved in this production and good luck to students who have decided to audition.
Mark Fulloon
Year 10 PAC Leader
Year 11
End of Preliminary examinations are quickly approaching, so it would be very wise of students to be making time for revision, making summaries and completing past papers. Teachers will be discussing and distributing notifications for this very soon, outining the format of the exams and expectations. If students are concerned or anxious about these exams it is important that they let me know so that we can try and alleviate some of the concern. The exams are just one part of the assessment process, but it is important that students do the best that they can. Sitting exams under specific conditions, certain timeframes and following protocols are all part of this important process.
We congratulate Tori Brazier who won a recent fight in her sport of Tai Boxing. Tori was also selected in the Under 17 New England Representative Girls Rugby Squad along with fellow student Georgia Edwards. Well done on this achievement.
Congratulations to the students who represented the College in such a fine manner at the recent hockey and netball excursions. You were wonderful ambassadors and great role models for the younger students in the way in which you conducted yourselves both on and off the sporting fields.
Best wishes to those students participating in other sporting events such as the Rugby 7’s and Diocesan Athletics.
The PAC period that we had recently on learning strengths was quite a successful event in the fact that it was a chance to come together as one cohort and work with peers that they may not normally work with. Although there was not a great deal of time to explore the readings and clips for the specified learning strength, I was pleased with how the students cooperated and made an effort to discuss the implications of the ideas in a mature manner. They also brainstormed some ideas, tips and techniques that work for that particular learning strength. The combined feedback has been collated and is on the Year 11 Classroom.
The next PAC period will be study time in preparation for the exams.
Vicki Channon and the Year 11 PAC team.