From the Deputy Principal ELC-12

Mrs Anna Mirasgentis with Year 12 Farewell and Leadership Handover Assembly MCs and 2018 Prefects, Dyson Hilder and Sebastian Deluca

From the Deputy Principal ELC-12

Last Friday was a day of great celebration, as we recognised the achievements of the graduating class of 2017, for the completion of their schooling, and for their leadership and academic achievements. And yet embedded in all the celebration there were emotions of sadness as the Year 12 students concluded a significant chapter in their life. There are always mixed emotions when we say our final farewells; the sadness of saying goodbye to people who have been such a big part of our lives over a long period can be contradicted by the sense of joy we share as we reflect on the past 13 years.

 

As they travel the path from one year to the next I asked them to pause and appreciate the road they have travelled; reflect on their experiences and the insights they have gained of themselves from this year’s journey. In our Dominican School where contemplation is the foundation of our actions; to contemplate is to think and dwell on what we have learnt and how we can improve through self-knowledge. I hope they take all the events, experiences, opportunities and the friendships they have gained at Blackfriars and allow them to be the driving force and source of immense support and inspiration to make a difference in the world. Leo Tolstoy said that “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself”. This inner transformation can only come about through your relationship with the living God and this is the only thing that can ever truly change the world.

 

Life itself is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more. This is our gift to God. As graduates they will grace the corridors of universities, registered training organisations and workplaces and will contribute to the local and global community in a myriad of ways. With them on their educational journey they will have the Dominican values, the knowledge, skills, authority and stature to change the world for the better. Most importantly they have a sense of service that will continue to inspire people in the future. As St Dominic sent the friars out to study and to preach, the school encourages them to go out into the world with compassion to engage in the quest for truth that leads to justice, peace and freedom.

 

Eleanor Roosevelt believed “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” Students who have clearly embodied this statement are our School Prefects. They have been creative, collaborative team members, responsive to the needs of so many.  These student leaders, strongly supported by all the Year 12 students, should be proud of all they have achieved this year. They have led by example, explored new opportunities and contributed to the strength of community both in their Houses and across the entire school. I would like to thank Joshua Santillana and Zachary Dalton for their leadership and for their generosity of spirit. They can rightly take credit for setting new standards in so many of the things that they have achieved. All Year 12 students have been excellent role models for the younger students who will follow their footsteps.

God Bless them as they make their final preparations for the SACE Examinations and as they take on life beyond school. With considerable guidance from both home and School, they have reached this milestone with honour and integrity.

 

Walt Disney said, “You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful idea in the world, but it requires people to make the dream reality”.  I take this opportunity this to give thanks to all who have contributed to our school community: all the Year 12 students, staff and families who have purposely contributed to the building of the Blackfriars community, those who have focussed their time and energy to support others, who have gone out of their way to bring about harmony and have helped ignite the Dominican Spirit.

 

To the Year 12 Graduating class, it was a great honour and privilege to be their Deputy Principal in 2017. They leave the School with my sincerest blessings and I encourage them to achieve great things, let go of your fears, take risks, challenge their thinking and find inspiration in God and the world around them. With faith, they will find, that God’s vision for their life is far greater than anything they could have imagined.

 

Honour Roll

The Honour Roll is attached below and we acknowledge the students for their outstanding academic achievements and commend them for their perseverance and hard work throughout Term 3. The depth and breadth of their academic results are a credit to the students and their teachers and reflective of the considerable commitment which has been made.

2018 Timetable

The subject lines for the 2018 school timetable have been constructed, which takes into account student preferences and the combination of subjects selected by the students. Some subjects could not be placed on the subject lines due to an insufficient number of students who selected these subjects.

 

As a consequence, some students have missed out on their subject preferences due to either a subject not reaching sufficient numbers, or two of the selected subjects being placed on the same line. In this situation, the reserve subjects have been allocated to students when possible.

 

Letters will be distributed to students in Years 7 to 11 informing them of the subjects they have been allocated for 2018, based upon the subject preferences they entered into Edval WebChoice.

 

Students who have a subject missing can contact Mrs Daniela Piteo to discuss the options available to them.

 

End-of-Year Results Release

The SACE Board of SA has confirmed our previous advice that the target date for the 2017 results release is Tuesday 19 December 2017, from 8.30am.

 

SEQTA Online Reporting in 2018

It is pleasing to see the uptake amongst the Blackfriars Priory School Community of our online Learner Management System, SEQTA. Parents and Guardians now not only have easy access to comprehensive pastoral information, learning plans, course details and resources but increasingly, academic results and feedback are being communicated electronically to strengthen the partnership between home and school. The new SEQTA smart phone app has proven very popular amongst our learner community.

 

To continue strengthening our communication and feedback to families and students and maximise outcomes for students, in 2018 we will be a implementing a Continuous Online Reporting system. We intend to deploy our academic reports through SEQTA in 2018. Since we will be providing results and feedback on assessment tasks via SEQTA on a continuous basis, reports in 2018 will be a summary of student progress. Timely feedback on subject tasks and activities via the online anywhere, anytime secure SEQTA, will afford students and parents greater opportunities to review, reflect and improve.

 

The new online SEQTA Report will be a simple summary of overall achievement in a course, with feedback on progress in key learning indicators (via a basic continuum scale) along with the opportunity to provide a pastoral care comment.

 

In the first semester in 2018, we will continue to provide a hard copy of term reports to parents/guardians using the new report template. However, these reports will also be accessible via the Reporting tab on both SEQTA Learn (student portal) and SEQTA Engage (parent portal). SEQTA portals can be accessed via any web browser or a smartphone/tablet app. Parents will need to have activated their SEQTA Engage account to have this electronic access to their son’s report.

 

Once the academic reports are released through SEQTA in Term 1 2018, parents and students will receive a direqt message notification, followed up by an email if the initial notification remains unread after a day. Hard copies of reports will be sent home as normal in Term 1 and 2.

 

A number of sessions in the use of SEQTA for parents will be again be conducted in 2018 and as always, support in the use of SEQTA can be easily obtained by contacting Mr Paul Mason via email (seqta@bps.sa.edu.au) or phone (08 8169 3900 - during school hours).

 

God bless.

 

Mrs Anna Mirasgentis

Deputy Principal ELC - 12