Principal's Address

Dear Parents and Carers,

I trust you are well as we conclude Term 2 at Chevalier College. It has been another term of learning and growth, with a major highlight being Sacred Heart Day on Friday 14 June followed by the Mission Concert in the evening. Also, the recent High School Musical production was a wonderful experience of talented students supported by dedicated teachers. Along with these highlights, students have been learning, growing and occasionally failing as they continue to discover more about who they are and what they can do by engaging in day-to-day lessons, weekly sport and ongoing assessments throughout the term.

As you might be aware, we live in a world where, according to McKinsey and Company, organisations are encouraged to develop transferable skills of problem-solving, critical thinking, innovation, and creativity so staff can adapt and ‘pivot’ in a rapidly changing world. Research from the Foundation for Young Australians, dating back to 2017, predicts that by 2030 we will spend more time each week problem-solving and using critical thinking skills.

World-renowned organisations such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) keep reminding us that the top five capabilities on the rise required for the world of work are:

1. Creative thinking
2. Analytical thinking
3. Technological thinking
4. Curiosity and lifelong learning, and
5. Resilience, flexibility and agility.

For quite some time in secondary education, we have discussed the importance of the above mentioned skills and capabilities. The New South Wales Higher School Certificate (HSC) goes some way to providing an end credential which speaks to some of those skills outlined above. A sample Higher School Certificate can be seen below.

The actual certificate shows results in marks and ‘bands’, with little elaboration; however, when we dig a little deeper, we know that students who achieve Band 6 results can, for example:

• critically analyse, synthesise and interpret information
• demonstrate high-level skills of critical judgement, reasoning and problem-solving
• effectively communicate in a coherent, creative, succinct, logical and sophisticated manner.

However, whilst the Higher School Certificate reflects some of the ‘student’, it does not reflect all there is to know about the ‘learner’. 

As Professor Sandra Milligan, Enterprise Professor & Director ARC, Melbourne Graduate School of Education says, "We should be able to put in place a system that enables every kid to show where they’re strong, what they can do and be able to use that to go where is best for them. And at the moment, we don’t have that system; we’ve got an examination and an ATAR system.”

Luckily, through our future facing approach to learning at Chev, we have adopted the mantra of:

HSC and Capabilities, ATAR and Self-development.

With the above in mind, we continue to ideate as to how we can better reflect far more about what a student knows and what they can do.  This is reflected in the graphic below.

With reference to our College website, our philosophy of education at Chevalier can be summed up in the phrase, ‘The Heart of Education is the Education of the Heart’. This means that everything we do at Chevalier College, in the academic and extracurricular life of the College, is about enhancing and developing all the unique gifts, talents and personalities of the young people in our care. In this way, they will come to know they are deeply loved by God.

May we continue to nurture these young people in this way, and may we soon be able to demonstrate this in a way that truly reflects our mantra of HSC and Capabilities, ATAR and Self-development.

Best wishes for the Term 2 school holidays, and I look forward to students returning in Term 3.

Many Blessings

Greg Miller

Principal