Principal
Mr Gary Conwell, Principal
Welcome 2024
I want to warmly welcome all new families and students to St Stephen’s Catholic College. It is great to see the new Year 7 students adjusting to life in secondary school and our new students in Years 8 to 12 adjusting well to their transition into the College. Beginning anew in a school and a different environment takes energy and planning, and time for some to adjust. Please reach out to your teacher, pastoral leader or one of the senior leadership team if you need any specific help. We are more than happy to help you.
Partnering with St Stephen’s Catholic College
We are keen to see all students attend school above the 90% attendance rate (less than one day off per fortnight). School absenteeism can impact significantly on students' learning and well-being. The Australian curriculum is consecutive – topics studied by children depend on learning from the previous topic – and children absent for more than ten days per semester (or below 90% attendance) are at much greater risk of academic and social disruption.
Research shows that in Queensland, higher student attendance is associated, on average, with higher student achievement. Additionally, attending school daily helps children build social and emotional skills such as communication, teamwork and resilience.
There is a very enlightening report from ACARA – the Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority - about the decline in school attendance, especially in rural and remote areas. You may read the report here. As of 2022, only 50% of Queensland students attended school above the optimal rate of 90% (less than 10 days absent per semester).
To improve each student’s attendance rate, we need parents to help us.
How can parents help their sons and daughters engage in school?
There are two fundamental aspects to a parent helping with their child’s schooling.
They are:
- “Family-led learning focused on high aspirations for children, shared reading, a positive environment for homework, parent-child conversation, a cognitively stimulating home environment and support for social and emotional wellbeing” (Australian Government Department of Education,n.d.).
- “Family-school partnerships that encourage positive parent-teacher relationships, communication about children’s progress, and engagement in the school community, while equipping parents to effectively support and encourage their children’s learning and wellbeing” (Australian Government Department of Education, n.d.).
Parents and carers can powerfully impact their child’s positive engagement with school in line with point 1. As children age and undertake more complex learning in secondary school, parents may feel disconnected from their child’s learning. However, parents and carers' most powerful support is encouraging high standards for their child through positive talk, discussing school with their child, providing a conducive environment at home for learning, and supporting their social and emotional health. It has much less to do with direct help for content and skills knowledge and much more to do with framing learning and school in a positive way. It is a tricky balance of course – but keeping one’s cool and pointing in the right direction is the way to go.
Parents and carers can also powerfully impact their child’s engagement with school in line with point 2. Parents and carers who engage positively with their child’s teachers, respond to requests for support from the school, engage in school communication about their child’s progress and achievement, and engage in school forums designed to help parents navigate their child’s secondary education are well placed to impact their child’s learning and progress positively.
A good start for parents and carers is to download the MyCE App for all things related to school communication. This app enables parents and carers a seamless connection to school communication, including reports, important messages and parent slips. Please download it from the App Store or Google Play.
I also highly recommend the Catholic School Parents Australia website listed in the references below. It has a great deal of information and advice for parents, carers and schools about how to build an effective and powerful relationship between home and school for the benefit of our students.
References
Australian Government Department of Education. (n.d.). Parent engagement in children's learning: What do we know? Retrieved from https://www.education.gov.au/download/3678/parent-engagement-research/5360/document/pdf
Catholic School Parents Australia. (n.d.). What do you need to know - Secondary parents. Retrieved from https://www.parentengagementcspa.edu.au/what-do-you-need-to-know-secondary-parents
Kind regards,
Gary Conwell