Principal's Report

Dear Parents, Carers and Community members,

I hope you and your family are safe, well and enjoying the start to the warmer spring weather.

We are quickly coming to the end of term 3 and this time of year is a very busy time for teachers, but especially for our Year 11 and 12 students.

Over the past fortnight our HSC students have completed their trial exams and will begin the final few weeks of secondary education.  HSC students in the past week have or will be submitting major works for Design and Technology, Drama, Textiles, Visual Arts, Society and culture and Extension 2 English, which will either be marked by HSC examiners onsite or sent by courier for marking offsite.

My thanks to staff that have given up many extra hours to ensure their students had every assistance to complete their project. A big thanks to the students for the positive way in which they have faced the challenges of not only undertaking trial exams but completing major works in a very short period of time.

Year 11 are in the final stages of completing the Preliminary course and undertaking their end of course examinations occurring in week nine. The completion of these examinations and the impending results will provide the students and their teachers with a clear picture of where each student is and where improvement is needed as they start the HSC course in Term 4.

Senior Leadership

Last week we started the selection process for our 2025 senior leaders . The students interested in becoming senior leaders are required to go through a rigorous selection process which I have outlined below. This process is an opportunity for student learning and student reflection that will help them in their future endeavours.

1. Selection of School Captains - 

Students must submit a written application to the College Principal. This application must be supported by a member of staff and a fellow peer. 

These applications are then reviewed by the school Leadership team and Yr11 LOL wellbeing. At this point students may be withdrawn from the process.

Students are invited to an interview in front of a panel consisting of the Principal, Yr11 LOL wellbeing and one other member of the leadership team.

Students whose applications have been accepted are required to do a 2–3-minute speech in front of Year 9 to 11 students and staff. The speeches must focus on why they want to be considered as College Captain for 2025.

A preferential vote is then conducted involving all students from Yr 9 to 10 and staff members.

At the end of this process the two Captains 1 male and 1 Female are determined.

2. Selection of House, Sport, Arts and Faith Captains

A similar selection process is followed as for the School Captains except:

1. Candidates are not required to go through an interview.
2. House leaders are required to present their speech to their house and voting is done by all students in their house.

The candidates for the role of School captain this year are wide and varied in terms of their personalities, academic ability but I was proud of how they presented themselves during the interview process and spoke to the school community this week . So many shared their journey as students at O’Connor, why they wanted to be School Captain, and how they want to make a difference and give back to the school community. For all our Year 9 to 11 students to hear from these leaders and give of themselves was a real opportunity for learning about what it means to be the best of yourself. 

We are currently in the process of finalising our School Captains for 2025 and look forward to step 2 in the process and the selection of the House, Sport, Arts and Faith Captains and the Presentation of our College leaders for 2025 to the community.

Annual Satisfaction Survey 2024

An annual satisfaction survey of parents, students and staff will be conducted on behalf of all Catholic schools in the Diocese this term. The surveys are designed to gather feedback from parents, staff and students about our school and will be used to inform school improvement. Responses are confidential, and individuals can not be identified. 

The surveys will be launched via email on Monday, 26 August 2024 using the email addresses supplied to the school. If you do not receive an email with a link to the survey, you can access and complete the survey via the following link. https://www.research.net/r/OConnorCCPARENT2024 

The survey will close on Wednesday, 4 September 2024.

Kind Regards 

Mr. Phillip Gibney

Principal