Principal's Message
Thank you to everyone who was able to attend last week's assemblies and open classrooms for Education Week. It was wonderful to visit so many classrooms that were packed with family members.
This fortnight, our Opera House Choir travels to Sydney to perform as part of the combined choir in the Bennelong Concert and all student will participate in our book parade. In two weeks time, Stage 3 students will travel to Canberra for their five-day major excursion.
Kindergarten 2025
To support planning for 2025 classes and increase the chances of out of area enrolment acceptance, any families with students entering Kindergarten in 2025 who have not already submitted an application for enrolment are strongly encouraged to contact the school as soon as possible.
Staff appointments
Late last term and early this term, our school completed two merit selection processes for permanent positions at Ben Venue. I would like to congratulate Chantelle Lawrence and Stephanie Murdock and welcome them as permanent members of the Ben Venue team in their new roles.
Chantelle has been relieving as Assistant Principal on our Stage 1 team this year and now is in the role substantively. Stephanie has been leading the administration office for the same period of time and has been appointed to the School Administrative Manager role.
Congratulations to Chantelle and Stephanie, who are both great additions to our team.
New England Sings!
Tickets for New England Sings! are going on sale 9:00am on Monday 19 August. If your child is performing in this concert and you plan to attend, please book early to avoid missing out.
Click here after 9:00am on 19 August to book tickets to New England Sings!
Ben Venue students perform in the 2:30pm concert. Students performing in the concert do not need to purchase tickets.
Intrinsic motivation
In the last newsletter, I included a video of Dr Helen Street discussing the unintended impacts of awards on student motivation and wellbeing. This week, I am sharing an analysis of similar research from quite a different perspective. The TED Talk that I have linked below, discusses research on motivation through a business lens. However, the principles and findings are equally relatable to education.
The research on the importance of supporting intrinsic motivation as an alternative to external rewards is well established, but also equally well ignored. A key point made in the talk relates to how extrinsic motivation kills creativity. If we want to develop students who think creatively and are prepared for the complexity of modern workplaces, surely we should rely on the research evidence to inform our approach.
Personally, I enjoyed reflecting on the message of this talk, relating the findings to my own motivation and work. Certainly, the most important and meaningful achievements in my work have been due to my investment in the intrinsic value of the tasks and projects themselves. I encourage you to similarly reflect on the nature of your important work and achievements, determining what role intrinsic motivation and extrinsic reward played in these. I hope you find the talk as stimulating as I do.
TED Talk | Dan Pink | The Puzzle of Motivation - Click to view the video.
Teacher professional learning
Developing our students' ability to self-assess their learning progress is increasingly a key focus for our teachers. This is because the ability to critically reflect on your own work or performance in relation to success criteria is an important skill for self-directed learners. This week, 10 of our teachers will engage in professional learning that will support teaching and learning practices that develop our students' self-assessment and peer-assessment skills.
Cam Pryce
Principal