Pastoral Academic Care
PAC
This week’s Pastoral Academic Care focus is MINDSET, CHOICE, PRACTICE AND EFFORT
Wellbeing Element: Skills and Achievement
Character Strength: PRUDENCE
Parent Wellbeing: What you focus on grows. To develop your top strengths, create habits and rituals to action them and consciously celebrate with yourself when you do. Describe a habit or ritual you can develop for each of your top strengths.
Many students don’t realise that they have many choices in what they do. When we encourage students to choose to adopt a positive mindset about how they approach their learning, academic and personal growth nearly always result. Making the choice to prioritise what they need to get done in a logical order, enables students to have more time to use more intelligent learning processes.
Prioritising is a self-regulation skill and strength which enables them to use their time more effectively by organising what needs to be done in order of importance under Musts and Options. Doing this broadens their attention and engagement with what they need to do.
Musts and Options, Time Understandings and Urgency versus Importance are effective Thinking Tools to provide students with valuable perspectives on the activities they participate in which may include:
• Sport training and part-time jobs
• Study, reading and deliberate practice
• Networking with friends
• Watching TV and playing games
• Family commitments
• Daily exercise and leisure activities.
Learning to prioritise provides students with the tools to develop growth mindsets to overcome setbacks and challenges which inevitably crop up. Most students find it very difficult to apply themselves to Home Learning/ Study unless it is planned ahead of time.
“I do the very best I know how, the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing it to the end.”
Abraham Lincoln
Year 7
A fantastic start to the new year at O’Connor Catholic College for Year 7 students. My name is Yolanda Kreuzen and I am the Pastoral Academic Care Leader for Year 7 2019. Year 7 have made a positive start to the year by forming new friendships, rekindling old friendships, including others in activities and focusing on their learning. Our pastoral focus this year is Strength in Kindness. Students are challenged by their pastoral teachers to act in a kind manner each and every day. Year 7 will be participating in a diverse range of activities including 'the kindness wall', Throw Kindness Like Confetti where students write affirmations about peers and practice having kind conversations. Activities similar to these will help to form a supporting, caring, and kind learning environment where all students in Year 7 feel supported in their learning journey.
Yolanda Kreuzen
Year 7 PAC
Year 8
Welcome back to O’Connor Catholic College, I hope everyone is settling in and building new friendships in their pastoral group.
My name is Lloyd Honnery, I am the Pastoral Academic Care leader for 2019. Not many of you know that I was lucky enough to attend O’Connor during my high school years and I am looking forward to ensuring your children have the same amazing experience I had.
The focus for our pastoral groups in Term 1 is “Respectful Relationships - What do they look like?” We will be centring discussions and activities around establishing new relationships safely online and respectfully with our peers at school.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at: lhonnery@arm.catholic.edu.au
Again, I am looking forward to working with you all this year.
Lloyd Honnery.
8 PAC
Year 9
A great start from a super bunch of students this Term. It is a big Term for Year 9.
Monday Week 5 25 February is Parent Information Night. It will be held at 6 pm in the Examination Centre (AG4/5).
Week 9 Camp at Lake Keepit on 25, 26 and 27 March. Deposits are due now.
This is a compulsory event.
All parents were emailed with details in the last week of school last year. Please let me know if you did not receive this.
Our Pastoral focus this Term is ‘Respectful Relationships - What do they look like?’. This will include sessions on the awareness, ramifications and consequences of sexting, cyberbullying and bullying in general.
Feel free to contact me with any concerns you may have.
Peter McLeish
Year 9 Pac Leader
(on behalf of the Year 9 Pastoral Academic Care team)
Year 10
Year 10 have started the school year well and should all now be settled into their new classes and PAC groups for 2019. With the first two weeks nearly over Year 10 can now create their goals specific to their learning needs and the subject selections that they have made. There will plenty of opportunities for Year 10 to consider throughout the following weeks. I hope they are all enjoying being back and I look forward to working with this group of students.
Mark Fulloon
Year 10 PAC Leader
Year 11
Year 11 have made an excellent start to their senior studies. They have accepted the challenge to step up and become even greater role models for our junior students. They are focussed on the learning, with collaboration playing a big role in their success as they move their learning forward.
Getting involved in extra-curricula activities and opportunities that are available at school allows for greater connectedness and social relationships. It allows for a more fulfilled and overall experience for students. Try something new perhaps.
The swimming carnival is one such event where it is easy to get involved, and it was great to see many of our Year 11 students dress up and enjoy the spirit of the day.
Wellbeing plays a very important role in our lives also, and it is important that our young people take the time to reflect, meditate, play sport, read, do whatever is needed to keep a good balance.
Our Year 11 LYL’s have set the tone by participating in the Year 7 activities on the first day back. It was a great opportunity for the younger students to get to know them and a chance for them to seek them out in the playground if needed OR just a familiar face to say hi and how is it going?
Youth Mass will be celebrated on Sunday 24th at 5.30pm. The LYL badges will be blessed and presented to the recipients. It would be wonderful to see a good attendance at this event.
Please do not hesitate to contact me at school if you have any concerns. The first port of call are your Pastoral Teachers and you are more than welcome to email and make an appointment to chat to them if necessary. There will be an introductory letter sent via email to all parents welcoming you and letting you know who the PAC teachers are.
Education is a shared role between student, parent and the school, and I am excited to be leading this cohort through this important time, along with the Year 11 PAC Team and all of the staff at O’Connor. As part of this, the Assessment and Information evening is on Monday 18th February. All parents and carers are encouraged to attend. More details soon.
Looking forward to working with you all.
Vicki Channon
Year 11 PAC
Year 12
Our Yr 12 cohort have made an excellent start to 2019. Students have shown a great keenness to make the most of their senior year thus far and have been focused on establishing challenging learning goals engaging enthusiastically in their learning. It has also been very pleasing to have many students demonstrating great enthusiasm towards involvement in activities outside of the classroom with the swimming carnival being a prime example.
Attendance and participation in the carnival was outstanding. Even more impressive was the senior's passion and enthusiasm for their houses and displaying their team colours. Congratulations to Mitch Hayden and Chyna Smith on both winning their Age Championships. While mentioning excellence in sporting achievement I also want to mention and congratulate Aiden Wicks on receiving a Combined Catholic Colleges Blue Award. This is a major, state wide award and is very well deserved by Aiden for his outstanding efforts and proficiency in Hockey Umpiring.
Another example of students stepping up at school is the Yr 12 Valentines Fundraising efforts. A large number of students very capably led by Chyna Smith and Nina Engler organised to sell songs, chocolates and love letters all in the name of good fun and raising money for Project Compassion. I am unsure of the final amount raised, but it was great fun and let's just say that the singing was...enthusiastic!
Finally, I just wanted mention that we hear of a diverse range of opportunities available to our students. These are generally shared with students via our Yr 12 Google Classroom. I encourage all students to keep an eye out for opportunities to better themselves or to give back to our community.
Better Together
James Russell
Yr 12 PAC