Principal's Report

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your contribution to Term 3 so far. Congratulations to Year 12 students who have completed HSC Trial Exams and are entering the last stage of their school education. Well done to those who have completed Major Works in Visual Arts and Industrial Technology, and those who are putting the final polish on upcoming Drama and Music practical performances.

Year 10 students are selecting subjects for HSC study this week. They are meeting with middle leaders to discuss how they are going with their learning in Year 10 and where they want it to go in Years 11 and 12. Middle leaders will emphasise that the best indicator of Year 11 performance is Year 10 performance, that high (above 90%) attendance is required for a successful HSC learning pathway and that collaborative dispositions and a willingness to work in teams are essential for the development of strong class learning teams. Each student in Years 7-10 has recently completed a learning plan and a serious Year 10 student will have identified 1, 2 or 3 most important improvement areas to focus on to improve choices and life-opportunities for next year and beyond.

Learning Plans

Here is the scaffold for the Year 7-10 Learning Plan. Most students have finished the plan and shared it with a Mentor Teacher and House Leader. Various staff will check-in with students to see how the plan is going. Students who haven’t completed a plan will be supported to do so. Completing a simple learning plan and enlisting the help of supportive adults increases the chances of a student experiencing a successful learning pathway. It is a step worth taking and worth supporting. Please discuss the Learning Plan at home to add to the list of helpful, supportive adults.

School Attendance and Successful Learning Pathways

We have had several tough years on the school attendance front. We should all be highly responsive to the needs and challenges of those students and families impacted by COVID. At the same time I ask you to have a low tolerance of school non-attendance for reasons other than illness and the rare unavoidable situation.

In NSW, attendance rate risks are determined as:

95-100% attendance - no risk of a diminished learning pathway due to attendance.
90-95% attendance - potential risk
80-90% attendance - at risk
70-80% attendance - high risk
0-70% attendance - critical risk

Here is the data for McCarthy for 2022. More than 50% of our students are at risk, at high risk or at critical risk of having a less than successful learning pathway because of their attendance pattern. Please respond positively to approaches from staff if you are contacted to talk about how we can work together to remove potential barriers to attendance for our students.

Building Student Connection to School

Students in Years 7-11 completed the Diocesan Living Well, Learning Well survey over the last few weeks. Using a scale of 1(never) to 6 (always) students responded to a series of questions about feeling safe, valued and highly regarded as a learner at school. Here are the average responses, each of which has improved from last year. On the Diocesan Data Ecosystem, where results are displayed, Green indicates a strong positive response, white is an average response and red is a concerning response. The results for ‘safety’ and ‘cared for’ categories are strong and reflect persistent work to increase the number of students who feel that school is a safe and productive place to be. Year 12 results are typically highest of each of the Year Groups for all categories. We will complete Year 12 surveys when the Trial HSC results are returned and students have settled fully into the final month of formal classes.

Thank you to all who continue to do this important work: students, parents and staff.

All the best

Rod Whelan

Rod Whelan - Principal