From the College Principal 

Dear Parents, Carers, Students and Friends of the St Gregory’s College Community,

We have now completed Week 5 of the term – eight weeks of lockdown for most of you and five weeks of online learning! The challenges of the outbreak of COVIOD-19 in NSW are very real and confronting. Please remember to go easy on yourself and your family at this challenging time. We are all trying to do our best under difficult circumstances.

Despite the lockdown, there is still much to be optimistic about! I know we need to find those sparks of joy and inspiration, but we will never find them if our life is consumed with all the troubles that seem to be reported on a daily basis, with very little emphasis on the many good things happening all around us.

We were certainly blessed over the past few weeks to have the Olympic Games from Japan to shift our focus away from COVID. It was wonderful to see our country unite and the world come together for the Games. It was a timely reminder that what unites us as human beings is far stronger than what divides us.

As I write this Newsletter article, I am very mindful of the situation with COVID-19 all around us. Each day we are hearing disturbing news about the positive COVID-19 cases. To the many families and students impacted by the pandemic, my prayers and thoughts go out to you all. Our College community at St Gregory’s is not immune to this pandemic. I thank each member of our College community for your ongoing support in these challenging times.  

FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION – Last Sunday (15 August) the Church celebrated the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. The Assumption of Mary is a doctrine that teaches that after the mother of Jesus died, she was resurrected, glorified, and taken bodily to heaven. As a proud Marist College, we need to be constantly reminded of the amazing sacrifices and commitment of Mary, the mother of Jesus. It is our task as members of the St Gregory’s community to be willing to say yes to God’s call in all we do, just as Mary did in accepting her role as the mother of Jesus. It is truly inspiring to work at St Gregory’s among many of our staff, students and parent body who accept the challenges of life each day and ‘take up’ the opportunities in all they do to spread God’s love and understanding.

Our Superior General, Brother Ernesto Sánchez, invites us to look at Mary's example: "As Marists of Champagnat, we want to live according to Mary's heart and, like her, bring forth the light of God. Thus, we will be able “to form homes that are a light on the hill for those around us."

ONLINE LEARNING – As we conclude Week 5 of online learning, I want to sincerely thank and congratulate our amazing teaching staff for their swift response to moving to quality online learning at the commencement of the term, and for their dedication to continuous improvement in their lessons, their pedagogical skills, and their technology interventions with the students! Well done team.

Similarly, the majority of our students have responded to the new learning environment with ease. They have been consistent, persistent and realistic with their learning efforts. We all need to understand that we are not perfect, sometimes lessons are ‘clunky’, sometimes students forget to complete set work, and sometimes we are simply overwhelmed by the intensity of screen time, that we just need a break! 

The aim over the coming weeks is to find ‘the balance’ – staff students and parents. We can only do this by working together and by adopting a growth mindset, rather than a fixed mindset. We need to grow into online learning, rather than let it consume and swallow us. 

Sometimes our expectations of our students in the online environment are way too high. Sometimes the energy levels, effort and engagement of our students is way too low! Together, we must search for the ‘happy place’ with our online lessons, so our staff and students are engaged together in quality teaching and learning.

During some recent professional reading, I came across this article which I read and feel that it is worth sharing – ‘Why remote learning takes new ways of thinking’, August 31, 2020, by Bev Betkowski.

Both students and teachers can get more out of online classes by asking themselves what they need to learn or teach, how they intend to do it and whether it's working for them as classes go on. As students log in to their online classes during this lockdown period, they'll have to adjust their ‘thinking caps’ in a new way, the education expert advises.

"Students will have to be more mindful of how they think, not just what they think," said Greg Thomas, a Faculty of Education expert in metacognition - one's self-reflection on their thinking and learning processes.

The major shift to remote online learning means students, left largely on their own without in-person instruction and classrooms, will have to be more self-aware of the questions they're asking themselves as they navigate their lessons, Thomas said.

When we're faced with new situations, like online learning, we need to learn new ways to think to suit the new situation. "Students don't have the immediacy of an instructor in front of them, so a lot of responsibility falls back on them to be more independent in what they do." That means making the decision to actively monitor their own learning, he added.

"It's essential that students plan, monitor and evaluate their learning in all of their subjects from the start. It also means being more conscious in thinking about whether they're getting what they need as they move through their studies”, he said.

"Students have to be more in tune with these types of questions because of this change in moving from a structured to an unstructured learning environment."

Teachers can also help their online students by being mindful in their work, said Thomas. "They should try to understand deeply what they want their students to learn and what thinking they want them to engage in, so they can learn it."

This means finding ways to develop and boost students' metacognition online through the use of words, diagrams, audio and video, said Thomas.

As successful learners themselves, teachers can also share their own best practices with their students, he suggested. "They can reflect on how they learned and how they handle their workloads. Students love to learn about this from their teachers and it makes them more human."

Teachers should also ask their students to reflect on how they approach tasks and whether their approaches are successful.

"We want the students to become more independent and less reliant on us as teachers. To do this they need to explore what works and what doesn't for them in remote and other environments."

Parents can also help as their children study from home, by providing encouragement and emotional support, he added.

"This shift to remote learning is not easy for anyone. Parents need to be willing to ask, 'How's it going?' and be willing to listen. Sometimes that's all that's needed.

"Or they can ask what they can do to help. Then the student can help control what might be able to be done, and this helps them become more reflective, metacognitive and responsible for their learning progress. And they need to know they are cared about."

REMINDER - STAFF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING DAYS – TERM 3 – A reminder that Staff Professional Learning days will take place on Friday 20 August (end of Week 5, Term 3) and on Monday 23 August. On these two days, the College will not be open for student supervision, and OOSH will not operate on these two days. Online classes will resume on Tuesday 24 August.

END OF TERM 3 REMINDER - A reminder that all classes conclude in Term 3 on Friday 17 September. All students are expected to attend classes (online until further announcements) until the end of Term 3. We all need to finish each term strongly and work in a sustained fashion until the last period of the final day of term. I request that parents / carers wishing for their son / daughter to finish the term prior to Friday 17 September write to me in advance to request leave for your child. 

Finally, thank you again for your ongoing support, encouragement, friendship and wise counsel. The support you provide assists me greatly. 

I wish you God’s blessings always. May Mary, our Good Mother, Saint Marcellin Champagnat and Saint Gregory continue to guide us and inspire us on our journey.

Quae Seminaveris Metes – “You will reap what you sow."

Mr Lee MacMaster 

College Principal (K-12)