Principal's Post

Dear Parents,

Fr Giancarlo Iollo OMI has been introduced to our staff and students and joins fellow Oblates Fr John and Fr Kevin who reside at the Mazenod Oblate Residence. Fr Giancarlo has arrived from the European Province and previously lived in Italy. His ministry at the College will be as a College Chaplain. On behalf of all in our extended community I welcome Fr Giancarlo.

On Friday students from Years 8 to 12 celebrated academic excellence during three different assemblies. The new format is designed to acknowledge the achievements from Semester 2 2019. This year 46 students from the 2019 cohort who achieved an ATAR score of 90 or better were acknowledged at our traditional 90+ Assembly. A further change was to invite the best performer in each of the respective studies which was decided on the basis of the highest Study Score. The 90+ Assembly has featured on the College calendar since the late 1990s and was an initiative of Fr John Sherman when he was Rector of the College. Since then, the first assembly for the year has been an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate excellence and hard work. It is designed to be a moment of celebration for the recipients but also a moment of inspiration for all the students currently attending the College. We all appreciate there are many ways to measure success and accomplishment. The fact that every Year 12 student from 2019 has been offered a place at University, a TAFE College, a traineeship, is employed or has an apprenticeship is a remarkable accomplishment.

Rightly so we need to celebrate the achievement of acquiring an ATAR in the top 10% but it would be short sighted to let oneself be defined by this standard construct whether it be for a student who has excelled or a student who has achieved a lesser number. Students require a myriad of skills and values that are required to build meaningful relationships in the workplace, socially and at home.

Many years of research conducted by the Gallup Organization suggest that the most effective people are those who understand their strengths and behaviours. These people are best able to develop strategies to meet and exceed the demands of their daily lives, their careers and their families. (Gallup – Clifton Strengths). Another statement by researchers from the Demographics Group presented by Bernard Salt believes that students in the 2020s will need to develop skills in the future that will shift and shuffle... the skillset that today's students need is the ability to be flexible and to pitch their skillset so they need to be self-confident and sociable. All linked to the work of Dr Lea Waters who I mentioned in last week’s newsletter in the context of Strength based Parenting and Teaching. (www.leawaters.com) At our Information Evenings and throughout the year we are going to focus on her work and that of John Hattie as we continue to develop a model of Learning based on Visible Learning and Visible Well-being.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Tony Coghlan

Principal