Cranbourne Campus News

House Welcome Evening Year 7 and 8

Many of our Year 7 parents and a sprinkling of our Year 8 parents took the opportunity to come on campus for the House Welcome evening, where they met their child's learning advisor and engaged in learning conversations about their child's progress. After such a long period of increased restrictions and social isolation, I have to say that  it was something of a surprise that more parents didn't take this opportunity to come to the college and meet with learning advisors. At St. Peter's College the Learning Advisor is the main pastoral and learning mentor for a young person's six year journey at the College. One can only interpret this as a vote of confidence of our families in the learning and pastoral care of that which they hold most dearly, their children. During the House Welcome evening parents have the opportunity to be introduced to the SPACE parent portal. A platform through which parents and guardians can monitor the academic progress of their child. It is commonly known that taking an interest in our child's learning journey does have the potential to accelerate their growth and improve their learning outcomes. Here is a link to a video that explains how to access SPACE as a parent so that you can monitor your child's work

St. Peter's College offers various formal opportunities for parents/guardians to make contact with Learning Advisors and teachers during the course of the year, like the House Welcome evening and the Student Conference meetings (which will occur early in term 2), however it is also important to remain connected through looking at SPACE, having casual conversations with your child about what happened during the school day and through making email contact  with any teachers or Learning Advisors with whom you feel the need to speak or ask questions. Transparent and open communication between home and school is will  help you support your young person at home and in their learning. 

Harmony Day

This year's Harmony Day assembly brought an enormous energy and joy to the community and was a great show of pride of our St. Peter's College students in who they are and where they come from. The real strength of this particular assembly was that all elements of the assembly were led, prepared and presented by students. College captains Milly and Callum put together a program that included a great variation of sound, dance mixed with formalities appropriate for a college assembly. The sound mixing table and camera management of the assembly was expertly managed by one of the media students Charlotte Cowan and the camera work was completed by another media studies student Filip Viatr while the highlight of the Harmony day Assembly, our cultural dances and cultural rappers, were all student-led performances. 

The development of 'student voice' in our school community demonstrates  just what our students are capable of.  I would like to especially thank those students who shared some of their cultural story through word, song or dance. I know that I have said this before however  the true richness of St. Peter's College lies in the harmony of our diverse and unique cultures. There is much that the wider Australian community could learn from the staff and students at St. Peter's College.

A further celebration of culture was shared at recess and lunch time where members of the VCAL senior class prepared cultural cuisine that was planned and prepared using the COVID safe processes that they had learned as part of their  course. We also were entertained by Ke'ran and Isaac who used the new radio studio in the Donnelly building to run a radio show during Harmony Day. An enormous amount of planning, supervision and preparation goes into these Harmony Day events and I would like to acknowledge the wonderful commitment of our teachers to supervise rehearsals, oversee processes and motivate students to be their best in all they do and also to our students for throwing themselves so wholeheartedly into this work.

Uniform change over

As is  tradition the first two weeks of Term 2 will be a period of grace where students are able to wear either the full school winter uniform or the full summer uniform. However, not a mixture of the two. Furthermore the term 1 holidays provides the perfect opportunity for students to rectify any outstanding uniform infringements that are hanging over them and to work on the routines that would enable them to get to the tutor group on time in the morning. As suggested in last week's school newsletter the uniform is paramount to creating a sense of unity at school. Having high expectations doesn't just relate to school grades but in everything we do; striving to be the best version of ourselves at all times - this is as much about the process as it is about the end product.

To this end Learning Advisors, House Leaders, Pastoral Care Leaders and members of the leadership team will be supporting parents and students by making a concerted effort to ensure that students meet the high expectations the College has of our young people.  As I am sure you are aware, the uniform and presentation expectations of our College are listed in the student planner and also on the school website. Since last year's lockdown and period of isolation, we have been able to establish a much better routine and consistency with our on campus learning. We now have the chance to move from just surviving to thriving. Rest assured that the staff at the College is here to support your child to strive and thrive.

Mr Jeremy Wright

Deputy Principal - Head of Cranbourne Campus