Junior School Report 

Greetings from Junior School, 

It’s been a busy yet rewarding term for staff and students. In addition to the usual schedule of teaching and learning, our Junior students have been very busy with a variety of extracurricular activities – lunchtime sports activities, volleyball and tennis, our College Athletics Day, visits to the Gippsland Tech School, musical soirees, assemblies, and morning tea for our student leaders. 

I would like to recognize our student leaders who have been elected through a combination and student voice and teacher recommendation. These students consistently demonstrate the values of the College – Respect, Integrity, Determination, Growth, and Excellence – on a day-to-day basis. It is testament to your character that you have been recognised for these attributes and also trusted to be the voice of your peers. Congratulations to the following students: 

Year 7 Home Group Leaders 

Jackson Bird, Emily Brosnan, Ellie White, Jack Airey, Ethan Bodak, Sarah Dyer, Miley Kelly, Connor Palmer, Isabella Taylor, Ethan Smedley, Cooper Coulthard, Gemma Webb, Cooper Bacon & Declan Osborne 

Year 7 Leader – Connor Jones

 Year 8 Home Group Leaders

Lachlan Delaney, Mia Calleja, Lucas Simpson-Jung, Tasha Downey, Anthony Daley, Ayla Grbic, Noah Parkinson, Destiny Draper, Kayden McIver, Taryn Brown, Chris McGregor, Larissa Toet, Bayley Russell & Irene Lim 

Year 8 Leader – Indiana Bechaz 

Students will soon be receiving their second round of GPA Progress Reports and it is hoped that these will form the basis of some goal setting for students coming into Term 2. Setting explicit goals for success and tracking progress towards achieving them is a great way to ensure that we are committed to achieving excellence. The main point of setting goals is to help students take realistic steps to achieve them. The SMART format is one commonly used framework for doing this.  

Goal-setting helps to develop numerous abilities such as leadership skills, team building, teamwork, accountability, and overcoming challenges. As students set and commit to achieving goals they are introduced to deadlines and handling pressure, which are vital skills to have, both in school and in their area of work after school. It is important that students choose goals that are small and specific rather than grand and unobtainable. For example, rather than saying “I will get a GPA above 3.6 next cycle” students should look at their GPAs and decide that “I will improve my rating for participating constructively and remaining on task from 'At Standard' to 'Above Standard' in all my classes”. They would then commit to a few small, yet achievable, actions that will help them achieve this (for example, I will sit away from my friends who distract me and I will ask for help whenever I am stuck instead of just sitting there). The success of this can then be measured when the next round of GPAs is released and some reflection is undertaken to determine what went well and what areas perhaps could still do with some improvement. This reflection is perhaps the most important part of the process as it helps learners to understand what they already know, identify what they need to know in order to improve in the future, make sense of new information and feedback, and guide choices for further learning.   

In addition to conversations around GPAs, I encourage all students to continue reading over the break and continue to embed the skills they have been working on during independent reading time in their classes. I know I am looking forward to reading some books that have been sitting on my shelf waiting to be opened! 

Parent/Student/Teacher interviews are taking place this week and we look forward to connecting with as many parents and guardians as possible to speak about student progress so far this year.  

The Junior School team wishes you all a happy, healthy, and positive term break and looks forward to seeing everyone in Term 2. As always if there are any questions or areas of concern please do not hesitate to be in contact. 

Nicole Taylor 

Junior School Leader