From the Management Team

What has been a privilege to be part of this term, has been the conversations that have been happening about student subject selections for 2022. While it is very scary to consider that 2022 is fast approaching and that, as Mr Slattery is keen to remind everyone, Christmas is only 120 days away, it is the case that these discussions do need to be happening now. One of the key principles in the Vision for Learners is Independence and this subject selection process provides students with opportunity to engage in this principle in a very real way as they plan and choose some of their subjects.

On Wednesday, the Year 7s participated in a series of `Taster' lessons for the elective subjects they have not yet studied this year.  This was to give them accurate information and to prepare them more fully for the choices they need to make in the Arts and Technologies areas for 2022.  The Year 7s were very excited and started to think about the considerations involved in making such decisions. 

The concept of having the freedom to choose is both liberating and immobilising. Immediate reactions are ones of joy - "Finally I can choose/ control my own pathway!". These feelings can then quickly dissolve into `What do I choose?' `How do I choose?' `What if I choose the wrong one?'. Some of these discussions may have been happening in your homes.

The 2022 Year 11 and 12 students have been feeling this dichotomy even more significantly as they move to having more and more choice and control over the subjects they study.  These choices are also linked to plans for post-school pathways which make these decisions even more stressful at times.

While these decisions do cause a level of angst, they are an important part of our development. As more experienced adults we know that there will be many more significant decisions that will need to be made in life. The capacity of students to make sound independent decisions, in this case about subjects for study, begins at Year 7 and repeats itself every year.  Every year students can reflect on the decisions they made and re-evaluate how and why they made these decisions, and what they may do differently next time. Perhaps decisions were made based on the teacher, or choices those in a friendship group were making. This may have seemed like a sound decision at the time, until the friendship group are in different classes the next year, or they do not have the expected teacher. Making these decisions is part of the learning process - the process to becoming Independent people of character in their own right. 

When students meet at Care Group Connection evenings and share how they have developed their independence in a given year, this is one process that they can reflect on. As supporting adults in their lives we can also support students in the development of their Independence in decision making. We can discuss the choices available openly, the pros and cons of each and consider which are more suited to a student's area of interest and talent. We can talk about each of the options fully.  We can interrogate the basis from which particular decisions can been made and ask questions that allow students to see the options in different ways.  Then, the most difficult of all, we can allow them to make the final decision and respect the decisions they have made given the fullness of the discussion. The other role significant adults can play in this learning process is to be there to support if the decision has not worked as intended and to celebrate their process when the decision has been a good one.

It has been a privilege for me, and I hope also for you in your homes, to be a witness to the discussion and wrestle of decision making for these young people as they consider what's next.

Sandra Barry

Director of Learning

Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel. Philippians 4:6-7