Primary School News

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to our third term together for 2023. Hopefully, the last two weeks provided you with an opportunity to slow the pace down a little with the busyness of school taken out of the equation. I hope the boys found time to relax and recharge their batteries for Term Three. I also hope that you have had the chance to discuss with your son some goals that he might set for the second half of the year in the Primary School. I would imagine that when reflecting on his achievements in Semester One, there are many areas that he was happy with, and these deserve to be celebrated. Perhaps there are results too, that can be targeted as areas of improvement for the term ahead, and goals could be set to help achieve these improvements. Goal setting can provide boys with a clear focus on what they want to achieve. When boys have something to aspire to achieve, whether it’s academic, sporting, cultural or social, they are more likely to stay motivated and committed to putting in the necessary effort to reach their goal. Don’t be afraid to write the goal down with your son and make it visible in his workspace as a reminder of what he wants to achieve.  If you are yet to discuss these important points with your son, this week provides the perfect opportunity to do so.

This week, we have two new staff members joining our Primary teaching staff. In 6 Gold we welcome Mr. Jim Midgley and in 6 Violet we welcome Mrs Janice Minihan. Both of these experienced teachers have previous connections with the college, and we extend a very warm welcome back to Jim and Janice for Semester 2. They are both looking forward to meeting as many parents as possible as the semester progresses.

During this first week together, I will be reminding boys about our expectations regarding the wearing of their Winter uniform, our haircut regulations and our mobile phone use policy. It is sometimes necessary to revisit these reminders after a period of time away from school, but I am sure the boys will get back in the swing of things very quickly this week.

I would like to wish you all a very happy and successful Term 3 in our Primary School.

Primary Learning Leader - Ms Jen Little

Welcome back from what I hope has been a restful holiday for all. At the end of last term, I gave an Academic Address to all boys about the need to push for their own personal excellence in their learning. The holiday period was an opportunity for them to reflect on their efforts throughout Semester 1 and determine whether their effort fell above or below the bar. By now, you would have all had the opportunity to read your child’s report card. This is a snapshot of how students have performed across every subject undertaken. Hopefully, you will have discussed goals for improvement over this semester. 

Over the course of the next fortnight, I will be going into all classrooms to work with students on formalising these goals in their student diary. We will create their own Academic Profiles and calculate their GPA (Grade Point Average). They will then take their Student Diaries home to record their personal goals.  As I often say to students though, ‘a goal without a plan is merely a dream.’ Goals require hard work and vision. They are not something that can be achieved by chance. The illustration of the Iceberg Illusion to the right is a great visual that captures what needs to happen below the surface for a goal to reach reality. Student GPAs are their own personal warning sign about their learning. Whilst this is an excellent message for students, it is not the only message of the Titanic disaster. 

The great irony of Titanic was that it was supposed to be the ‘unsinkable’ ship that failed on its maiden voyage. The ocean liner is an early example of preoccupation with perfectionism. Indeed, the whole intent of Titanic was to epitomise the most perfect model of a luxury passenger liner that was possible by the standards of 1912. Tragically, the belief in its perfection and invincibility would create a false sense of security which lead to its fatal demise. There were two particular individuals who contributed to this significantly. One was the chairman and managing director of the White Star Line, Joseph Bruce Ismay. The other was the ship’s captain and British Naval Officer, Edward Smith. There were 3 main problems:

1. They prioritised early completion and speed, above doing the job as it needed to be done.
2. They deprioritised important information and failed to react to the feedback received from multiple ships who’d warned of the need for caution.
3. They arrogantly assumed it was perfect and were incapable of admitting vulnerability. This lead the ship to be under-prepared, carrying only 20 lifeboats which could only hold a third of the ship’s capacity.

I would like to take this time to remind you of the many additional opportunities and resources that are being made available to the boys at Marist that remain under-utilised at the College:

• Supervised Morning Study – offered each morning to the boys from 8:00am to 8:30am.
• Supervised Writing Tuition in the 5 Gold Classroom each Thursday morning taken by myself from 8:00am.
• A Multitude of One Note Resources made available to the students by their classroom teachers. These include videos and revision activities.
• Library Guides that offer the students additional reading on each of their core subject areas.
• Weekly extension for those eligible in Maths and Writing (Year 6). This will commence this term in Year 5. 

This term, I would like to challenge the students to listen to their own warning signs and encourage them not to become complacent in their own learning. Feedback from their teachers is vital; what is more vital though, is that they take this feedback on board and use every resource available to maximise their learning. I look forward to working with your sons throughout the term.