Clyde North Campus News

Wishing you a very Blessed Christmas and a Holy New Year

The end of a school year that proved to be like no other is here. Despite the difficulties faced this year we survived and, in many respects, we grew stronger and closer as a community through the very unlikely source of the virtual world, zoom.

A critical concern, however this year has been the impact on the mental health of young people due to the COVID lockdown and remote learning. The onset of holidays will bring a sense of relief along with a sense of freedom and space for families to relax. However, for some of our young people they may return to a sense of feeling isolated and disconnected if they rely heavily on school to develop and build social interactions. A typical year would provide our young people with substantial time over the course of the year to develop friendships that would survive during a period of extended holidays. However, the lack of face-to-face learning this year especially for junior students has meant that existing friendships and interactions have not been fully developed or tested and may not be as meaningful over the summer break. So, before the Christmas rush is upon us, check in with your child about what they hope to do over the holidays and who they are connected with and hope to stay connected with. Old fashion ‘play dates’ at one another’s homes may still prove to be a terrific way for young people to stay connected and have fun in safe and protective environments.

House Liturgies and Assemblies

This year we have missed celebrating the Eucharist as a Catholic community. It was therefore incredibly important that we were able to hold House Liturgies on the final day of term four. A time to reflect, a time to be quiet and a time to share in prayer were the central themes of each House Liturgy. As we move through Advent over the coming weeks, let Hope, Love, Joy and Peace enter our hearts and homes as Jesus’ birth draws near. Thank you to the House Leaders and House Captains for the wonderful liturgy and final house assembly for the year.

Thank you to our virtual tour guides

Regardless of being in remote learning for the majority of the year we still needed to conduct tours of the school for new enrolments commencing 2020 and grade five and six students who will join us in the coming years. Just like remote learning via zoom, we conducted virtual tours. I had the distinct pleasure of meeting many families during these tours, but there is no doubt that the real stars of the virtual tours were our student tour guides. They created a fantastic sense of who we are at St. Peter's College and what new students would experience at the College. I want to acknowledge and sincerely thank all of our student tour guides this year and previous years. You are fine young people and we are most proud of you.

Our tour guides are asked lots of questions and their ability to answer with confidence and authenticity is remarkable. I share with you this most recent example:

A parent asked a question via chat on how our students and teachers managed through lockdown.

Dominic, our student guide took the initiative and provided this answer.

"For me I had a little rough start, I had to learn how to use the zoom program, concentrate with siblings around etc. But as I got to know and understand the ‘new normal’, I was able to pick myself up and move on. With the teachers, they were absolutely amazing in supporting us through the change. We learnt many new skills as well such as being flexible and taking initiative for my learning."

We have learnt much from each other during this year and it is with trust, hope and a genuine love of our community that we will continue to grow, prosper and support one another now and in the future.

I wish you all a very special Christmas and New Year and thank you for your tremendous support of myself and the staff throughout the year. We indeed have a wonderful community.

Year 9 XSPAND Passion Projects

Year 9 XSPAND strives to develop self-reliant and collaborative lifelong learners. Fostering a love of learning through engaging and authentic learning experiences forms a critical component of our mission to develop lifelong learners. Headstart provides the perfect opportunity to enact this mission through our Passion Projects. After surveying the incoming Year 9s at the beginning of term on what they were most passionate about, six projects were developed to reflect the cohort's responses. As autonomy supported experiences where students have choice over what they learn has been found to positively influence student motivation and engagement in learning (Buchanan et al., 2016; Linden, 2018; Niemiec & Ryan, 2009; Young, 2005), all students got to choose one of the six passion projects to participate in for the duration of headstart. Since then, students have been collaborating in teams to design potential solutions to their project's problem or need. Below you can find some photos and student impressions from the various Passion Projects. We look forward to seeing you at the official Passion Project launch in Term 1 2021, where all of our Passion Projects will be on display.

Student quotes on their first impressions of Year 9 XSPAND and some images:

"Very collaborative and a lot of team work"

"Fun, exciting, interesting"

"It's a breath of fresh air from what I'm used to in year 7 and year 8"

"There are more responsibilities laid upon us"

"Very exciting and lots of teamwork"

"It has made us focus on more collaboration and problem solving"

"A highlight of XSPAND is that we have our own environment"

"Egg Chairs and Making New Friends"

"The highlight has being working in the collaboration space"

"Making our passion project prototypes"

"A program that scaffolds students to be responsible and take ownership of their learning" "Encouraging curiosity through creative learning strategies"

"It's quite interesting and I like the idea of more collaboration in activities"

"I like the building and the collaborative spaces that are available for us to use"

Daniel Green

Year 9 Learning Leader - Clyde North Campus

A friendly reminder from our Police

With restrictions easing, things opening and Christmas approaching, more people are out and about at shopping centres and on public transport. It’s a timely reminder that this can also make us more vulnerable to thefts in public. Phones and other valuable electronics are being targeted by offenders.

Please consider these safety tips to help protect yourself:

Stay alert – Be aware of people around you and keep one ear free when using headphones. Travel in groups if possible and consider purchasing a personal alarm (pictured).
Keep it light – Only take what you need
Hold it tight – Keep hold of valuables and don’t leave them unattended
Out of sight – Keep valuables hidden when not in use

I wish you all a safe and productive week.

Julie Banda

Deputy Principal - Head of Clyde North Campus