Leader of Pedagogy

Dear Students, Parents, Guardians and Carers,

Term 3 is well underway and students are working hard at improving and building on the skills they have established throughout Semester One. Parent/Teacher Conferences took place on Wednesday 9th August. These were the last of the formal conferences for 2023 and we hope that all attendees found them valuable. 

If Parents, Guardians and Carers have not had the opportunity to access the Cycle 3 Progress Reports, I encourage you to log onto Compass and view them when you can. More importantly, Parents, Guardians and Carers may want to look back at the Cycle 1 and 2 Reports to gage the progress students have made. If there have been any improvements on the student’s behalf, these should be acknowledged and celebrated. There will be another cycle of progress reports published in the last week of Term 3 on Monday 11th September. These will provide an opportunity for students to reflect and set some goals heading into the September holiday break.

When teachers and students arrive to the end of Term 3 there is a great sigh of relief. It is a long term with no public holidays, folios have been submitted and most final SACs have been completed (for Year 12s), but that does not mean that it is time to become complacent.

For many Year 12s, they will be starting to prepare for their exams. For Year 11 students, the time is now to step up your work output to put you in a good position to approach Year 12 with the skillset required to achieve personal success in your subjects in 2023.

Complacency is a human trait that we all succumb to at times in our lives. Complacency means that we are comfortable, which is not always a bad thing, but it can have detrimental effects on our ability to grow. Many big companies rely on our innate human desire to be complacent. They will not go out of their way to help you get the best deal on your home loan or mobile plan. Instead, their profits come from our own comfort zone and lack of initiative to get something better for ourselves. If you take the time to call and negotiate with these companies you will find out that you can get a cheaper rate, but it takes some work and effort on our behalf. The same applies to our school and work lives.

Remember the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year? You came to school excited, committed and motivated. Many of you are still working to achieve those goals, but do not let the fire in your belly peter out into a puff of smoke. The major goals you set yourself at the start of 2023 can only be achieved by continual work and practice, through drive and ambition. Handing in all your SACs and having your coursework up to date is only half the battle. They are the pieces to the puzzle that you are hoping to complete by the end of this year. Take a breath, but please make sure that you continually reflect on your goals and make the appropriate adjustments where needed.

Complacency often reveals itself in the way you are approaching your studies. It is possible that you are not working with same “edge” you had at the start of 2023. You might not perceive any signs or warnings immediately if you are becoming complacent. In fact, you might be feeling great, relaxed and comfortable. These feelings are sure signs that complacency has set in.

Take some time for yourself and remember that progress is incremental. Little steps forward often have a big pay-off at the end. At Swinburne Senior, we believe that every student has the potential to grow and develop their capabilities. It’s just that sometimes growth can be challenging and hard. Please continue to communicate with your teachers and mentor about what you need to move to the next stage with your learning.

Joel Guye

Leader of Pedagogy