Pastoral Academic Care

Self Belief - PAC Focus

Wellbeing Reality: Senior – RESILIENT SELF-BELIEF

Wellbeing Element: POSITIVE EMOTION + GRATITUDE

Character Strength: PERSPECTIVE

Strengths Booster: STRENGTHS THINKING

Wellbeing Reality Activities:  RESILIENT SELF-BELIEF 

Parent Wellbeing: One component of Self Determination Theory (SDT) is competence, the feeling you have the skills to master something. Describe a time you have felt competent and how it motivated you. 

 

A key social-emotional resilience skill, which students need to negotiate the challenges of adolescence and schooling, is a healthy sense of self-belief in their self-worth as a person. This begins with accepting all the aspects which make up who they are as a person, both those they like and those they don’t like. Also, accepting that experiencing the full range of emotions is perfectly normal. To support these things, they can mindfully focus on using their top strengths in their every thought, word and action. Effective ways to develop self-acceptance and self-belief in themselves include: • every day reflecting on and writing down three good things they are grateful for that happened, why they happened and how they can make them happen again • every morning thinking of the three things they are most looking forward today • looking for opportunities to do little acts of kindness to do good to feel good • striving to bring out the best in others which will bring out the best in themselves Conversations at home and at school about these things will enable them to develop as young citizens with spirit and confidence. Having self-doubts is perfectly natural, cultivating self-acceptance and self-belief will overcome them.          Acknowledgement: Bandura & Rotter

Year 7

Mrs Kath Czinner

The Year 7 group have maintained their enthusiasm and willingness to take on new challenges. Next week is Camp and it will be in itself a great challenge. Our focus at camp will be for students to reach out and to be open to meeting new friends. Activity groups and lodging groups have been organised with a blend of people from all classes. This will help the group to strengthen the bonds between each other. As we forge new friendships, sometimes it may feel odd or uncomfortable among the friends we have had for years. We need to allow each other to be free to meet new people without discontent. Building positive relationships with whom we work is an important life skill. The students are getting very excited about the camp. 

 

Last week I along with Mrs Bell and Mr Harper attended a ‘Peaceful kids’ workshop. It provided us with an opportunity to explore the importance of mindfulness. The aim of the training was to learn positive psychology strategies that will lessen anxiety and stress and increase resilience in students. We aim to gradually introduce some ideas into our teaching practices and daily routines.

 

Congratulations to our SRC/Class leaders who were presented to the school last Friday. Thank you to the large group of students who put up their hand to trial for these positions.

 

Welcome back to Mr James Russell. We will work together on the leadership of the Year 7 PAC group. Please feel free to contact either of us if required. 

Year 8

Mrs Katie Biddle

Congratulations to our SRC representatives, these students received their badges last week and we wish you well in your positions!

 

Congratulations to students who have been achieving their learning goals. The following students received a commendation at our year assembly on Monday.

 

PHOTO: The following students represented our school at the Armidale Show last week. We are very proud of your achievements.

 

 

Our focus on gratitude has been gathering momentum and I am impressed to hear students increasingly being able to vocalise this.

    

Reminders:

  • Please only wear your sports uniform on days that you have practical sport lessons.
  • Remember to bring your device and make sure it is charged.
  • Remember to speak kindly to others.

GALLERY: Year 8 working hard on their writing skills in literacy.

Year 9

Mr Lloyd Honnery

Let’s take a moment this week to celebrate Year 9's contribution to the O’Connor school community. Well done to all of the students who have stepped up to be the voice of their peers in the Student Representative Council. I am confident your help giving a voice to the needs of the rest of Year 9 will help shape the year to be Better!

 

Congratulations to all of the students who represented O'Connor at the annual Armidale Show. Jack Daniele took home a colossal ribbon for his fantastic work. As always, it is heartening to see so many Year 9 students putting their best foot forward and being better in the school community. 

 

A reminder that Year 9 camp is quickly approaching and payments should be finalised ASAP. Payments can still be made in person at the school anytime. I will be sending home a note this week for you to outline any diet or swimming safety requirements. Please return notes ASAP so we can finalise what will undoubtedly be a fantastic week. If you have other questions about camp, whether it be about payments or other requirements, you can contact me at any time. 

Year 10

Mr Peter McLeish

We are more than half way through the Term and the vast majority of students are doing the right thing and working hard every single day in order to move their learning forward. They are also concentrating on showing respect to themselves, their friends, their families, their community and their planet. It is especially important for our students to show respect to their teachers and some improvement is still required by a tiny proportion the cohort in this area. 

The first round of Minimum Standards Practise has been postponed from this week to next Wednesday the 18th during PAC. It will afford the students an opportunity to see what the procedures will look like. They understand that there will be plenty of chances for them to achieve Minimum Standards prior to graduating at the end of  Year 12.

All students should have received their Work Experience packages by now. Please have the conversation with your child about their intentions in this regard. To avoid disappointment, it is vitally important that they do not leave it until the last minute to organise their work placement. 

This week’s PAC focus is self belief. By believing in yourself as a person who matters, enables you to feel that you can control most situations in your life without help from others. You have confidence in your physical, social, emotional and mental abilities to live a fulfilling life. You can build your internal control by focusing on using your strengths in everything

you do and practise being grateful every day. You are one of a kind, so value yourself.

A huge congratulations to Angus Scrivener, Fletcher Schultz, Kaitlyn Stevenson and Abbee Killen who will represent our Year group on the SRC this year. I feel certain they will do a super job.

Congratulations to Benjamin Jones and Grace Everett who both received Commendation Certificates for excellence in HSIE this week. Keep up the good work and maintain your focus on your learning.

Peter McLeish (On behalf of the Year 10 PAC team)

Year 11

Mr Mark Fulloon

Year 11 are now entering a very busy part of their school term with a range of assessments coming up. It is a timely reminder for Year 11 that they priortise their time for upcoming tasks and making sure their prepared. I would like to think that they are all settling into their new study habits and making sure their organised.

 

 Also a congratulations to our new SRC representatives for Year 11 Ehan Boschoff, Nikolai Tursan d’Espaignet, Eliza Boland, Lilian Roff and Lara Moloney Eliza Boland, Lilian Roff and Lara Moloney. The college looks forward to their new ideas and leadership within the student representative council.

 

Year 11 LYL teams have also been highly visible during morning PAC lessons on Thursday's working with our junior students, from what I have seen they are doing an excellent job becoming role models within the college, well done LYL’s.

Year 12

Mrs Vicki Channon

A very successful senior success evening was held on Monday 10th march in the library.  The Year 12 Senior Success Night took place on on Monday in the Library Learning Centre. Year 12 students and their parents and carers learnt more about Pastoral Academic Care for Year 12, Student Wellbeing (Mr Daryl Harper) and participated in a Senior Success Workshop (Mrs Glenda Lemon). The Senior Success Workshop looked at areas such as making the most of your diary for planning, back up plans if things go wrong along with who to contact and a discussion about self-care.  Thank you to everyone who came along.

PHOTO: Year 12 Senior Success Night at the Library Learning Centre

 

The students in Year 12 have been working hard on their learning. This is evident in the manner in which they are utilising their study periods in the Library Learning Centre and the way in which they are engaging in the learning conversations in the classroom, and with their PAC teachers and mentors. It is imperative that study periods are being used to their maximum efficiency at all times. Please talk to your PAC teacher or your mentor if you are struggling to use this time wisely or feel that you are in a quandary at times. 

 

During one of the recent Friday PAC periods, Year 12 were given a choice from a range of workshops in which to attend. The workshops were RUNFAR, folio preparation - tips, managing stress, individual study and Maths tips for exam questions. These, on the whole were very successful and after completing a quick survey, the majority of students are keen to follow this idea again. I will use the feedback given to try and include some other ideas for the workshops. Thank you to all the students who provided very thoughtful feedback. 

 

Many of our Year 12 students are achieving great things in the academic, sporting, and cultural fields. Please continue this outstanding effort and keep being the best person you can be. 

 

A pool party and BBQ lunch has been organised for all Year 12 students at the Armidale Aquatic Centre on Friday 20th March (if the weather is fine). An alternate date is the following Friday, 27th March. This is in the common study, period 5.  This is a really good opportunity for the cohort to come together in a very informal and relaxed setting, so I do encourage as many students as possible to come along, even if it is just for a short time and to have some lunch as a group.

 

The Autumn Festival is fast approaching and it is another event that Year 12 are encouraged to fully participate in. The Campus to City Canter is always a fun start to the day. Setting up the float is very much the responsibility of Year 12, so start thinking of ideas to make it amazing. Going on the float is another way that you can join in the fun. Then there is the assisting of packing up after the float. As you can see there are many ways in which you can be part of this day and make O’Connor shine.