From the Principal

Feedback To Feed Forward

“If parents want to give their children a gift, the best thing they can do is to teach their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning.”

-  Carol Dweck

It is a busy time of term for students and teachers with assessment, marking and reporting. There is always a summative element of assessing progress to date but more importantly it is about formation - ‘where to next’. The feedback given to students is integral to providing the platform to enable student learning to occur in the future – feedback to feed forward!

For a small minority of students learning seems to come comparatively easily. However, in most instances learning comes through conscientious and sustained effort. I recall listening to an interview with the famous cricketing twins, Steve and Mark Waugh. Both were magnificent batsmen with Steve renowned for his grit and determination and Mark for his natural talent and flair. However, the brothers were quick to point out that such a summary was far too simplistic. Mark did work hard and Steve had plenty of talent. It is rare for success in any field to be totally dependent on talent or ability.

A love of learning and an appetite for hard work is an excellent recipe for educational success and a wonderful motto for life in general. I am very appreciative of the students, staff and parents taking the time to respond to our current survey instrument.  The feedback will be invaluable to our future planning.

ID QUOD VOLO

Several year levels are currently conducting Retreats. The timing is appropriate as we negotiate a busy end of semester. Mr Tony Yates, Loyola House Coordinator, led our staff in prayer this week.

Before the prayer Mr Yates provided the following excellent reflection:

“The Year 11s are out for Id Quod Volo today. Id Quod Volo is Latin for “that which I desire” and the focus of the day is leadership.

The House Coordinators have designed a unique experience for the students in their Houses but all have the theme of leadership deeply embedded into the day’s activities.

We hear much about leadership and one of the key messages to the Year 11s is that they are all leaders within this community.

We are using two great quotes that describe leadership:

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader”.

-  John Quincy Adams (6th President of the US)

“The challenge of leadership is to be

strong, but not rude;

kind, but not weak;

bold, but not a bully;

thoughtful, but not lazy;

humble, but not timid;

proud, but not arrogant;

have humour, but without folly”.

-  Jim Rohn (Entrepreneur and motivational speaker)

I encourage family conversation on the Retreat experience. The aim is to develop a great sense of awareness of self, others and the presence of God.

Survey Responses

Our consulting survey company has advised that we have received responses from 226 families. Many thanks to our parents for taking the time to provide important data for the College. A reminder that the survey will close on Friday 23 June and we encourage other families to respond.

Together, let us seek justice.

Yours sincerely

Robert Henderson

Principal