Principal's Report

Dear Parents and Carers

I recently read ‘The New Work Order -  Ensuring young Australians have skills and experience for the jobs of the future, not the past’ published by the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) in 2017. I found some of the statistics particularly interesting when we look at the world we live in now and will live in into the future. The three key areas that are affecting the way we work are automation, globalisation and collaboration. The second infographic shows how these have changed our world over the past 25 years.

These changes in our world should and do impact on what we do in education. Our schools were set up in a very different era to the one we live in now. The skills and dispositions needed to survive and thrive in our world are critical and creative thinking, collaboration and communication. Our schools need to change to meet the different needs of our young people. 

At O’Connor, we are working together to meet the needs of our students in their present and future world with innovations including: the integration of technology across the curriculum; the move to collaborative learning spaces with agile furniture to meet the needs of a diverse range of learners; differentiated instruction to enrich and extend the learning experience; and Student-Led Conferencing enhances student ownership and voice in their learning. 

Real Talk

This week Real Talk presented to Parents and Year 7 and 9 students. When I look at the world our students are in with the access to pornography and the images that are shared, I must say I was very disappointed at the low turnout of parents at the Parent and Carer Night. I am often asked what can we do about this problem and when we have fantastic presenters who share information in a thoughtful and frank manner, I am surprised that more parents did not take up the opportunity to learn more about how to safeguard our children in this hypersexual digital world. I know that people will say, it was cold, we were busy … but I would say what about protecting our children? Thank you to the parents who did attend. They were presented with some excellent ways to talk to our children about the issue of pornography in our increasingly digitised lives. The student days were well received by both Year 7 and 9 students and gave the students an opportunity to learn more about staying safe online and having a strong sense of self. 

HSC Exams Commence

Good luck to our Year 12 students who will commence their HSC exams this term:

Our Dance students, Grace Heagney, Taryn Ramage and Breanna Caldwell have their performance exam on Friday 23rd August. We wish them the best and know that their hard work will pay. Students studying Music and Languages will have performance and speaking exams in September. Many of our students are also completing major works including in Design and Technology, English Extension 2, Visual Arts and Music. 

Good luck to all Year 12 students who commence their trial exams on Monday. These exams form a major component of the school based assessment mark. I know their hard work and focus on their learning will yield quality feedback in preparation for their final exams in October and November.

Satisfaction Surveys

An annual satisfaction survey of parents, students and staff will be conducted on behalf of all Catholic schools in the Diocese this term. The surveys are designed to gather feedback from parents, staff and students about our school and will be used to inform school improvement. Responses are confidential and individuals can not be identified.

The surveys will be launched via email on 12 August and close on 23 August 2019 using the email addresses supplied to the school. If you do not receive an email with a link to the survey, you can access and complete the survey at the following link.

https://www.research.net/r/OConnorCCPARENT2019

What new learning will you undertake this week?

Thank you

Regina Menz