Principal's Report

Announcement

Resilient Youth Australia define resilience as the ability to draw upon the strengths within yourself and around you to flexibly respond to life while remaining true to yourself and creating positive relationships with others. Resilience enables people to thrive and take on all that life has to offer, including the inevitable challenges.

Resilience is about knowing strengths and calling on them when needed. By building resilience in young people we are empowering them to be able to learn from their mistakes and to understand that failing is okay - it's just a part of the learning journey. This is why the College has just signed a memorandum of understanding with Resilient Youth Australia for a four year period.

The College has been working with Andrew Fuller, a leading child and adolescent Psychologist, to develop a project that will see a range of strategies and programs introduced for staff, parents and most importantly students.

The first step for the College is to ascertain where we are sitting as a community with regards to our level of resilience. Over the next few weeks, all students will be asked to complete a survey during pastoral care in Home Group. The anonymous data will form the base line for the work we undertake with Resilient Youth Australia. Resilient Youth takes a data-based approach to measuring and building resilience, working closely with young people, schools and communities to do the same. At the same time in 2018 we will undertake the same data collection again to ascertain if the programs and strategies introduced following the first survey results are making a difference.

The data and insights gained from the 2017 survey will inform our practice. Our 2018 professional development program will focus on practical engagement strategies that every teacher can utilise in the classroom. The most salient influence on the achievement levels of students in a school is the individual teacher with the responsibility for teaching that student. The Resilience Survey is a powerful tool for initiating directed, purposeful conversations with young people themselves as well as with teachers and parents, leading to better informed and practical learning improvement plans.

The College is committed to the development of each student and to supporting families and parents in their role as the primary educators of their children. As a community, working collaboratively, we can help each other create strong, resilient young people, school and community. Resilient Youth Australia, like the College and parents are committed to measurably improving the resilience of young people. Intentional resilience building is essential for creating a world where all young people thrive. This is why Catholic Regional College Sydenham is working with Dr Andrew Fuller and Resilient Youth Australia.

Welcome

Over the past two weeks, Father Maurie Cooney has visited the College several times. On behalf of the College community I take this opportunity to welcome Maurie as Parish Priest of Sacred Heart in St Albans and Emmaus Sydenham as well as Canonical Administrator for Catholic Regional College Sydenham. We look forward to the opportunity of a Mass with Father at the upcoming Cluster Feast Day and to working closely in the future. Welcome to the community.