Assistant Principals' Report

Term 3 in Review: Where are we Now and What's Next?

Term 3 has been such a productive time for our staff and students at the College.  

From the outset, we were concerned about the mental health of our students.  We listened to the overwhelming feedback from families and students and kept in place our structured, timetabled day, where we checked in with our students and maintained high expectations of them academically in every class. 

Research tells us that routine is critical in the maintenance of good mental health, and high expectations are also an important protective factor.  We wished to draw on all our strategies to bolster your children against the many risk factors which exist in our current situation.  

Many of the DiSCovery lessons focussed on further coping strategies and we have appreciated the feedback from parents that this is useful. This has gone hand-in-hand with ongoing reviews of our curriculum programs and we have made continual changes to make them relevant and achievable.

We know that there is no perfect fit for every child or family (or staff member!), so we have aimed to remain responsive to emerging needs.  

A product of this is our #DSCRecharge Day which is coming up on September 9 for Middle School students and September 16 for Senior School students.  This day is for young people to do something other than be on their device!  We are also being flexible in our lesson delivery in many classes on Wednesday afternoons (Period 4) to allow our community to take a breath and catch up if needed (where the learning program permits it) during the remaining weeks of Term 3. 

We loved seeing record numbers of students lead their parents and teachers in discussions about their progress in online Student-Led Conferences.  The format allowed many more parents to attend a greater number of conferences in an efficient manner.  We know these are not comprehensive discussions about your child, as time does not permit this.  We rely on the use of Compass every day to notify parents, students and our colleagues of important information.  Often, we make contact with you through this medium to make sure there are no surprises when it comes to reporting and conference periods.  

On Compass, you can see your child’s attendance, the work they have submitted, the comments teachers made about how your child has performed and how they could improve. We aim to have a partnership with students, families and educators and welcome a joint approach to your child’s progress. 

We are about to shift our focus to ‘transitions’ as we look forward to Term 4.  Our students will be looking to the next step in their education and we aim to make it as comfortable and purposeful as possible. This will involve hundreds of personal meetings with children and their families.  We rely on your open communication with us so we can get it right for your child.

Thank you for your ongoing support; the staff are working tirelessly because we all care deeply for your child.

Gina Carroll

Assistant Principal

Student Led Conferences: Feedback form

Thank you to students, parents, carers, teachers and interpreters for the amazing way you adapted to this new way of connecting and reflecting on learning this year.

I certainly enjoyed seeing cameras on and the opportunity to discuss progress while working together to plan for some great end of year results.

There were benefits and downfalls of holding conferences in this manner. 

Survey Link

Please take a few minutes to complete the below survey, even if you were unable to make a booking. Your responses will help shape the nature of SLCs in the future.

Please click here to complete SLC Feedback Survey.

Gary Rule

Assistant Principal

Remote Learning Survey: Feedback Form

Our teachers and school staff have been working hard to adapt to the changing environment for learning this year. There have been many challenges, but many positive outcomes too: the changed expectations means many students are demonstrating improved organisational skills, increasing independence and responsibility, more confident use of ICT and a greater willingness to seek teacher feedback and support because they can do so in a less visible way thanks to the technology.

Now, we would like to hear from you as parents and carers about your experience of how things are going. 

Survey Link

Please click on this link to provide your feedback and input.

Elisha Sadikay

Acting Assistant Principal