Pastoral Academic Care

Pastoral Academic Care (PAC) Focus

This week’s Pastoral Academic Care focus is: GRATEFUL FOR FEEDBACK

Wellbeing Element:           RELATIONSHIPS + EMPATHY

Character Strength:      HOPE

Wellbeing Reality Activities:   GRATEFUL FOR FEEDBACK

Parent Wellbeing:      Grit is your long-term passion, persistence and self-regulation to accomplish something you set out to do. It is more important than intelligence and natural talent. Describe times you have shown grit to accomplish something. 

Acknowledgement: Angela Duckworth

Learning how to give and receive feedback is an essential lifelong skill for students to develop. They don’t know what they don’t know and developmental feedback enables them to consider other perspectives. Quality feedback builds social connectedness by others feeling they matter, and broadens and builds students’ engagement with others and themselves. When giving or receiving feedback, students are forced to slow down their thinking, to be in the moment and think hard to consider, compare, evaluate and analyse what is being said. Positive learning and teaching communities rely on feedback to build open, trusting and respectful communication lines, which in turn strengthen the wellbeing of everyone. The key is to welcome feedback as positive encouragement rather than negative criticism, even if it is advice we don’t want to hear. The purposes of feedback include listening to ideas and concerns to improve a situation, suggesting alternative approaches and strategies, monitoring attitudes, behaviours and performance. When having conversations, it is apparent when others aren’t listening with their eyes, their ears and their hearts. Is it that they are not interested or that they have never been taught how to mindfully listen? Empathetic and attentive listening needs to be role modelled; respectful relationships rely on it.

Acknowledgement: Ericsson & Anderson

Year 7   

Mrs Kath Czinner

Term 3 already!. The year is flying past.

PAC Teachers look forward to meeting parents next week as we conduct the Student-Led Conferencing. The Year 7 students and PAC teachers have been working hard this week to prepare for this challenge. Initially the process may seem a little daunting for the younger cohort, the gains should be plentiful as the students articulate their learning experiences to their parents/carers and teachers. If you have done so already please book the time with the PAC teachers. 

This week I met with the Year 7 SRC class leaders. Students were able to share their responses to the following questions.

What is going well for their PAC class? What isn’t going well for their PAC class?

What areas can be improved upon? What can we look forward to? 

The reflections and responses were honest and genuine. Overall the students felt that they were a happy group who are working well as a team. At times there are periods of exuberance where the class need to contain themselves and ensure that they are concentrating on the set tasks. The leaders also reflected on the need to act as positive role models and to encourage their peers where possible. As a group we are looking at organising a special time where we can interact with and get to know students beyond our PAC classes and primary schools. 

Please feel free to contact me if you have any concerns. 

Kath Czinner (on behalf of the entire Year 7 PAC team)

Year 8 

Mrs Katie Biddle

Welcome back to Term 3! I trust that you had a restful and refreshing holiday and maybe even a change of scenery!?  I know I enjoyed ducking away to get some sea air !

The PAC focus is currently positive relationships and empathy. Year 8 are focusing on understanding what empathy is and how we can show this in our actions. This involves connecting with others in a positive way and can also mean adjusting our behaviour to support others and inform our behaviour choices. Reflecting on the impact of our behaviour on others is a key part of this and it can sometimes be the most difficult to comprehend.

Student led conferences are next week. We have been busy reviewing our work and identifying the work that we are most proud of and some tasks that we find challenging. Some of us are a little nervous about showing you this, but I would like to stress the importance of this process for our confidence and our learning growth. Students have been practising the forum style that we will use and have worked hard with the PAC teachers to develop skills and confidence for this. Please book in a meeting time for this as soon as possible.  If you have any questions about this process please contact your child’s PAC teacher. We value the input of students and parents and teachers in this process of reflection, support and goal setting and we are looking forward to seeing you soon!

Mrs Katie Biddle

Year 10

Mr Peter McLeish

It’s Week 2, Term 3 and we are straight into it. Student Led Conferences have been conducted this week, in person and via Zoom, and there has been some very positive feedback from students, parents and PAC teachers. If you did not take advantage of the opportunity to attend one of these conferences, it is not too late. Just email one of your child’s PAC teachers and organise a convenient time to come in or, even better, to participate via a Zoom session. It is an important part of your child’s education to be able to present, to you, work samples from the subject areas in which they are doing well and those areas which require a little extra effort.

Now is the time to be talking with your child about their subjects for next year. It is imperative that they choose subjects in which they believe they will achieve their best. They should not be selecting subjects just because their best mates are doing it. With this in mind, Subject Selection night is a must for both students and parents to attend.

Important upcoming dates to be aware of include:

Monday 3 August - 6:00pm - 7:00pm - Subject Selection night briefing via Zoom.

Here is the link:

https://armcatholic.zoom.us/j/97881716232

Monday 10 August - Real Talk - 6:30pm - 8:00pm (Parents and Caregivers Session)

(Getting REAL with Teenagers about the Tough Topics)

This is will be run via a Zoom session and the link is: 

https://armcatholic.zoom.us/j/96763368255

Topics to be covered in this talk include:

• Current culture and what’s impacting our teens
• What do you need to know about Social Media?
• How is Pornography effecting individuals, relationships and society
• What does it mean to Safeguard your children?
• Tips for having important conversations with your children
• Equipping the next generation to make healthy relationship decisions

Congratulations to Jacob and Imogen who both received Year Leaders’ Awards this week and to Abby, Brydie and Grace who qualified for Principal’s Awards at the end of last term. Well done!

As you can see, the fun never ends here at O’Connor and the Focus is always on Learning. Stay safe until next time.

Peter McLeish (on behalf of the entire Year 10 PAC team)

Year 11

Mr Mark Fulloon

Welcome back to Term 3, Year 11 and the last official term before they start their HSC work. As always this is likely to be a very busy term with a lot of academic work to be completed including Year 11 exams towards the end of this term. As always it is a good time to make sure that students are completing their work to a high standard and really giving themselves time to complete all classwork as necessary to attain their desired results in chosen courses. 

It is also a time to be kind to yourself and one another, please keep an eye out for one another. Remember to keep active, eat and sleep well and do your best to stay safe. 2020 has already presented challenges but with hard work and optimism you will overcome challenges by putting your best foot forward.

Mark Fulloon (on behalf of the Year 11 PAC team).

Year 12

Mrs Vicki Channon

We are really getting to the pointy end of the stick now, with only 2 weeks to go before the Trial HSC Exams commence.  Students do not attend lessons during this 2 week block, however, teachers may arrange some time to allow for the completion of major projects. These next couple of weeks are so important, as it is a time to consolidate knowledge of the course content by refining study notes, revising in a way that works for the individual and completing past papers. Getting feedback will also benefit greatly. 

The weeks after the exams are even more important, as valuable feedback will be provided from the teachers and the students can refine their knowledge, understanding and responses to HSC type questions. Many marks have been gained during this valuable block of time so it is important to make every effort and attempt to work towards this goal and continue to use this time wisely. 

The PAC period last Friday was a very valuable learning experience for the students. They were given a copy of their learning goal that they set earlier this year. They were asked to re-evaluate it and make changes if necessary. They were then asked to make predictions as to what band they were aiming for in each of their subjects. Ms Menz encouraged them to aim high, but also to be realistic in their predictions. They then had to write down ‘how’ they would move their learning forward in each of their subjects. This information has been shared with staff in order for them to assist and help our students wherever possible to achieve their goals. When students open up that email to check their results on 18th December, we are all hoping that they can be very proud of their efforts along with knowing that they gave it their best effort. 

2020 will be a year to remember for many reasons and photo day was no exception. The Year 12 group photo took place in the Quad, with social distancing rules applied. Students then had photos in their PAC classes. 

A letter was emailed to parents/carers and students on key dates that are coming up. Some venues are still to be confirmed due to the changing nature of COVID - 19. Please put these dates into your diary or calendar.

It is important at this stage that students do not lose focus on the end goal. We are so close. It has been tough, but we are all in this together, and we will get through to the other side. If students need help, please reach out so that we can assist in any way that we can. Keep chipping away and we will get there. :)

Vicki Channon (on behalf of Year 12 PAC Team)

Mrs Channon (on behalf of the entire Year 12 PAC team).