From the Principal 

“Smart is not something you are, smart is something you can get”.  Dylan Wiliam

As we approach our end of year examinations, I wanted to encourage all our students with this timely reminder above.  The author of this quote is Dylan Wiliam, renowned in the world of education for his focus on teacher professional development and formative assessment. Wiliam remains insistent that ‘every twelve-year-old child believes, if they want to, they can learn to drive a car and comparatively our real challenge is to get children believing that mathematics is just the same.’  Wiliam argues ‘smart is something you can get’ by framing the conversation around the importance of formative assessment and feedback. He insists too frequently, children interpret feedback as the teacher being nasty or negative whereas more truly it reflects the teacher’s own high standards and their insistence on students reaching grand goals.   

At College we need more honest conversations like described above especially after the past eighteen months.  We want our students to be hungry for feedback! To be hungry for growth and progress. To be hungry for success, in many different forms. If your child needs further support, please reach out.

Today, Year 10 certainly discovered a wealth of futures and pathways that could await them as they were treated to a series of fascinating ‘career’ presentations from all over the world by Old Collegians, including Fiona Gulin (1989) on Events and Marketing; Anna Lazzari (1989) on Medicine; Therese McArthur (2007) on Engineering and Product Development; Dion Love (1990) on Political Science & International Trade; and Matt Champness (2013) and Lachie Brown (1996) on different careers in Agriculture.  I sincerely thank OCA President Mr Hugh Koch for leading this very special event assisted by Mrs Alana Brown, Mrs Ali Churchill and Miss Helen Reiher; that reinforced any career is within their reach! 

Dr Andrew Hirst

Principal