Campus Principal Report
Acacia Campus
The weird, topsy turvy world continues to throw challenges our way. The school, like the state, has had to flip into lockdown mode more times than anybody would be happy with. The one clear constant in this is the ability of staff and students to adapt, take up the challenges and make the best of the situation. I am so proud of the way we all make the change.
I would like to thank the staff for their great work in maintaining our teaching and learning program and adapting face to face to the remote platform whilst understanding that everyone on the other end of their lessons has their own challenges. I would also like to acknowledge the difficulty many staff have in juggling their own children’s home-schooling needs with the difficult process of delivering online classes.
The senior school has done a fantastic job with rearranging practice exams, getting them out to the students, every student getting an individualised pack for their use and a little care pack. They have also had to rearrange and parallel plan all end of year activities that normally go with the students graduating. Course counselling was done incredibly efficiently with parent’s joining students in individual Webex meetings with their counsellor.
The Junior School has had several online activities designed to engage the students in some social and wellbeing type activities. The background work ensuring learning continues and students progress through their tasks has been a real team effort. Our reach out to students in difficult times remains a focus of the Junior school. We have had House Activities being run by Mr Berenyi and Mr Martin as well as PE and Health week competitions for all students organised by Mr Clark and Mr Rae.
The Wellbeing Team has organised RUOK! day online activities as well as class group and onsite sessions. Wear it Purple day also was celebrated in a number of different ways across the year levels. Their care for both our onsite and remote students has been outstanding. The completion of the individual counselling of students at the year 12 level has been completed, again online and efficient, ensuring no one misses out.
Our onsite students have continued their studies under the watchful eye of Ms Riley who has been doing a sterling job maintaining the interest levels and enthusiasm of the students. Thank you to all our staff volunteers who have attended onsite to provide supervision, we would not have been able to maintain our onsite availability for students without their support.
The environment of the school continues to improve with small works being done by our maintenance team and it will look fantastic for the return of students, hopefully soon. Spring has sprung and the plants look great with the cherry blossoms near the wellbeing centre being a standout.
We have framed up some of the Acacia winners of the ‘Artist of the Week’ and they now proudly hang in the front office and display the talents of our students to all our visitors. It has made the front reception area a permanent reminder of the abilities of our students. Well done on the quality of your work.
I encourage everybody to take time for themselves and their families over the holidays and I look forward to seeing you, in person, in term four.
Richard Hastings - Campus Principal
Banksia Campus
Year 7
All of our students continue to display positive approaches to their learning during the current lockdown period. They have persisted in joining class WebEx sessions and engaging in their lessons. The Year 7 Making Connections “Escape Room” Challenge fostered competitive communication and critical thinking skills. We recently sent out roughly 40 “Congratulations” letters to students who have thrived and worked productively throughout the remote learning period.
Year 8
248 Green comments have been made on students since Remote Learning 6.0 began. That's roughly 82 positive comments a week! 36 Congratulations letters sent this week based on amazing work during remote learning. Attendance is the best bit - 127/142 of students have attendance of 80% or higher. 26 of them have attended every class since remote learning began. I cannot tell you how proud I am of our Year 8 family!
Year 8 Student Kahoots are a hit, and we are seeing increasing numbers of participants every week.
Year 9
Students have been in the kitchen during remote learning, cooking lunches and dinners as part of their Geography assessment, tracking food ingredients and where they come from around the world. Year 9 students have responded well to this task. Course counselling was extremely beneficial for the Year 9 students, the staff who interviewed them commented on their professionalism and engagement with their future studies. I’m continually impressed with the resilience demonstrated by Year 9 students who continue to go in and out of remote learning with seemingly relative ease. I am very proud of them all.
Year 10
Course Counselling – The feedback gained from our recent Year 10 into 11 course counselling sessions via WebEx has been terrific! All students were required to log into their course counsellors WebEx with a parent/guardian and select their 2022 Year 11 course. This process was helped by students completing a Google Form prior to the session to generate their ideas etc. Almost all students connected, and the course counsellor feedback indicated that the students generally had a very good idea of what they wanted to select. This was terrific feedback considering all the lead up information, preparation and work was completed entirely remote through Pathways lessons. Pathways – In order to help our students within the current situation, I have managed to arrange a series of online webinars for Year 10 students to complete across the College – for free. Optus Digital Thumbprint aims to educate students about the online world, safety and the law. Our first 2 webinars selected are titled “Cyberbullying and Respectful Relationships”, and “Digital Balance”. The digital balance webinar will have students examine their own online habits and explore how restoring and maintaining a balance between the online and offline spaces can support them in their lives.
Year 11
The Year 11 students had a fantastic opportunity to participate in the online Road safety program – Steer Right. Due to remote learning RoadSafe developed an alternative program to our usual Fit 2 Drive program designed to increase students understanding of decision making and risk assessment as young road users.
A team of year 11’s represented Banksia campus in the Model UN program - having the opportunity to act as delegates stepping into the shoes of UN ambassadors from countries around the world while discuss contentious global issues. The aim of the event was for students to find the best possible solution through dialogue, negotiation and multilateral diplomacy.
Year 12
VTAC appointments have been highly successful with our newly appointed CEAV course counsellors finishing next week@ Banksia campus.
Senior School teachers have moved their assessments remotely to maintain continuity of learning with assessments locked in for the remainder of the year-this has allowed students to forward plan coursework and study schedules.
Patrick Boyd - Campus Principal