今日吃瓜

Our Vision for Learning, Shine through Discovery – Let your light shine (Matthew 5:16)聽challenges our learners to strive for personal excellence. Each student will encounter difficulty, success, failure and achievement. Adopting a growth mindset supports children to accept challenges as opportunities, failing as learning and to value perseverance and determination. By changing our language to support growth instead of grades, and encouraging children to believe they can improve supports resilient, engaged learners. We are honoured to have Dr Justin Coulson work with Newman families on themes of respectful relationships and resilience. I look forward to seeing many families on Monday 25 March.

BUILDING RESILIENT AND RESPECTFUL RELATIONSHIPS PARENT SESSIONS

9 Ways to a Resilient Child (content is most suited for Early Childhood parents)

Parents will learn the psychological secrets that build their child鈥檚 sense of identity, strengths and growth mindset in order to perform better, be happier and build resilience. 9 Ways to a Resilient Child is based on Dr Justin Coulson鈥檚 best-selling book and shows parents how to help their children cope powerfully and positively with the challenges that life throws at them.
When: Monday 25 March, 9.00am 鈥� 10.30am
Where: Marist Auditorium
RSVP: jo.dunn@newman.wa.edu.au

Respectful Relationships; Love at Home 鈥� How to get along with your kids and help them get along with you (and their siblings)

We all say we get along just fine at home鈥� but there are those uncomfortable niggles. There鈥檚 the eye-rolling, the disrespect, the lack of motivation to help out, and the sibling warfare. If we鈥檙e honest, most adults have been known to shout a bit too, and let鈥檚 face it, we don鈥檛 always listen that well to our kids. Conflict and friction at home cause more trouble than we need, and interfere with everyone鈥檚 wellbeing. Wouldn鈥檛 it be great if there were some simple, practical things we could do to help everyone get along better 鈥� starting right now? Parents will learn the best 鈥榬elationship rules鈥� for a happier family so home life really does feel loving鈥� most of the time! The presentation will be followed by a Question and Answer session.
When: Monday 25 March, 7.00pm 鈥� 8.30pm
Where: Marist Auditorium
RSVP: jo.dunn@newman.wa.edu.au

Updated ICT Policy

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) includes any electronic device or application used to communicate, create, disseminate, store or manage information such as text, images, audio or video.
Students have the right to learn in a safe environment, including when they have access to ICT to enhance their learning. 今日吃瓜 is committed to the responsible and educational use of ICT and to the protection of students by providing secure access to these services as part of their learning experience.

The College has completed a period of evaluation on the effectiveness of its ICT policy. While this process involved exploring the current use of ICT at the College, it also involved working with other schools in the Metropolitan area as well as direction from Catholic Education Western Australia. The updated policy is now available for parents, staff and students via the College website.聽

Wellbeing and Counselling Team

The College is pleased to announce our newly formed Wellbeing and Counselling Team. The Wellbeing and Counselling team supports teachers, students and families from Kindy to Year 12. Mr Alan Fitzpatrick Deputy Principal Wellbeing Secondary, and Mitch Bristow Head of Primary lead the team which consists of:

• Amber Newsome, Psychologist
• Jessica Bouquet, Counsellor
• Siobhan Quirke, Counsellor and
• Caryl Gioia, Social Worker

Accessing support from this team is done via Leaders of Wellbeing. Wellbeing programs can be accessed via the College website.

Program details and support materials from guest speakers will be shared by your child鈥檚 Leader of Wellbeing. Resources available to families and students will be shared and published to the College community via the notices and newsletter.

Student Code of Conduct

Leaders of Wellbeing, supported by Mr Fitzpatrick and Mr Bristow, in collaboration with student leaders, will be developing a Student Code of Conduct which seeks to uphold the same intent as the College Code of Conduct in a way that is meaningful to students. The conduct statements inform our Respect framework which applies to all students. We are committed to ensuring student voice is heard and used to support all relationships between students and staff.

Code of Conduct

A reminder to all families that the can be accessed via the College website. The Code is mandated by Catholic Education Western Australia and the application of the code extends to all staff, students, parents, guardians, caregivers and volunteers.

The Code seeks to value the dignity of every person, foster positive relationships, ensuring confidentiality and accountability and supports professional boundaries. Events held during school hours AND outside of school hours that are associated with the College are also supported by the Code of Conduct. Any perceived breaches of the Code can be discussed with any member of the Senior Leadership Team. We thank you in advance for your understanding and support of how we strive to partner positively with one another.

鈥淚f a school adopts a culture of innovation, then deeper learning is a possibility, plain and simple鈥� [NMC Horizon Report 2017 K-12 edition]

The challenge to equip our students to live in this chaotic and rapidly changing world is the optimum ambition for any school that prioritises an improvement agenda. Leading and managing this vision needs to be developed in a way that builds staff capacity and confidence; engages student agency; and invites parent, industry and community input. Put simply, it needs be authentic where the foundation of literacy and numeracy underpins the critical thinking, innovations and creativity that we seek of our learning environment. The movement of schools is towards project-based learning, challenge-based learning, and competency-based learning; all of these pedagogical trends are in service of creating richer and more hands-on, real-world experiences for students. As schools prioritize active learning over rote learning, students are being viewed in a new light. At our College we have undertaken a major restructure of our learning framework through the development of our Vision for Learning, Shine through Discovery – Let your light shine (Matthew 5:16). Our pedagogical framework (Challenge, Collaborate, Create and Celebrate) now informs and guides teaching practice across the College.

The following is a summary of what has emerged as a result of the development, actioning and now the sustaining of our Vision for Learning:

• A strategic approach to staff professional learning
• Focus on growing innovative cultures for school change
• Engaging student voice in their learning
• Parent collaboration and engagement
• Systematic delivery of curriculum
• New contemporary learning spaces reflective of pedagogical pillars
• Sustaining commitment and energy of whole school community
• Ongoing leadership and management of #shinethroughdiscovery
• Captivating creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship

To optimise future schooling for our students, our College will continue to seek to be proactively and consistently scanning a wide variety of horizons, searching for enablers and alerts to barriers. In developing a contemporary learning experience for our students, we are committed to providing staff with professional learning that will equip them with the relevant skills required. An example of this is the partnership we have formed with Republic Polytechnic in Singapore to provide a learning immersion experience where participants will be introduced to the concept of scaffolding, inquiry path, closure and an overview of holistic assessment in Problem Based Learning (PBL) that will support students鈥� learning. Later in the year, selected students will also have the opportunity to go to Singapore for a learning immersion.

Perhaps the greatest challenge for schools, moreover society, is the adoption of technology as the dominate paradigm for engagement. We oscillate between varying arguments, being on-screen time for our students and their exposure to the ills that come with the use of technology. Our reality though is that we must prepare our teachers, students, parents/guardians and our community for the future and, ultimately, the imperative of technology in our civic, social and human domains of engagement.

To this end, NMC Horizon Report 2017 K-12 edition outlines the following challenges facing schools:聽

• Improving Digital Literacy. To use technology productively and enable intuitive adaptation to new contexts and co-creation of content with others, students must acquire a deep understanding of the digital environment. Schools are charged with developing students鈥� digital citizenship, ensuring mastery of responsible and appropriate technology use, including online etiquette and digital rights and responsibilities in blended and online learning settings.
• Rethinking the Roles of Teachers. Teachers are increasingly expected to be adept at a variety of technology-based and other approaches for content delivery, learner support, and assessment. In the technology-enabled classroom, educators are moving beyond dispensing information and assessing students鈥� knowledge, which are tasks that can be increasingly outsourced to machines.
• Teaching Computational Thinking. Teaching computational thinking, synonymous with complex thinking, is still in its ascendancy as definitions continue to evolve and as curricula are built, and it is requiring the development of new forms of pre-service and inservice teacher training to be adequately taught in schools. To succeed in the 21st century, it is essential for young people to learn how to be computational thinkers, defined by the International Society for Technology in Education as the ability for students to 鈥渄evelop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to develop and test solutions.鈥�
• The Achievement Gap. The achievement gap refers to an observed disparity in academic performance among student groups, especially as defined by socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, or gender. This challenge also encompasses geographic inequities in student achievement as well as disparate access to educational opportunities inside and outside school.
• Sustaining Innovation through Leadership Changes. Multiple resources, including funding, time, and personnel, are required to effectively implement the innovative teaching and learning pedagogies highlighted throughout this report. Disruption to any one of these resources leaves organizations scrambling to fill the missing pieces. The process of preparing for the unknown is not always well defined, nor is it currently the norm in K鈥�12 schools.

Our ambition as a College is one that cultivates excellence and recognises achievement. We believe that Shine through Discovery – Let your light shine (Matthew 5:16) has permeated all aspects of our learning environment and given license to our students and staff to be innovative, creative and entrepreneurial. We look forward to what is yet possible and yet to be realised for students and staff. This imperative is best summed up in the words of our Founder, St Marcellin Champagnat – 鈥淢ay their lives be an echo of what you have taught them鈥�.

College Production

We are delighted to be staging Masquerade at 今日吃瓜 in 2019. Masquerade is a play (with music) written by WA playwright Kate Mulvany. It is a beautiful and whimsical play based on the children鈥檚 picture book of the same name, by Kit Williams. In the book Jack Hare embarks on a wild and wonderful journey as he searches for the amulet that symbolises enduring love. Jack鈥檚 struggle parallels with the journey of a young boy Joe. Joe who is undergoing cancer treatment, is comforted by the pages of the book, and Jack鈥檚 journey. As the celestial and human worlds begin to collide the themes of family love, hope and dreams are explored.

At the heart of this magical musical adventure are the themes of family, courage, morality, dreams and love. The production promises to be a theatrical experience for all members of the family.

Performing Arts at 今日吃瓜 is a significant learning area and its continued growth is ensured under the leadership of Leader of learning Arts, Mrs Maree Grayden. Our College鈥檚 Vision for Learning, Shine through Discovery- Let you light shine (Matthew 5:16) inspires our faith and learning community to Challenge, Collaborate, Create and Celebrate who we are and what we seek to achieve. We are a College that values excellence in the growth and development of our students. This production exemplifies our commitment to the creativity, commitment and hard work of our students and staff.

I applaud the staff for their vision in bringing this incredible story to the stage.