iServi News | 12 March 2021 | Term 1, Week 5
Learning at Servite
It was a real thrill to see many months’ worth of planning and construction come to fruition this week as students accessed our newly refurbished Shanahan classrooms for the first time. It was fantastic to see students taking full advantage of the technology-rich, collaborative spaces to enhance their learning. It was also wonderful to see the different array of unique and engaging learning opportunities provided by teachers which were designed to take full advantage of the enhanced facilities.
The refurbished classrooms form part of our College Master Plan which sees the ongoing revitalisation of our College site to ensure that we are providing the best possible learning environment for our students.
We are pleased to inform our community that, at this stage, we are on schedule to deliver the new Student Services Centre space for the commencement of Semester 2. This space will house those staff with key roles in supporting the pastoral welfare of our students, including the Deputy Principals and Directors, our Heads of Community, School Psychologist and College Counsellor. The new Centre is conveniently located adjacent to our Piazza to allow students to access assistance easily at time of need.
Work on the balcony and external stairwell to the eastern end of the Alexis building continues. This extension will allow the removal of the internal stairs to open up the middle area to support improved breakout opportunities for students.
The spaces that we design provide a catalyst for our contemporary Vision for Learning. In shifting away from an industrial-style delivery of curriculum, we are focusing on the development of contemporary and engaging learning opportunities and the creation of individualised pathways for students to support their personalised needs and talents.
Our Vision for Learning focuses on the integration of four key Learning Skillsets: Critical Thinking; Creativity and Innovation; Communication and Collaboration; and Enterprise. These skills are the foundation for engaging in every learning area across the College, and are encouraged, modelled and explored across all year levels. We believe these are the lifelong learning skills that our young people need for growing, working and participating in a constantly changing global society.
In becoming Critical Thinkers, we want students to understand that new ideas and learning can lead to meaningful connections and deeper understandings. We want students to appreciate that an awareness of thought processes is important to develop as a learner. We support students to understand that reasoning, logic and evidence enable the justification of our ideas.
In students developing as Creators and Innovators, we want them to be curious and to be open to inquiry as a starting point for learning. We aim for them to apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas.
Collaboration and teamwork, meanwhile, enhance knowledge of self and others. Asking questions, reflecting and engaging with others can generate new information, meaning and opinions. Quality collaboration and communication skills are therefore a very important part of student learning.
In being Entrepreneurs, our students become effective resource and time managers. They develop relationships that promote innovation and support quality outcomes. As entrepreneurs, students develop a commitment to task completion, and develop as self-directed, persistent and resilient learners.
Of course, in addition to these learning skills, we also acknowledge the importance of relationships and our core values as underpinning principles for learning. We recognise the relationship between the art and science of teaching and virtual and physical spaces as core ingredients of contemporary learning environments.
Each space that we develop on our campus puts the students at the centre of the College. We ask ourselves how we fully engage students in the type of learning that will set them up for an exciting future world. This drives our design and our programs. We want our students to transition in, through and out of our College to develop as whole persons with the capacity live out meaningful and successful lives in a rapidly changing landscape.
We are very excited at the ongoing revitalisation of our campus and look forward to input from our staff, students and parents on future developments.
Mr Jeff Allen
Principal