iServi News | 5 July 2019 | Term 2, Week 10
Learning Opportunities
As a busy and exciting first semester draws to a close, it is natural to pause and reflect back on the many and varied learning opportunities available at the College. As you know, we place great value on presenting a very broad array of learning experiences both in and out of the classroom to support our students’ growth as whole persons. We also acknowledge the uniqueness of gifts and interest of our students and therefore strive to provide a curriculum to accommodate these.
Our rich in-class curriculum delivered across the nine different learning areas integrates core learning skills to support students’ growth as problem solvers and critical thinkers. It also accommodates the many different interest and passions of our students through innovative, contemporary and personalised learning contexts. We want our students to be fully engaged in their own learning and to develop the necessary resilience and self-regulation skills to manage their own learning journey.
Our in-class curriculum in complemented by an exciting array of co-curricular and club opportunities. Sport continues to flourish at Servite with strong student involvement in ACC Swimming and Cross-Country Carnivals and the NAS school sports program. We were thrilled to see so many students represent the College in NAS finals this week and congratulate those teams who won their fixtures. Our thriving club culture has also continued to build this semester with students involved in a range of technology, arts, STEM, coding and sporting based activities.
We congratulate our student leaders for their efforts this semester and thank them for their input into the positive culture at the school, along with their ideas for future strategic development of the College. We look forward to our next Students Leaders’ Forum in Week 5 next term.
We also acknowledge our students for their support of the College’s different Ministry programmes. 24/7 Serve has continued to thrive and has provided faith and spirituality opportunities for many Catholic Primary schools and Parishes this semester.
Our Christian Service Learning program continues to encourage students to put their faith into action. Amongst a plethora of activities available to students this semester, we saw students Run for a Reason, raise funds and awareness at the Cancer Council’s Relay for Life and feed the homeless on the streets of Perth.
In personalising the learning journey for students, we aim to provide them with a multitude of experiences. We strongly encourage students to take full advantage of the programmes and support mechanisms available. We have a high expectation that students will participate to their full capacity.
Educationalist Professor John Hattie suggests that high levels of expectation internally and externally have a very positive impact on student learning. Hattie indicates that students can positively shape their own learning by self-assessing themselves and critically analysing how they themselves learn. This, combined with multiple learning options and terrific support from teachers and parents, allows students to stretch their thinking, explore their talents and control their own learning in a very constructive way. Our focus as a school on the implementation of the Berry Street Education model this year, supports this notion though developing a strong sense of resilience and self-regulation in our students.
Reports
By now all families would have received their child’s Semester 1 Reports. These reports provide a snapshot of student learning and promotes good conversation and planning about future academic growth and development. In adopting a growth mindset and owning their own learning, as mentioned above, students can set attainable goals that will support future and ongoing development.
Of course, the reports are also a celebration of student effort and achievement. We were very pleased to pause as a community this week to celebrate outstanding student effort and achievement at our whole school assembly. Congratulations to the many students who were recognised for an excellent semester’s work. They highlight what can be achieved through dedication, hard work and high levels of application.
The Arts
Following on from my article last week, we were pleased on Wednesday this week to formally launch our Semester 1 College Visual Arts Exhibition.
The Arts is expanding rapidly at Servite, so we made the decision to run two Arts Exhibitions this year to ensure that all students have the opportunity to present their work. The work presented by the students was outstanding. They are to be applauded on their incredible efforts in presenting works of such high quality.
We also must acknowledge our very dedicated Visual Art and Technologies teams for their wonderful support of our students and the terrific learning opportunities that they provide.
Staffing
As the semester draws to a close, we are sadly farewelling a number of staff members. We wish Mr Augie Lobet and Mr Reid Butler well as they finish with us this week. We thank them both for the very positive contribution that they have made to the school and for the many and varied innovative and engaging learning opportunities they have created for our students.
We also wish Ms Katie Thiveos well for her long service leave next semester and thank her as always for the tremendous contribution that she makes to Servite. We also acknowledge Ms Danni Sanders’ commitment to the College and wish her all of the best for her long service leave in Term 3.
Holidays
We wish all families, students and staff a very restful holiday break and hope that you enjoy the opportunity to spend some quality time together. We look forward to everyone joining us back at the College at the start of Term 3.
Mr Jeff Allen
Principal