WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS EVENING

WEDNESDAY, 23 AUGUST 2023

YEAR 5

The Year 5 Parent Information Evening will be held on Wednesday, 23 August 2023 in the W203-204 at 6pm - 7:15pm.  Please note this event is for parents only. This event will focus on supporting parents of young men to understand healthy relationships and the concept of Respect and Trust. PLEASE USE THIS LINK TO RSVP FOR THIS EVENT

YEAR 10

The annual ‘Father Son' evening is scheduled on Wednesday, 23 August 2023 in the Christian Brothers Building from 5.45pm for a 6pm start.  This event is for Year 10 students and their father or adult male mentor. Register here for the event, fill in the details and click submit. You will know you are registered when you receive a confirmation email from Time & Space. 

YEAR 11

The Year 11 Parent Evening will be held on Wednesday, 23 August 2023 in the Library at 6pm.  The topic for this presentation will be Risk Taking in Young Men which will be presented by Davina Donovan. Davina is a registered psychologist with over 15 years industry experience.  She has worked alongside teens and young people since 2010, specialising in the area of suicide prevention. PLEASE USE THIS LINK TO RSVP FOR THIS EVENT

YEAR 12

The Year 12 Mother/Caregiver and Son Evening will be held on Wednesday, 23 August 2022 in the Callan Centre at 6pm - 7:30pm.  This event will focus on the importance and fundamentals of how we can support our boys as they move into the critical years after school. PLEASE USE THIS LINK TO RSVP FOR THIS EVENT

Congratulations

Year 11 Music student, Nicholas Ironside was chosen earlier this year to attend the National Youth Wind Ensemble of Scotland tour in July.  As one of only nine Australian students selected via audition to participate in this tour, Nicholas had the opportunity to work with and learn from other talented young musicians, conductors and specialist teachers from around the world. Nicholas is a valued member of the SPC Symphonic Band, Big Band 1, Marching Band and Tech Crew.  He is an outstanding musician and student, showing maturity beyond his years.  It is no surprise to us that he was chosen for this amazing opportunity.  

Congratulations Nicholas, and thank you for representing St Patrick’s College and Australia with pride and distinction!

St Patrick’s College is one of 55 Edmund Rice Education Australia schools across Australia and are part of the Edmund Rice Education Beyond Boundaries (EREBB) network of 280 schools worldwide. Each school reflects the diversity of their communities, and each country has its own form of governance and organizational structures. In Australia, EREA Is a national entity that uses the Charter for Catholic Schools in the Edmund Rice Tradition as an expression of our identity. It refers to four touchstones that give meaning to what we do. They are: 

• Liberating Education 
• Gospel Spirituality 
• Inclusive Community  
• Justice and Solidarity 

The Touchstones within the Charter are used as a means of determining our authenticity to being an EREA school and are crucial in our decision-making, planning and reviews. However, they are not meant to be considered as single domains but rather they complement each other. The Charter is intended to be used by schools so that they offer a liberating education, based on Gospel spirituality, within an inclusive community committed to justice and solidarity.  

A liberating education is more than one that leads to a job or university pathway. It is one that nurtures critical and reflective thinkers so that they are hope-filled and feel that they have the ability to make the world a better place. Consequently, some of the things that we do at this College open the students to matters that extend beyond the curriculum. It is our hope that students develop the ability to become open and informed decision-makers and not necessarily populist ones. Our young people need to have the ability to weigh up options in critical and creative ways so that they do not become closed thinkers. Furthermore, a liberating education has expectations that everyone within the community work to the best of their ability. It accepts that our abilities vary between individuals, circumstances and situations but it aims to make each person feel valued and capable of learning to become better. 

As staff at St Patrick’s, we aim to foster the collective belief that every student is capable of learning, and we try to be authentic to this belief accepting that we may not always be perfect. 

Thank You

I would like to thank the many families who participated in the Student/Parent/Teacher conferences last Tuesday afternoon and evening. As educators, we value this intimate time with our students and parents. More recently, we have deliberately tried to make the experience one that is led by the students. We do this to reinforce that this is their learning journey and the staff and yourselves, as parents, are there to support them. Ultimately, they must take responsibility to drive their own learning using all the resources that are made available to them. 

Subject Selection Events

Starting next Thursday, 3 August we will present a number of parent and student information sessions so that informed decisions can be made about subject choices for study pathways next year. As I mentioned earlier, it is important that our young people become critical and informed decision-makers. Therefore, it is most important that they work with you as a part of this process. I look forward to seeing many students with their families on these evenings. Information regarding these evenings have been posted to REALM.

College Strategic Plan

This is the last year of the College’s current Strategic Plan. Over the course of this year, we have been gathering information from a variety of sources to help us complete the new Strategic Plan (2024-2026). To date, we have had several surveys responses, staff consultation meetings and a School Improvement Review (ACER). Currently, the Parent Satisfaction Survey is available to all parents at the College to complete and the EREA Liberating Education Team will be completing a School Renewal Review at the College from 23 to 25 August. Gathered information will be collated by the College Leadership team and an external provider who is working with us to develop the new Strategic Plan. We aim to have a draft plan prepared by the beginning of Term 4. 

Parents can be involved in this process through completing the survey that was emailed on Monday and by responding to our request for volunteers to meet with (personally or online) the review panel when they are here in August. Further communications will follow about this opportunity.  

Highlights

• The Year 7 Retreat and Mass was held on Friday 21 July. Students spent the day completing a number of different activities learning to reflect about themselves, others and the presence of God in their lives.
• The Year 11 Dinner Dance last Friday evening was a huge success and enjoyed by everyone in attendance. This week was the beginning of Year 11 Leadership workshops and voting for leadership roles in 2024. 
• Last weekend’s first round of sport was against Padua College. We saw some very good results in the Basketball across all grades with and excellent win by the First V. The Rugby League was a little more mixed in results with more wins to Padua. Our First XIII led at half time before going down by 12 points at the end of the match. Tennis produced one of the best rounds of results that St Patrick’s has had in a long time, winning 13 out of 15 matches played. A fantastic effort and just rewards for some hard work at training. 
• The Inter-House Theatresports competition has been running all week with much anticipation for Monday’s finals. We have had larger crowds than ever before which has added to the dynamic atmosphere. 
• We were advised this week that our Dance Crew has made it through all 3 sections of their first ever dance competition and will compete in the State Finals in October. They were the only all male troupe in the competition. Congratulations to all involved on this amazing achievement. 
• The Year 9.1 Debating team were narrowly defeated in the first round of the finals.  Congratulations however to the 12.2 Debating team who won their debate against Loretto College and have progressed to the next round. 

Live Jesus in our Hearts! 

Chris Mayes 
College Principal 

At SPC we have a program in place for all students across Years 5-12 to reflect on their progress and set goals for the Unit/ Semester ahead. These goals are communicated to teachers, parents and academic mentors and inform the conversations we host with students throughout the term. We believe that the process of setting goals empowers students to be aspirational and fosters a growth mindset.

Across the course of the year students have been exposed to three high yield strategies that were specifically chosen to inform the strategies they will use to improve their academic performance.

• Active Learning 
  • Summarising; Explaining; Creating mental images; Asking questions
• Spaced Repetition 
  • Reviewing new information at spaced intervals; Using flashcards; Repetition; Reviewing regularly
• Practice testing
  • Self-testing; Using practice exams; Responding to the feedback

The goals your son has set will be available in Analytics (Accessed via REALM) across the course of this week. I encourage you to initiate conversations with your son around the goals he has set for himself and to share your own experiences, insights and tips on how you have set and achieved your own goals.

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR THE GUIDE TO ACCESSING ANALYTICS

Mr Adam McPhee
Dean of Administration and Business Intelligence

Celebrating Men of Learning Week – recognising Academic Diligence with a new award at Celebration of Excellence

This week we celebrated our semester one academic achievement at our Academic Assembly. As always, it is rewarding to see the proud recipients recognised for their academic efforts. At this assembly, I spoke of the many ways that we see learning success in our students. 

I would like to think that every student in our College, has something to celebrate from their learning journey in Semester One. I hope every student has experienced many learning moments that have been the result of persevering through the learning process, even when it is difficult. The joy of the “Aha” moment is what drives curiosity.  It helps us to see learning as a gift. What we hope for our students, is that they can see that within their own pursuit of learning, success can take many forms. Any student who works through a learning challenge and grows as a result is worth celebrating.

At this year's Celebration of Excellence, we will introduce a new award for students who are excellent in their diligence towards their learning. Our new Academic Diligence awards, will be awarded to a number of students in each cohort for Years 5-11, who are: 

• Persistent: despite difficulties, setbacks, or challenges, the learner consistently demonstrates an ability and willingness to pursue the development of knowledge and skills.
• Show Effort: a learner who demonstrates high levels of energy, focus, dedication and commitment of time to their learning.
• Have a positive Attitude: a learner that demonstrates enthusiasm, optimism, and a growth mindset and who is receptive to feedback on how to improve.

I hope for our students, this recognition helps to shine a spotlight on the many students who consistently work towards being the best version of themselves that they can be in our classrooms.

The awards criteria for all academic awards can be found on the Teaching and Learning policy tile on Realm.

Fight the Good Fight!

Mr Troy Schultz
Dean of Teaching and Learning 

Future Focus Career Expo 2023 - Monday, 24 July

It's now likely that in a 50-year working life a worker on average will be employed in three to five careers, 10 to 20 jobs, across a variety of industries. This emphasises the value of school-leavers being flexible, to be comfortable with change, to have a capacity to keep on learning and keep on developing their knowledge and skills.

With this in mind, the 2023 Future Focus Careers Expo was designed to provide opportunities for students in Years 9 - 12 to explore career and training options. Supported by industry partners Powerlink, Northrop Grumman, Riverlife Adventure Centre, Osmac Apprenticeships and Metro North Health, plus the Member for Sandgate, Stirling Hinchliffe (Minister for Tourism, Innovation and Sport), students and families benefitted from hearing about the opportunities that exist now (and on those on the horizon). In addition to universities and TAFE Queensland, specialist career planning advice was available from Engineers Australia, Australian Defence Force Recruiters, CheckUp, Multicap and MEGT.

A series of workshops and information sessions catered to the diverse interests of students. Topics ranged from marketing online personal branding, gaining employment in an apprenticeship/traineeship, maximising your ATAR, applying for university, and starting your own business. The alumni students who gathered in the Callan Centre were popular with students, their families and SPC staff.

One of the standout messages from the afternoon’s event was that all education and employment pathway choices are equally valid. Skills such as problem solving, communication, collaboration, creativity, etc. are going to be required whether graduates intend to become a physiotherapist, plumber, paramedic, painter, photographer, policeman, packaging engineer or pilot.

If you did come along to the event on Monday, we would appreciate it if you could take the time to provide us with feedback on your experience at the event.

FEEDBACK SURVEY

Mr Chris Herrod
Director Skills and Pathways

Working in Partnership with Parents Event

On Wednesday, 23 August 2023 the College will host the second of our biannual Working in Partnership with Parents evenings for 2023. The purpose of these evenings is to inform parents of the topics covered by their son through the ‘Journey to Men of Action’ Formation Program and to further strengthen the partnership with our families. Our families from Years 5, 10, 11 and 12 are invited to join their sons for presentations and facilitated discussions by a variety of professionals within the education context.

Year 5

This event will focus on supporting parents of our youngest students to better understand issues affecting them in their first year at the College and in the years to come. This includes the importance of connection with the College, anxiety and school refusal, gaming and device use, social media, and relationship resilience. The session will be hosted by Ken Loftus. Ken began his career in mental health during his Psychology degree in Dublin over 20 years ago. Since then, Ken has continued his studies in Counselling, CBT and has worked mostly in the youth sector before joining the College over 4 years ago as a College Counsellor. Ken is also the clinical Director on the Board of the Sunlight Centre charity in Brisbane.

Year 10

The Year 10 event is for Year 10 students and their father or adult male mentor and is hosted by Rachel Dunston from Time and Space. The purpose of the night is to stop and acknowledge the journey father and son have made to arrive at this moment in their life. With the assistance of Year 11 St Patrick’s College student facilitators, fathers and sons are led through an engaging evening involving both discussion groups and a significant ‘one-on-one’ conversation with each other. The overall focus of the evening is to develop special memories between father and son.

Year 11

This event will focus on supporting parents of our students who are about to enter the final year of schooling and will focus in particular on risk taking in young men. The session will be hosted by Davina Donovan, owner of Speak Teen psychology. Davina is a registered psychologist with over 15 years industry experience.  She has worked alongside teens and young people since 2010, specialising in the area of suicide prevention.  Davina is the author of 'What your teen is telling me and why they're not telling you', a guide for parents on communicating with their young person.  A mother herself, Davina is fiercely passionate about protecting the innocence of young people while supporting parents to take the 'smarter not harder' parenting route.  Davina will provide tips and strategies for parents to support their sons, keep them safe and to keep the lines of communication open with them.

Year 12

The Year 12 event is for Year 12 students and their mother or adult female mentor and is hosted by Paula Conroy from the Rites of Passage Institute. The event will focus on the importance and fundamentals of how adults can support their children as they move into the critical years after school. The night will run as an interactive workshop where tools will be taught to maintain a healthy relationship between parents and their sons as they navigate the transition to becoming a young man.

Registration

Further communication with details of the evenings and the registration details will be sent out to families through REALM in the coming weeks. I encourage all our families with sons in these year levels to engage with the College in partnership to support the wellbeing of your sons. If you have questions about the evening, please feel free to contact me at the College.

Mr Matthew Robertson
Director Student Engagement and Wellbeing

 

 

Term 3 is a significant time for our Year 11 students as they finalise their Unit 2 work and prepare to take over the student leadership within the College.  Therefore, I would like to alert you to some significant events for Year 11 students and parents this term, so that you can plan accordingly.

Leadership Retreat – 12 – 14 September

On 12 – 14 September, our Year 11 students will participate in their Leadership Retreat. This is a compulsory event and a particularly important milestone in their senior leadership and studies journey. There are two significant events that are a part of this Retreat that require parent attendance. They are held on the afternoon and evening of Thursday 14 September.  Please see information below on these events.

Parent Information Session – Thursday 14 September @ 4:30pm

Parent information session regarding the importance of the students’ academic pathways starting in Term 4.  They will start their Unit 3 work, which is a part of their summative assessment that determines their final senior results. This information night will be facilitated by Mr Jonathan Brough and Mr Troy Schultz. It will be held in the Christian Brothers Building starting at 4:30pm and be finished by 5:30pm. The students will still be participating in their leadership retreat during this time.

Presentation of Senior Tie – Thursday 14 September @ 5:30pm

After the completion of the information session, parents will be invited to join their son for the presentation of their senior tie.  This is a significant concluding part to the retreat whereby each student will be given their tie by their parents. The presentation will conclude by 6:30pm. It is vital that at least one family representative attend these significant events.

For your information, the cost of the senior tie is $23.  Please arrange for your son to pay the Merchandise Store in the Sea View Building (not the North Lakes store) for his senior tie by Thursday 31 August. Some families may choose to pass down a senior tie from an older sibling. We encourage this process as this tie comes with family history and has a great deal more significance.  If you choose this option, please ensure the tie is handed to your son’s relevant House Dean with his name clearly marked on it by Thursday 31 August.

So that we are aware of who will be attending this event, it is imperative that families RSVP via the link HERE by Monday, 28 August. Multiple family members are welcome to attend this event.

Year 11 Leadership Liturgy and Commissioning of our new College Leaders – Friday 15 September @ 1pm

On Friday 15 September (last day of term), Year 11 students will be required to wear their white senior shirt and senior tie to the Year 11 Leadership Liturgy and Commissioning of our new College Leaders. This ritual also includes the passing over of the Captain’s tie, which will signify that the Year 11 students will take over leadership of the student body from the beginning of Term 4.  The school views this event primarily for our student community and all steps are taken to ensure students have first priority in the Christian Brothers Building. It is for this reason, only two parents for the House or College Leaders will be able to attend this liturgy. A separate invitation will be sent to these families. The liturgy will be live steamed for all other parents to watch if they wish.

I look forward to seeing you at these events and to working with this cohort of young people in their leadership journey.

Mr Darren Kearney
Dean of Students