From the Assistant Principal Students
Student Online Learning Conference
During Week 3 and 4, Year 7-10 will be having their Student Online Learning Conference. During this time of Covid, we are unable to hold face to face conferences and to ensure families have a time to get feedback from their teachers we will be using Zoom as the platform for the conference.
These nights are very important in making the students, and families, aware of their academic performance. Getting feedback from teachers and discussing strengths and weaknesses allows students to analyse their performance and make adjustments to their learning to achieve the best that they can.
The Student Online Learning Conference will be held over two nights. They are: Tuesday 4th August and Monday 10th August. If you access the Compass app you will see the booking links to each night. It is important that all families have the opportunity to zoom with their teachers over the two evenings.
For the families that were unable to attend the Zooms please make an effort to contact your children’s teachers to discuss their performance at the College. Either a phone call or an email is a simple way to contact their teachers. Please remember that the staff at the College are always willing to work with families for the best outcomes for your children.
College uniform
Just a quick reminder about the College uniform. It is the expectation of the community that a St Andrews College student is dressed in the full College uniform every day.
The main areas of concern are lack of full uniform or added clothing because of the cold that are not uniform. If it is cold please add clothing under the uniform.
Jewelry, hair styles, facial hair and nails must be kept according to the College expectations. Please check the Student Planner or contact the Learning Advisor if you have any questions about the rules.
If a child is in breach of the College expectations they may be removed from class until it is rectified.
Three steps to better habits
It is very easy for us to develop bad habits and its difficult at times to break these habits. It is important to be able to identify the bad habits and make plans to change them into positive habits. The following is a 3 step way that you can change your habits.
- Identify what is holding you back. What is causing the problem, e.g. procrastination, fear, laziness etc.
- Law of replacement. Choose a habit you want to change and replace it with a new one.
- Cancel, Cancel. Cancel out a negative thought and replace it with a positive thought.
Once you start using a new behaviour you will find it easy to make this a new habit. Remember to stick with it at the start and it will become second nature.
What is in the Planner?
The main emphasis of Wellbeing this week is Kindness and Generosity. We are in a particularly strange time living in a Pandemic. We are seeing people behaving poorly, people being stressed about work and the threat of catching the disease and people dealing with loss either through death or other circumstances.
One of the biggest things we can do for each other is to be kind. A simple act of kindness can make a huge difference in the life of someone who is suffering. A kind gesture to a friend or Stanger, helping out at home and being kind to your parents and siblings. Make an effort to be kind every day.
In this time of destress across the world we need to be grateful for so much. Don’t take anything for granted, always be grateful for what we have and the people that care about us. Take time in your day to say thanks for the small things.
In this time of Covid we sometimes get worried that things are not going to get better. Take time to be optimistic about the future. Optimism helps us to have a growth mindset and look forward to the future, which will change all the time. We will not always be in the same situation and optimism helps us cope with change and grow from it.
God Bless
Nicholas Thrum
Assistant Principal Students