The Lakes South Morang College Newsletter PRINCIPAL WELCOME
Over the next week or two, Learning Coaches will be checking - in with young people to review and monitor the goals that they set at the start of the term. These will again be monitored in week 10. This initiative empowers students to set SMART goals for themselves, and then work towards activating and achieving these intentions by the end of the semester. Learning Coaches will help to ensure students are progressing as planned and provide supports where necessary. This initiative aligns with Departmental priorities around Student Agency over learning, and more specifically to The Lakes priority areas of high expectations, academic rigour and improved wellbeing. This week, Mariam, our Mental Health Practitioner, ran a staff workshop on mental wellbeing. She shared with us some research from Dr Adam Fraser, who talks about navigating micro - transitions throughout the day. As teachers, as parents and as students, we must transition our ‘ headspace ’ and our thinking many times throughout the day. Sometimes these transitions take place seamlessly, other times we may experience a trigger or hiccup in our day that is hard for us to shake. Dr Adam Fraser talks about using ‘ The Third Space ’ as a way to transition between the many and varied moments that we jump between throughout our day. This session was a great reminder to us as educators to be mindful of the way we operate throughout our micro - transitions, but also to support young people in our classrooms to understand how they navigate their own ‘ third spaces ’. I highly recommend you check out Dr Adam ’ s website and/or YouTube videos. https://dradamfraser.com/ College council this week approved pupil - free and Parent/Carer - Teacher Interview dates for 2023. These are currently being collated and will be sent to all families in the coming days to allow you to lock them into your calendar, arrange for child caring responsibilities on those days, and for some families an opportunity to plan for some exciting family experiences and holidays (with some three day weekends ahead!) Upcoming dates to plan for in the short - term include Secondary Parent/Carer - Teacher Interviews (coinciding with a Secondary campus pupil - free day) on the 7th March, and the Primary Parent/Carer - Teacher Interviews (coinciding with a Primary campus pupil - free day) on the 4th April. These Parent/Carer - Teacher Interviews will be offered as hybrid sessions, allowing those who wish to come to the school an opportunity to meet teachers face - to - face, and those preferring to meet online the opportunity to do so. As a College we have made no secret in our intent to continue to build connections (both within the school and externally) and seek feedback to enact change that makes The Lakes not only the ‘ Happy Place ’, but also the engaging, exciting and safe place. Interviews have been held this week for formal student leadership opportunities across the College. Additionally, plans are underway to hold regular opportunities for both students and parents/ carers to meet with the Principal team to offer feedback and suggestions for improvement. These, combined with our College Council, will ensure that we are clearly understanding the needs of our College community, and responding appropriately. Despite still being in February, we are planning for our key transition points for 2024 – Kinder to Foundation, Year 6 - 7, Year 9 to Senior School and Year 12 and beyond. We have a range of school tours, information sessions and communications that we will begin rolling out in the coming weeks to support families at all of these transition points to help them make informed decisions about their child ’ s education moving forward.
With thanks
Bonnie
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