Principal’s Log

Many students across the College are preparing for assessments including internal testing, and completion of assignments and for our Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students their Naplan assessment. As our Middle and Senior College students prepare for internal assessment, it is important that they prepare progressively for these assessments by employing the strategies provided to them by their teachers, the Elevate group and through Personal Development. As they engage in these practices, they are building long-term rocks, learning about what works best for them in terms of planning, organisation, problem solving and critical thinking and learning to regulate emotional responses. For all ages, taking a long-term learning approach to all assessments, rather than a focus on judgement helps young people build capability. Learning that every small step makes a difference builds skills to attack and persevere in a range of contexts within and beyond school. Seeing assessment as an important checkpoint that enables us to understand what we know, understand and can do now and what we are yet to learn helps learners build capacity through feedback received.

We congratulate Lucy Dimond and Ben McCormac on their very strong performances in the Lions Youth of the Year at the Caloundra Branch. After submitting a detailed application form that captured their academic achievements, community involvement and future goals and participating in an interview, each of them then delivered two impromptu speeches and a prepared speech.  They very capably presented their five-minute impromptu speeches about “How would you define a successful human?” and “Influencer or Role Model: Which is the Winner?”. Lucy won the Public Speaking component of the contest and Ben was the overall Youth of the Year winner. We congratulate both Ben and Lucy and wish Ben all the best as he now progresses to the District competition this weekend.  We thank the Head of English, Mrs Rae Hall for her support of these students.

Over the past 3 days, our Year 1 students, in their respective classes, ventured to Buderim Forest Park where they took part in their first Outdoor Learning Day at Pacific. At Pacific, we value the opportunity to engage in learning while immersed in natural environments. Through nature play, students can learn about themselves, develop skills to work with others and develop environmental awareness. Students supported each other to explore the natural environment to build a shelter using tree branches, participated in a scavenger hunt, hiked to the Buderim Forest Waterfall via a boardwalk and jumped across the river rocks. Students were able to swim under the waterfall once they arrived. Students also spent time drawing and describing what they saw, heard and how they felt in their journals as a reminder of their first Outdoor Learning Day at Pacific. Thank you to Mr Paul Brace, for leading the way in Outdoor Education for our students, our Year 1 teachers, Mrs Sharon Hooper, Mrs Lara Stiller, Mrs Leonie Prout and support staff, Miss Georgie Snelling and Mr Rob Belchamber for supporting the students on their first Outdoor Pacific adventure.

We are getting ready to launch OCEANFest this year. We are excited to share our theme of “One World” for this year’s event. To support our Friends of Pacific, our communications team of Ms Samantha Barrass, Mrs Simone Shaw and Mrs Crystal Ceccarelli will coordinate the major organisational aspects of the event. Parent, teacher and student volunteers will be needed to run a range of activities in the lead-up to and on the evening of the Festival itself. We would encourage as many parents as possible to join in the preparations for this event as outlined in the Friends of Pacific article later in this newsletter. Through volunteering, parents can form strong friendships and connections to the College as they provide an important service to our community.

We pray that God would enable us all to build on the solid foundation of His love for us.

Dr Bronwyn Dolling, Principal