Principal’s Log

Having the habit for life of learning through feedback is a powerful enabler. We would encourage parents as they hear their children reflect on their performance on assessments to ask, “What can be learnt from this?”. To assist Middle and Senior College students to grow this important habit, feedback for each assessment task is being provided through NAV. Parents have received and will receive notifications of when the results and feedback for each assessment piece are available online. Parents and students are encouraged to discuss this feedback and identify one specific action that can be taken to improve learning in response to each piece of feedback. The timing of feedback close to the completion of assessments is best for learning. As such the end of term reports will contain cumulative results and no longer have comments for Middle and Senior College students. This process is aimed to support students to take greater ownership in directing their learning and supporting parents in their engagement.

Pacific’s installation for the Sunshine Arts Fest with the theme of “Let The Sunshine In” has been unveiled at The Sunshine Coast Plaza this morning. Pacific was one of 6 schools selected to be part of this new arts and augmented reality competition. The overall winner will be announced in July, with the People’s Choice Award being determined by votes of the public. We congratulate and thank Mrs Marnie Whittaker and her team of student artists on their installation and encourage everyone to visit the Plaza and be inspired as you vote for the College’s installation. Downloading the Artivive app before going to the Plaza will enable people to more quickly enjoy the creativity of our students.

We are pleased to announce that we have engaged with Dogs Connect to introduce Koda, as a new staff member in training into our community. Koda is a 20 month old Golden Retriever who will support the resilience and wellbeing program in the College. Staff mentors have been engaged with The Dogs Connect program which has been implemented in a number of schools across Australia. Koda will formally commence in August of this year. Over the coming weeks, training for Koda and staff, students and parents will be conducted to ensure a smooth transition into the College. We look forward to welcoming Koda into our community and thank Mrs McAllister and her team of mentors for their work in this area. Further details are provided later in this newsletter.

It was a delight to watch our netballers compete in their semi-finals on Monday night. The Senior A Girls Sapphire Team played with a very high level of skill and tenacity throughout the game and can be proud of their performance in Division 1 throughout the season and in the final. We congratulate the PLC Opals, Jade and Ruby teams for also performing well and wish the PLC Opals and Jade teams all the best for their grand final on Monday night. It was also good to see our Senior Soccer boys show good skills in their final.

We thank our community for your very strong support of the Red Shield Appeal through donating over 3,400 items and raising over $2000 through various events. The Salvation Army is deeply appreciative of the support provided that will make a difference to many in our community. We thank our Pacific Action Group Spirituality and Service Leaders Isha Wallis and Evy Gover for their leadership.

May God give us the grace, insight and confidence to learn through feedback.

Dr Bronwyn Dolling, Principal