Principal’s Log

In the rush of life, we can find ourselves being caught up in the pressure to have more, being seen to be more and focusing on only valuing success and what we gain. In doing so we can lose sight of the growth and joy that comes through contributing to community and learning and living through both success and disappointment. Learning how to contribute to community through supporting the growth of others, celebrating successes together, showing compassion and growing through disappointment and challenge is the key to growing strongly as community and as individuals.

We congratulate Luca Buttrose whose work received the “Honorable Mention” award in the Speculative Futures Digital Arts Student Competition and Exhibition for 2024. This international competition co-sponsored by the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA 2024) and the ACM SIGGRAPH Digital Arts Committee attracted 96 entries from 16 different countries. Luca combined his interests across digital technology, science and art to produce a piece which explored the relationship of man with nature.  He applied scientific techniques to examine cells at a microscopic level, digitally distorted them prompting the viewer to consider the relationship between the natural and the artificial as human beings manipulate nature to serve our needs. This was an outstanding achievement for Luca in an extremely competitive competition. We would encourage families to view the digital copy of the work through the QR code provided.

Young people across the College have been involved in the challenge of assessment and will receive feedback over the coming days. It is important to focus on what has been learnt and what can be learnt as well as the result. The ability to reflect and recognise, this is where I am, this is what I can do and this is what I need to do to grow to the next level is a key factor to becoming an effective learner and is also an important capability for living well in our vocation and personally. Effective use of feedback is one of John Hattie’s top 10 influences on student achievement.  Families are encouraged to engage in conversation around feedback over the coming fortnight as it is provided digitally. Young people are encouraged to celebrate what has been learnt, to reflect on where they are in their learning and to set goals for growth.

Over this past week it has been a pleasure to watch the PLC Crystal netball team play in their Grand Final and the U15 Rugby Boys play in their semi final. Both teams acquitted themselves well and played tenaciously, with good spirit and sportsmanship right to the end of their games. Both these teams and the U13 Rugby Boys who played their semi final with the same spirit, tenacity and sportsmanship can be proud of their growth over the season and their achievements this year. We congratulate the PLC Garnet team who were awarded the premiership after a forfeit from their opposition. It has been good to see our rugby and netball teams continue to grow this year and we thank Head of Netball, Mrs Michelle Dufty and Head of Rugby, Mr Josh Cummins for their leadership and commitment to the growth of our players and the program in both sports. As the season ends we congratulate all of our netball and rugby players on their growth. We thank netball coaches Mrs Emma Lendrum, Ms Sophia Rule, Ms Taylor Edwards, Ash Ervine, Emma Frohmuller and Kiana Muir and rugby coaches Mr Josh Cummins, Jack Packer, and Mr Rob Belchamber for their capable leadership of our teams. Thank you to our parents who provide strong support to these teams. Your presence and support is greatly appreciated.

We congratulate our athletes who performed well as they represented the College at the recent Independent District Carnivals with the Year 7-12 team coming 5th and the Year 4-6 team 6th. We thank our students for their commitment at a very busy time of year and wish all the best to those who now progress to represent the Independent District at the regional carnival.

We wish Head of Learning Middle College, Mrs Jo Belchamber all the best as she takes leave for the remainder of this term and the first three weeks of next term. Inquiries should be directed to the Head of Students Middle College Mr Brett Kersnovske for the last two weeks of this term. Mrs Michiko Hauser will take on the role of Acting Head of Learning Middle College for the first three weeks of Term 3.

As we journey through each day we pray that God will equip us to honestly appraise our current situation, to be grateful and celebrate what we have and are, to learn through success and mistake making and to step forward confidently with care and compassion to bring light and hope into our families and the broader community.

Dr Bronwyn Dolling, Principal