Welcome to Term 3. I trust you managed to get some time off to spend with your children. This is a long break, but we used the time in the past week for staff to attend a state-wide conference day and to undertake compulsory training in various regulatory matters as well as prepare for the term and work on new curriculum etc.

Term 3 is an important one for Year 12 students as they finalise learning in their courses and then undertake trial exams and revision for the HSC examinations. This can be a stressful time and it is incumbent on us as parents and teachers, to make it as stress free as possible. Lots of encouragement and support is vital rather than forcing them into a study pattern we think they should be doing. It is after all in their hands what their results are and it is a significant life lesson to learn if you have not been disciplined enough to prepare well. It is also not the end of the world if your results are lower than you had hoped for. 

Our teachers are committed to supporting the students right through this process so they only need to seek help and it will be offered. I know our TAS and art teachers have been in with students during the term break opening up the workshops for students to complete their projects and staying late at school during the term to help them get projects complete. Thank you to the parents who also came in to help with TAS projects where a second pair of hands is often required.

Our success at anything is very seldom the result of our efforts alone. Anything we do will involve the support of others and we sometimes forget this in our very individualistic society. Our Graduate Profile for students refers to being collaborative as an important aspect of who we want them to become. This means helping others but also receiving help.

This past week we also launched with our staff a philosophy of education we have developed called 'Education for Wisdom'. A copy of the full document and an executive summary will be available on our website, and I encourage you to read it and feel free to come and talk to me if you have any questions or need clarification on any aspect of it. It is focused around the idea presented to us in the Bible that knowledge, understanding and wisdom go together. Our education system often over-focuses on knowledge with some understanding but we want our graduates to learn how to apply their knowledge and understanding in good ways that bring restoration and benefit to the created world and to those around them. This is wisdom.

I trust this term is a positive one for all our students but especially for our Year 12’s as they enter the final term of their time at school.

Phillip Nash