PRINCIPAL’S WELCOME

“As our students walked up the path at the College today, I witnessed vibrant young people happy to be back…”

From the College Principal

Dear Parents, Carers, Students and Friends of the St Gregory’s College Community,

Welcome to the second edition of the year of our College publication, ‘Hearts & Minds.’ Since our last publication in July this year, the College has endured the lockdown period with all students and most staff remaining offsite, and online learning being the mode of teaching delivery. As I sit to write my article for this edition, we are coming to the close of our first full day back at the College for all our students in Kindergarten to Year 12, and the return of our staff onsite. It certainly has been an exciting day as we welcomed staff and students back onsite, hopefully for the remainder of Term 4, and hopefully in an environment where we are working hard to keep all our College community safe. Seventeen long weeks have endured since the lockdown began. In this period, our ‘world’ as we use to know it has changed forever. We have learned more about agility, resilience and responsibility as we have traversed the many changes and challenges thrown at us via the COVID pandemic. As our students walked up the path at the College today, I witnessed vibrant young people so happy to be back amongst their friends and teachers in an environment they know cares deeply about each of them. What I want our students and their families to know is that the greatest lessons we need to teach as a result of our experiences over the past eighteen months with the pandemic, are lessons teaching our young people about hope. We will fail our students miserably if our lessons are content-rich and engaging, but we miss the vital ingredient of teaching our students through a lens of hope. Teaching our students to have hope is a valuable lesson that will help them go after their goals both today and in the future. We also know that hope is not simply being optimistic or happy all the time.

Hope is one of the most important values that young people can develop. A child who understands the value of hope will be less likely to give up. When the going gets tough, they won’t allow themselves to be overcome by discouragement. One of the premier leaders in hope research, Shane Lopez, in his book, Making Hope Happen: Create the Future You Want for Yourself and Others, defines hope as “the belief that the future will be better than the present combined with the belief that you have the power to make it so!” (Lopez, 2013). In another way, the Dalai Lama says, “hope means keeping going, thinking I can do this” (Bstan, 2018).

These definitions of hope, when applied to impacting student success, may be simplified by understanding that students with high hope: • Design and connect with a positive self-future. • Develop goals that will lead them toward this better future. • Have the confidence and self-efficacy necessary to believe they can be successful. • Act with perseverance to create and follow the mental plans or road maps that guide hopeful thoughts. Research clearly shows that young people who have hope are happier and more satisfied with life. In fact, they even do better at school and maintain better social relationships. On the other hand, young people who are lacking in this sentiment are less likely to meet their goals. They may have poorer relationships and feel powerless. Psychologists affirm that hopeful children are those who believe they can find ways to meet their objectives. Every teacher has the capacity to develop hopeful thinking in their students. Great teachers can create ‘high hope’ classrooms environments by always: • Teaching students that hope matters. • Teaching students how to learn. • Helping students develop individualised ways to master learning. • Communicating clear learning outcomes. • Ensuring students are accountable for their actions. Students with low hope hunger for boundaries and consistency. • Treating students with respect and building trust. • Helping students find and develop hope on their own - not providing hope for them. • Helping students learn how to solve the problem - not solving problems for them. Instilling the value of hope in our students leads to multiple benefits. Our mission in promoting this value has never been as great as it is today as we continue to encounter the effects of the pandemic and move into the re-building phase of educating our students. Finally, as members of our Marist family at St Gregory’s, we pray that St Marcellin walks with us each day, showing us the value of hard work, determination and a strong mind. We ask our Good Mother Mary to care and comfort us, giving us her example of a gentle heart at all times. Quae Seminaveris Metes

Mr Lee MacMaster

College Principal (K-12) )

SENIOR School

The St Gregory’s Agile Graduate

Ms Judith Tolomeo - Director of Teaching and Learning

The St Gregory’s Agile Graduate was developed with the vision that every student graduates as a well-rounded individual who has developed capability and agility across 4 domains of the whole person: Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual and SocialEmotional.

At the centre of what all students do are the 5 Marist characteristics of Presence, Simplicity, Family Spirit, Love of Work, and In the Way of Mary. For success in all domains, which are interconnected, St Greg’s graduates will be Responsible, Resilient, Resourceful, Relational and Reflective.

In the previous edition of Hearts & Minds, we introduced The St Gregory’s Agile Graduate Model and discussed its development from vision to implementation. Two aspects of the Model – Responsible and Reflective were explained in depth.

As we moved to remote learning in Term 3, the 3 R’s of Resilient, Resourceful and Relational became ever so important for St Gregory’s students. Students needed to be resilient to cope with the changing demands of the remote learning environment and the many uncertainties that this brought for all. Students needed to be resourceful, forever looking for alternatives and opportunities for learning. More so than ever, students needed to be relational, collaborating with their teachers and their peers remotely, using opportunities provided through Google Teams, Google classroom, Zoom and email.

The College is extremely proud of all its students and how they have demonstrated their capacity to embrace the opportunities provided, show initiative and value their own learning. We look forward to returning to the classroom and continuing to develop learners that embrace challenge and achieve goals.