From the Principal
Dear Parents, Carers and Students
As part of our SJC Towards 2024 Strategic Plan we have been working very hard to promote a culture of learning and growth with all members of our community. Two of the strategic intents that align with this work are:
- As an aspirational learning community, St Joseph’s College embraces a culture of learning to empower young people to pursue their passions and meet the demands of their future pathways.
- St Joseph’s College maximises engagement in learning and the wellbeing of students to grow as valued members of our community.
Whilst developing and embedding a culture of learning and striving for growth takes time, commitment, perseverance, and consistent effort, it is also very important to highlight and acknowledge short term success to maintain enthusiasm and desire.
An example of the success that are a result of the consistent targeted learning and efforts of the students and staff have been made available this week when ACARA released the NAPLAN reports for 2021.
These graphs below highlight the outstanding results of our current Year 8 students and the excellent growth achieved by our Year 10 students in 2021. As you can imagine this information has been well received by our community and highlights the great work our students and staff are doing in partnership with our parents and caregivers in ensuring students are achieving to the best of their ability. Congratulations Year 8 and Year 10 students and the staff of St Joseph’s College.
Further information can be accessed at
Results
When reflecting upon these results and our desire to have our students continue to achieve growth in their learning, I remembered when I ran into a Year 12 student from my previous school earlier this year. This past student informed me that he had started university after working for a couple of years. He then went on to express how grateful he was of the support that the teachers provided him, and he wanted me to continue to emphasise to our current students the importance of perseverance and what he referred to as GRIT. When I asked him what he meant by GRIT he informed me that during his first lecture they played a TED talk that was closely linked to perseverance and GRIT, and this was what he thought he lacked during his senior years in school and why he was not successful with his learning at the time. When I had the chance I researched the TED talk that he spoke of and I thought that it aligned very nicely with the Joey’s Way framework that we are engaging the students in here.
The TED talk is presented by Angela Lee Duckworth who in her late 20s left a demanding job as a management consultant to teach maths in public schools in San Francisco, Philadelphia, and New York. After five years of teaching seventh graders, she went back to university to complete her Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is now an assistant professor in the psychology department. Her research subjects include students, West Point cadets, and corporate salespeople, all of whom she studies to determine how "grit" is a better indicator of success than factors such as IQ or family income.
This research on how a growth mindset and demonstrating “grit” in the form of perseverance, hard work and a drive to improve is the greatest determining factor for success validates and furthers our beliefs that the imperatives and lessons participated in as part of our Joey’s Way Program is of great benefit to our students.
For your information I have included the link to the TED talk below. It is approximately a six-minute segment and is well worth watching for parents and caregivers.
Our Program Leader for Senior Schooling Mrs Karen Tobin, expands on GRIT further in her section of the newsletter this week.
This week, as our students continue to work on assignments and head into exams, we pray for the students at St Joseph’s College, that they may have the same belief in themselves that we the staff have in them. We hope that they take a positive and gritty mindset into their lessons and assessment, believing that they are capable of learning and improving each and every day.
May God give you the grace and grit to keep walking,
One foot in front of the other no matter how impossible the mountain feels to climb.
May He lead you by streams of living water, refresh your weary soul, and give you just what you need at every turn.
May He take your burdens and give you a new song to sing.
May He renew your faith to believe that fresh blessings await you just around the bend.
And tomorrow when the sun comes up,
May His new morning mercies feel as miraculous as they are.
Amen
(Prayer courtesy of Susie Larson)
Kort Goodman - Principal - KGoodman@sjc.qld.edu.au