From the Principal
MRS NICOLA TAYLOR
PRINCIPAL
The Junior School Fathers’ Day Breakfast is an annual highlight. The delight and excitement on the faces of the little girls is an image worth capturing. Dads, grandads and special family friends enjoyed a juicy bacon and egg roll prepared by our BBQ veterans, graciously took turns at ‘swing duty’, and tried hard to not look too competitive in the dads vs daughters soccer match.
Our all-girls context welcomes the involvement of dads and men in the education of the girls. How encouraging to have a strong representation of dads within the P&F and Foundation. Dads are regularly seen on the sporting sidelines coaching, managing or simply cheering teams on. The positive influence and contribution of male staff, both teaching and non-teaching adds greatly to the College also. PLC Armidale girls are known, cared for and educated well by both the women and men in their lives.
Oeuvre to be held in the Astra Arts Centre on Tuesday, 10 September provides another opportunity for girls to showcase and celebrate their learning with family, friends, and peers. Oeuvre (n: the body of work of an author, composer, painter) is a signature Senior School event allowing our Year 12 students along with their teachers to display the range of creative and expressive works the girls have undertaken across a range of HSC courses.
All are welcome to this event, especially younger students and their families who may wish to learn more about the major independent projects completed in subjects as diverse as Dance, Design & Technology, Drama, English Extension 2, History Extension, Hospitality, Music (1, 2 & Extension) and Visual Arts. For one night only, all student major works will be on display along with a selection of performances demonstrating the diversity, creativity, talent and sheer hard work of this year group and their teachers.
Many comment on the strong sense of community at PLC Armidale. This is something we value and do not take for granted. It is engendered in a variety of ways through various means. Our celebrations and events strengthen this sense of belonging. Next Friday, 6th September, we welcome the opportunity to share a morning at the College with Grandparents, Grandfriends and some of our more senior supporters. Again, all are welcome to join us for Chapel, a concert and classroom connections.
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Grandparent's Day
Please remember Grandparent's Day is coming up on Friday 6 September from 8.45am. We'd love for you to join us on the day. We have a wonderful morning planned for our very special grandparents. Bookings are absolutely essential. Click here to reserve your place.
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Dates for the Diary
EVENT
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DATE
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Fathers' Day
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01/09/2019
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Pathways - PLC Sydney Testing and Interview Day
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02/09/2019
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Boarders' Chapel
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02/09/2019
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ICAS Digital Technologies Assessment
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03/09/2019
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ICAS Science Assessment
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05/09/2019
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Grandparents' Day
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06/09/2019
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College Council Governance Day
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07/09/2019
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Boarders' Church Service at St Mark's
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08/09/2019
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Boarders' Chapel
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09/09/2019
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ICAS Writing Assessment
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10/09/2019
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Oeuvre - Year 12 Showcase of HSC works
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10/09/2019
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OGU / Year 12 Morning Tea
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11/09/2019
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Thailand Service Learning Preparation Meeting
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11/09/2019
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Year 7 Vaccination
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12/09/2019
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Year 7 Maths Olympiad
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12/09/2019
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ICAS Spelling Bee Assessment
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12/09/2019
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Years 5 and 6 Maths Olympiad
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13/09/2019
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Senior School News
MRS ANNA CALDWELL
HEAD OF SENIOR SCHOOL
We have made it to the middle of Term 3 already and it is all systems go! Our Year 12 students completed their Trial HSC Examinations and I would like to commend them all for their maturity and focus during this time. We missed seeing them around the College and look forward to sharing their last remaining weeks of this term with them.
Leadership
All nominations and manifestoes for Prefect and Leadership positions have now been received. Thank you to the girls in Year 11 who have stepped out of their comfort zones and have put themselves forward to be considered for these leadership positions.
Speeches by those who have nominated were delivered in Week 5 and interviews will be conducted during Week 6 for those who nominated for Head and Deputy Head Prefect. Voting will take place in Week 7. Manifestos will be on display in the foyer of the library for all to read.
Uniform
Please can you ensure that all items of school uniform are named.
PLC PRIDE - Sportsmanship
I often speak about the importance of good sportsmanship and showing PLC Pride through good sportsmanship in the way that we handle both victory and defeat with grace, style and dignity and not going into every event with a ‘win at all costs’ attitude.
Sportsmanship is defined as playing fair, following the rules of the game or competition, respecting the judgement of referees and officials and treating your teammates and your opponents with respect.
Sportsmanship is not just reserved for those who are competing, it also applies to all coaches and supporters as well, who need to be aware of how they behave during competition and the impact that they can have on everyone around them. There are player and supporter codes of conduct that we must all abide by. Sportsmanship is a style, an attitude, and something that we should all display positively in all our interactions with each other every day.
How can we demonstrate good sportsmanship in real-life, every day?
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Play by the rules.
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Attend all trainings, rehearsals and practices.
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Work hard and realise that everyone on each team deserves a chance to play, be included and have a go.
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Talk politely and courteously towards everyone, including your teammates, your opponents, your coaches, their coaches, the officials presiding over the competition and all spectators too. This goes for before, during and after the event or game.
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Keep your cool, even if others are losing their temper, you do not have to as well. Maintain high standards and integrity.
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Cheer your teammates on with positive statements, do not put anyone else down.
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When officials make a call, accept it gracefully even if it goes against you. Remember they are human too and are doing their best, just as you are.
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Whether you win or lose, congratulate your opponents on a game well played.
I encourage everyone to finish this term full of PLC Pride and demonstrate good sportsmanship in all that we do.
Senior School News - Teaching and Learning
MRS LORNA AHERN
HEAD OF TEACHING AND LEARNING
What is courage?
Being courageous is more than just being confident (although that is a component). Being confident is persevering when things are hard. Courage is that next extra step – it’s persevering in the face of difficulty and fear. Put simply, courage is starting and finishing something that scares you. Courage is not some superhuman quality, as it seems in the movies where there is an absence of fear - or common sense! Courage not only co-exists with fear; it’s about acting in spite of fear. Like all dispositions, it only grows through use.
Courage is the power to let go of what’s comfortable
Taking risks is at the heart of being courageous, however, when we stick to what is familiar, we remove risk. Encouraging our students to take risks, and withholding from rushing in too early to rescue them is
vital. When, as adults, we move in too quickly and our children avoid some of life’s pain, we are actually limiting their chance to grow in their courage.
Courage is about having a go and being vulnerable
When we try something new, we take risks and make ourselves vulnerable. As Brene Brown, university lecturer and social commentator says: “Vulnerability is about showing up and being seen. It’s tough to do that when we’re terrified about what people might see or think.” Often that willingness to be seen, potentially when we don’t succeed, is so hard for us. Social media makes it possible to curate and project an online image of perfection. When we try something new, that online illusion can be shattered and, for some people, that can be devastating.
Our children will fail! It doesn’t matter what we do, we can’t prevent it, and it’s actually unhelpful to try and prevent failure. We need to help students see that failure is not only OK, but it’s normal when we are doing something new, creative or complex. We need to help our students see that failure is the beginning, not the end. As Will Smith says “Fail early, fail often, fail forward!” It takes boldness to grow like this.
Courage is about trying again
In order to “fail often”, you have to be able to bounce back, and again this takes effort, and a willingness to fail again. Often a child’s worst fears are about being seen to fail in front of their peers or the people they value. To do so more than once can seem unbearable.
Courage is contagious
Again from Brene Brown: “Courage is contagious. Every time we choose courage, we make everyone around us a little better and the world a little braver.” Courage is not only a gift to ourselves, but to those around us. When we choose to make mistakes and try again, then others see their world grow a little larger and open to more possibilities.
Courage and learning
We need courage in every aspect of our life, including learning. Ron Berger, who works with Harvard Project Zero’s Expeditionary Learning Project explores the idea of different types of courage. He states: “Some people have mountain-climbing courage but no public-speaking courage. Soccer courage is different from musical courage; big-city-at-night courage is different from forest-at-night courage. We all have courage in certain realms and less in others. And we can all work on our courage where we need it.”
A Sydney university study (School Psychology Quarterly 2011, Vol 26, No 2, 145-160.) has highlighted that courage can have positive impact on a student’s learning. In terms of educational strategies, the study underlines the importance of perseverance and the benefits of reducing academic fear and anxiety. Strategies that teachers and parents can use to boost perseverance are to encourage students to set goals; to decide what they are aiming for and how to get there. Helping them see the importance of persevering when things are tough, scary and in the face of failure is at the core of building a student’s courage “muscle”.
The wonderful news is that if students who lack confidence are given strategies and the encouragement to persist, they can have good academic outcomes - indeed, matching those of confident students at the same level of ability.
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