Tag: Welcome Back

Welcome back from St Stephen’s School

January 28, 2020

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Please see the attached letter from Dr Darnelle Pretorius, Head of Campus, welcoming members of the School community to the 2020 School Year.

The School is a quiet place without the St Stephen’s students, so we look forward to seeing them back on Campus and wish them and our families all the best for 2020!

Welcome Letter Term 1, 2020

Welcome Back

July 31, 2018

Welcome back to Semester Two! I hope all our families had a good three weeks break. I have been here during the break, seeing and supporting the amazing work taking place in the Houses. I still cannot believe what was achieved in only three weeks. They are almost finished, and Carana and Timae look amazing, so I am sure Aletheans must be excited about what is going to be happening later in the year.

We start Semester Two with a few changes for study programs. Some students have a change in electives, plus would have had some great feedback from teachers at the Reporting Day and in SEQTA comments. In our first assembly for the year, I talked to the students about this being a great halfway point to assess goals, review goal setting with your Homeroom teachers, and find focus for Semester Two.  This could be as diverse as a focus on excellence, on goals, on class work, friendships, and final results at the end of the year.

The Year 12s have returned focused and ready for their final weeks of schooling. In assembly, I thanked the Year 12 students for their leadership of our school. Sometimes at this stage it can feel like you have been at school for ever, our senior students have been racing toward the finish line for so long and now it is almost here. My hope for them is to keep strong, and keep focused on their goals. We have shared a lot together and are here with all our students, and with our Year 12 cohort as they focus on the finishing line and we run the final part of this race together.

Dr Liz Criddle

Deputy Head of School

Welcome Back Message from the Head of Secondary

January 22, 2018

Dear Parents and Students

Welcome to 2018! A new year is filled with new possibilities for all of us – in our roles as teachers, parents and as students. We also have a point from which to grow personally as well. It is strange that the 1st January becomes an arbitrary point from which to start, but the new year comes after a rest and after a time for reflection. New Years are important. Many of our plans may be focussed around our families, our work and our relationships.

Within a few weeks we will each know whether we have thought about what we would like to achieve and how we might do that – or whether we have lapsed back into 2017 and that 2018 is looking more like a repeat of 2017.

The School has released its new Strategic Plan which will carry us through the next 3 years and beyond. Our focus is threefold and simple: People, Purpose and Place: the best teaching and learning possible; students and staff in strong healthy, constructive and respectful relationships; and the best possible teaching environment.

Our children are not all the same. Half of our 2017 uni-bound ATAR bound students achieved rankings in the top 20% in the state and we are very proud of all of our students who achieved what they hoped. Last year rather unusually, 91% (against the usual 80%) of all Year 12 students at the Duncraig Campus worked towards ATAR rankings, yet many had not planned on university as a destination or on using their ATAR for university entry. Some of our students who planned on using a Certificate 4, in conjunction with 4 ATAR subjects, for that purpose have felt very stressed through the time they pursued a “joint” strategy and had to let go their ATAR plans to focus on the Certificate 4. The Cert 4 worked, the ATAR did not.

There are two things students often say that I find worrying: the first is that they want to go to university without knowing what they might even be interested in – and the second is the hope to be famous, again without any idea of why and in what field.

Together, as parents and teachers, we are blessed to have another year to work with our children. We have a year in which to work out whether what might be best for each child is what we had planned and dreamed. Between us we can create the conversations, the attitude of positive growth and enough realism to make happier, resilient and less worried children.

Students:  your parents and your teachers have runs on the board, they have valuable experiences and advice for you to consider as you enjoy their support this year. There will be hard work and the satisfaction of knowing you have done your best at something wisely chosen.

Best wishes for 2018

Bruce Titlestad

Head of School

Educating the whole person

April 22, 2017

Welcome back for Semester Two! It is wonderful to see everyone returning refreshed after the Easter break.

At St Stephen’s School, we educate the whole person – this encompasses elements of our spiritual, academic, pastoral, emotional and physical being.

I encourage every student at SSS to be their best for themselves and each other. Our relationships between school, family and student is of great importance. The family has a vital role in student development, and we enable this through communication between home and school, with open communication lines, and through keeping parents and carers informed. We welcome the participation of families as we all work together to develop well-rounded students.

One element of educating the whole person is the academic, and there are a number of opportunities coming up this term to support and engage families in the academic life and progress of our students. Parents and carers are invited to take part in our Subject Information Evenings, Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews, Coffee and Conversation mornings, and subject counselling. Information on these has been emailed and is available in SEQTA on the Bulletin and Documents pages. Please access SEQTA on a regular basis to obtain ongoing reporting about the progress of your child. The marks and comments found here form part of our continuous reporting cycle.

I look forward to the opportunities that will arise throughout this term for us to meet up for a chat.

Dr Liz Criddle

Deputy Head of Secondary