In this Newsletter:
- Principal’s Highlight
- A message from Mr Andrews,
- Secondary Highlights,
- Parental Guidance,
- Upcoming events,
Principal’s Highlight
I’d like to urge you all to make time to come and hear from Linda Stade, our next Parent Seminar Series presenter. Lindahas a wealth of knowledge and experience in the world of adolescent friendships and some practical advice to help parents support their children in meeting relationship challenges. She will be at our Carramar campus on the evening of August the 2nd, click here for tickets.
Mr Andrews Almanac
As time-poor contemporary humans in the midst of the 2020’s, we all want our spare time to be used well, intentionally and fruitfully. I developed my own strategy for using holiday time well and to provide a sense of accomplishment in any given day.
I called it the M.A.T.E. strategy and I have rolled out this challenge to countless students, staff and families across the years.
There are four elements to getting a ‘M.A.T.E’. and the goal is to achieve all four in one day, ideally accumulating a M.A.T.E. each day. M.A.T.E. stands for :
M – Maintain and repair your environment
A – Artistic or personal endeavour
T – Time taken for yourself or spent with family
E – Exercise the mind or body
Everyone’s M.A.T.E will look vastly different. For example:
M – Tidy the bedroom
A – Practice a musical instrument
T – Eating dinner with the family
E – Go for a run
Or
M – Make a bag of clothes for a charity shop
A – Make something from Five Minute Crafts
T – Read some of a novel
E – 15 minutes on the trampoline
Of course, I am not welded on to this strategy. Even when I am at my most dedicated, some days I’ll only get a MAT, or an EAT or an AM. Some days, and forgive the obvious joke here, I will finish the day with no MATEs at all. This is all a bit of fun of course, but it does give you cause to think about using time well, as well as giving structure to the day for children going into the longer mid-year break. Give it a go at your house and I’d love to know how it went when we all get back in Term 3.
Take care,
Bennet Andrews, Head of Campus
Secondary Highlights
Senior Production rehearsals are continuing. Mark the season of Chamber Music by Arthur Kopit in your calendar: the 10th and 11th of August.
Year 11s and 12s have had their Semester 1 examinations and year 10s have had their first taste of extended assessments in exam conditions.
Our Outdoor Education students braved the elements, hiking and climbing along the Cape-to-Cape trail.
MAKURU CONCERT
The amazing Makuru senior music concert took place and wowed us all – congratulations to all involved.
YEAR 12 RETREAT
Our year 12s had an emotional and nostalgic time on their last retreat at St Stephen’s School.
Parental Guidance
Reward, Recharge and Reflect
At the end of a busy term it is time to have a well earned break. Hopefully Semester 1 was a successful one for each of our students. Whether it was in your academics, sport, music drama, arts, the list goes on, I pray that there has been moments of joy and pride in what you have achieved.
Over the next 3 weeks I would like to encourage students and their families to Reward, Recharge and Reflect.
Reward – take the time over the break to reward yourself by doing something you love. Many have worked hard to achieve personal bests at school and this involves hard work, sacrifice and time. As a result, activities that you might otherwise engage with have been put on hold. Take the time to reward yourself and do them now!
Recharge – For many student the holidays will simply be a time where you need to recharge the batteries. Recharge and replenish your energy stores as this time is yours to use as you will. Not being at school from 8.25am – 3.20pm or CAS sport or band practice or simply study pressures. Recharge for the new semester so you are fresh and ready for the next challenges that come your way.
Reflect – Finally with the end of a semester you will soon have access to all your subject grades. Does your mark reflect your ability or could you have done more? How did you use your class time? Did you make the most of your teacher’s expertise? Did you organise yourself well to prepare appropriately for your assessments? If the answer is yes, well done! If the answer is perhaps not then reflect on what needs to change to ensure you achieve your potential in Semester 2.
Happy holidays,
Sarah Stockton-Rice, Deputy Head of Secondary
Upcoming Events –
-
2nd July – 9th July – NAIDOC WEEK
-
17th July – 2023 HASS Tour
-
2nd August – Parent Series: Friends & Frenemies with Linda Stade
-
3rd August – Senior Production: Chamber Music by Arthur Kopit
Term 3 Highlights to look forward to –
- Student Leader elections
- House Athletics in week 3
- Science Week in week 4
- Leaver’s Shield in week 6
- ACC Athletics Carnival in week 7
- Grads Dinner and Grads day!