The St Peters Journey
Early next week, our Year 12 students, along with around 55,000 Year 12 students across the state, will have completed their final exam period at school! Three weeks of continued study and External Exams will have ended. As always, just before our students headed into their first exam for English, Pastor Matt said a special prayer, then school leaders and teachers offered words of encouragement.
It has been very pleasing to hear the responses of our Year 12 students when I have asked the question: ‘’How are your feeling about your exam today?” Frequently, our students have commented: “I feel calm actually”, “I feel like we are all really prepared”, “I’ve studied A LOT”, “I am going to do my absolute best”. These responses are a testament to the focus on wellbeing, self-regulation, excellent teaching, learning and the Plus Ultra attitude that we promote here at St Peters Springfield every day.
It has also been wonderful to see classes of students debriefing with each other and their teachers afterwards, discussing the exam questions, their approaches and reassuring each other. Our students and staff are truly supportive of each other.
But when did our Year 12 students actually start preparing for their final exams? The journey didn’t simply start this year! It started way back in Prep; every learning activity, excursion, camp, every co-curricular activity, every accomplishment and even more importantly, every failure, are all a part of the journey. Moreover, the learning that takes place is not simply about content – the 'what'; students learn best from the 'how' – excellence in our teachers’ practice, the support provided by parents and guardians at home, when students experiment with different approaches to learning and find what works effectively for them – visual, auditory, reading and writing, and kinaesthetic learning; and by knowing the 'why' of the learning – its purpose. The 'what', 'how' and 'why' all contribute to an authentic education.
In Chapels, Maths and design subjects, our students have learnt that the triangle is the strongest shape, capable of holding its shape, having a strong base and providing immense support. Pastor Matt, Chappie Ben and staff talk to students about the importance of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Our students have explored some of our world’s famous architectural structures like the Eiffel Tower, Great Pyramids of Giza and the Louvre Pyramid which use triangles to make beautiful, durable structures.
The triangle is important here at St Peters Springfield - the bonds between students, their parents/families, and the staff at our school are absolutely essential for our students to flourish in their learning and life. To make the journey to Year 12 a rich one, each party at each vertex of the triangle needs to understand its links to the next and work in partnership. Open communication, respect and care must exist between all parties. Our teachers engage frequently, respectfully and with great care with our students and encourage students to reach out. I encourage you, as parents and guardians, to continue to engage with the informative blogs created by our teachers and communication letters, to come along to the various events here at the College, to see what is happening in our community via Facebook and to reach out to teachers to optimise the learning journey of your child.
I congratulate our Year 12 students for their efforts over the past weeks – their diligence, confidence and resilience. We are looking forward to celebrating a job well done with the Class of 2023 at the tail end of next week as we have our Valedictory Service, Guard of Honour and a Year 12 final St Peters war cry. We are very proud of our fine young people for their leadership of our College, not just this year but throughout their time here at the College.
Indeed, we wish all of our students the very best as they finish up their classwork and assessments over the coming weeks. I wish to thank all of our dedicated staff for the tremendous professionalism, faithful commitment and care in guiding our young people to learn and be the best they can be each and every day. Wishing our very special and much loved community every blessing for the weeks ahead.
Natalie Houston
Principal
