Welcome to the 2022 academic year at Penola Catholic College. In particular, I extend a warm welcome to our new staff, students and families. Staff members are keen to support each student to achieve their best. Parents you can assist by ensuring that your child has an adequate study space and by encouraging your child to embrace all aspects of school life and to strive for excellence. Please be sure to contact the College should you have any queries or concerns.
Captain of Academic Excellence
We value student voice and provide many forums for students to share their experience and perspectives. Leah M (11J) is our Captain of Academic Excellence for 2022. Please read her address shared at the first College Assembly.
Good morning fellow students, teachers, parents, and distinguished guests. My name is Leah, I am a year 11 student and I have the absolute privilege of being Captain of Academic Excellence for 2022. This morning I would like to share a few goals with you.
As we are all well and truly aware, the past two years have been very challenging due to the current pandemic we all find ourselves amid. This has resulted in work ethics and motivation levels decreasing as most of our learning has been online. I truly encourage students to realise that this year can be seen as a fresh start so that you can regain confidence and kick the goals they are hoping to achieve. Throughout my leadership role, I aim to be a source that provides inspiration to the community, through various readings, quotes and resources I will share throughout the year.
In addition, I would like to address the concept of student questioning throughout 2022. I believe one of the main reasons that students do not understand their work is because they are reluctant in asking questions. It seems as if there is a stigma around this, and this is something I want to work towards eliminating. Throughout the year I will be providing many ways and platforms allowing students to ask questions. Moreover, I would like to begin the process with each Head of Learning at the College to find ways we can provide clubs and additional resources to further enhance the learning experiences for all. A group environment like a club could be more approachable and less intimidating than a one-on-one session with a teacher.
From Neale Daniher “In life, it’s not if it gets tough – it’s when it gets tough. No matter what happens, it’s up to you to do something about it”. As the 2022 academic year is now underway, it’s time for us to write our next chapter of our journey here at Penola, which starts now by putting in our best effort into everything we do. I am so excited to see what this year holds and look forward to encouraging each of us to be the best versions of ourselves. Thank you.
Tutor Learning Program
As you may be aware many students across the state have experienced setbacks in their learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is our intention to support students to catch up on learning they may have missed over the last two years. Penola Catholic College has received funding from the state government to continue with our tutoring program to mitigate this learning loss. This tutoring program will involve supporting students from Year 7 – 10 to strengthen their literacy and numeracy skills. Consequently, Penola has engaged tutors to work with students, predominantly by providing support in a classroom setting during English and/or Mathematic classes. We are optimistic that this additional support, that caters specifically to the needs of the students, will have a positive impact on all who are involved with the program.
At Penola, we celebrate student achievement and this year our focus is strengthening our learning culture. Our students remain at the centre of everything that we do. It is our hope that every student will succeed and flourish as we support them in their learning journey at Penola Catholic College.