These days much is said about the importance of independence and resilience in children and the need for building capacity in our young people. Certainly, because of the importance of facilitating the development of these essential traits in children, schools invest a great deal of time in developing responsive programs that aim to bridge the gap between research and best school practice in this field. I ask you the question as a parent as I also ask myself -“Am I aiding or inhibiting my child’s/children’s independence and resilience?"

Statistics are increasingly revealing that many children are no longer allowed to be independent thereby preventing them from experiencing the learning that comes with the inevitable mistakes that children will make in that process. Many parents are now taking on tasks that would have previously been naturally given over to a child at the appropriate age. Unfortunately, it has become apparent that as a result, children are failing to reach normal developmental milestones of increased social and personal competence, and it is these milestones that will prepare them to successfully and confidently negotiate their way in the world as adolescents and then adults.

Psychologists warn that over-parenting is helping to produce a generation of anxious children who are not resilient, have poor life skills, a strong sense of entitlement and little sense of responsibility. Research demonstrates that over-parenting teaches children to be entitled – as a parent, let them experience some failures and learn to be resilient instead. My Dad was a professional cray fisherman and I remember vividly him allowing me to try and coil rope, splice buoys onto a rope, weld metal bases on cray pots, attach hooks and sinkers to fishing lines. I regularly experienced failure trying to learn these skills which were not easy. I kept at it, there were times I wanted to stop, I did become frustrated, although these continued attempts built resilience in me which then led to independence.

We are moving towards a time in the term where students will start to get given assignments or informed of upcoming tests or exams. It is really important that you encourage your child to set aside time at home in their study routine to reflect on what they have learnt that day, what they understood and what they need to seek clarification on. Planning their time is very important and is a precursor to success. As we head into the middle of our first term of the year, I would like to remind everyone of the importance of helping to facilitate the development of personal and social competence in children. As a parent you are your child’s first and most important teacher, by stepping back and allowing them to increasingly do things for themselves and take increasing responsibility for their own actions. Even if that means they have to face uncomfortable consequences, you are actually helping to equip them with the skills of resilience that will serve them well throughout their lives. When things do go wrong or not as expected, resilience is what helps you to cope and ultimately gets you through these difficult times, often making you stronger than you were before.

Simon Edgar
Head of Junior School

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain

NEXT is an exciting new project-based program that has been developed by A.B. Paterson College staff to push the boundaries of what we can offer our students in a Year 7 to 9 educational program. The College has placed a particular emphasis on capturing student interest with a bespoke, authentic project that links to an aspect of their lives that they really want to explore. By providing our students with a diverse and rich learning environment in which their creativity as an innovator can flourish, we intend to give them the opportunity to develop their ideas both within and outside the curriculum and as they do so further enhance those all-important 21st Century Skills. Medical technology is providing more extensive evidence about how the brain ‘learns’ and the College identified the need for its curriculum offerings to align with this new found knowledge. 

A major part of our vision is that every student has the opportunity to participate in a program that would bring about genuine engagement. Each module within the NEXT program provides not only an authentic, real world experience but within this exists the opportunity to harness contemporary, literary and numeracy skills – all within the aforementioned project of their choice. This experience is designed to benefit the holistic development of our students across many subjects and provide a solid foundation prior to beginning Senior Subjects in Year 10. Projects will not be pre-defined by the teacher, the teacher will guide and facilitate and provide support but each project will be essentially ‘owned’ by the team and will culminate in a showcase event that will be a part of a student planned and managed festival at the end of the year. As well as contemporary skills development, each program is designed to clarify the design process and assist with the development of literacy and numeracy skills.

Students from Year 7 to Year 9 opted into a module within the program that is timetabled during one double lesson per fortnight. Each module has been selected and developed in consultation with the students to ensure that their interests are catered for and each project is designed to be ‘hands on’, invoke active learning and authentically develop those contemporary skills: Collaboration, Knowledge Construction, Self-Regulation, Real-World Problem-Solving and Innovation plus ICT for Learning and Skilful Communication. The learning experiences have been designed to embrace contextual problem-solving and provide creative opportunities to absorb students into their learning and create ‘flow’. Another key driver during the planning phase was to encourage a growth mindset – teachers will provide constant encouragement to ensure that students positively focus on personal ability – this will be paramount as they are guided through their projects.

Whilst failure is not a primary aim for any of these projects, holding discussions around productive failure, including role-model examples of how to overcome or use failure with controllable methods such as problem-solving, during the prototyping phase, will certainly be a part of the learning experience. Student-centred learning and teaching combined with inquiry approaches focused on producing a product/service for the festival and the open-ended nature of each project will to lead to negotiation and collaboration within the teams.

Whilst there will be a competitive element to each showcase event - that will demonstrate to the festival audience the skills, expertise, knowledge and understanding developed during the program - there will be no formal assessment or reporting aligned to the NEXT program.

Modules on offer in 2021 are listed below. Year on year these will be added to, based upon student feedback.

Up-cycled Fashion Show
Want to try your hand at Fashion Upcycling? Repurpose discarded materials to create an outfit or accessory for a Fashion Show. Working through the design process and showcasing your work, you can bring awareness to the importance of reducing waste, recycling and repurposing.

Electronic Textiles
Starting with ideation and technical skills development you will prototype your design and integrate 3D elements and electronics. Products include fashion items, jewellery, safety equipment or accessories.

Myth Busting Demonstration or Video
Movie pet peeve? Need a decisive way to win an argument with a friend? Read something in a book and wondered "would that actually work?" Or just a good old desire to know if something is true or not? Try your hand at myth busting. Investigate the truth by testing it yourself.

Design and Facilitate a Heist
An incredibly valuable artefact is on display at a gallery or museum. You will need to plan how to protect it. You have heard that a gang of criminals intend to pull off the biggest heist in modern history. You need to work out a plan to steal this object and then how to thwart such a plan.

Events Management for the Festival
Here’s your chance to get behind the scenes to produce an event. Your contribution could include venue design, staging, sound, lighting, soundtracks, ticketing and/or advertising for the festival. Working with students involved in other modules, you could work as technical crew, backstage crew, creative crew or designers to promote the event and add that extra spark required for a successful show!

How-to? Guide
You will create an online resource (using Microsoft Stream or similar) to teach others about “HOW-TO” do something you are good at. Perhaps, you will teach how to grow basil, chip a soccer ball from in front of you to your head, level up in your favourite game or edit photos on your favourite app. You will need to perfect the skill yourself and then present these steps to an audience keen to learn.

Engineering Challenge - Design, Build, Compete
Improve your design, prototyping and understanding of engineering and enjoy the challenge of an engineering competition. You will be presented with an authentic, real-world challenge to work on in a team. Your prototype will be presented for testing and assessment by expert judges. Showcase your passion for engineering  and experience an authentic engineering problem.

Escape Room
Have you always wanted to experience the ultimate escape room? This is your opportunity to design and create a real escape room, then challenge your friends, family, teachers and fellow students to solve it during our Festival at the end of the year. The details will be up to you – choose a theme (Harry Potter? Anime? Horror movies?), decide on the type of challenges you will set (Maths problems? Riddles? Puzzles?), and figure out what the ultimate goal will be (Find the idol?). It’s all up to you and your team!

Advocating for Change
Do you want to make a difference to the world around you? Are you passionate about a social issue like gender equality, racism, poverty or refugees? Or maybe there is an environmental issue such as climate change, coral reef bleaching or ocean plastics that you just have to tackle. This project will help you to develop your activism and leverage your knowledge to create a viral campaign that makes a difference to the issue of your choice. We will explore TV ads, social media videos and other platforms to find the most effective way to raise awareness and advocate for change.

Tammy Roth
Director of Teaching, Learning and Innovation

The beginning of Week 4 saw the first in-person Years 1 – 3 assembly. It was lovely to have a live audience, parents in attendance and the return of live class items, musical performances, character strength recognitions and achievement awards. A very big well done to 3C for hosting this assembly and for their varied class items which included recounts, art work and a song.

Throughout my visits to classrooms so far this year, I have seen a lot of outstanding work being undertaken by students. I wish to particularly point out the Years 4 – 6, as from the start of this year we have commenced the streaming of English and not just reading. This has seen a continued focus on both reading and writing with the implementation of a targeted and research driven reading program in Years 4 – 6 called CARS+ and STARS+. This program allows students to identify and be taught twelve reading and comprehension strategies and therefore, improve literacy results. The program is divided into two parts: CARS (the assessment portion) and STARS (the instruction portion). This differentiated instruction is an approach to teaching that advocates active planning for and attention to student differences in the classroom.

Thursday saw the APS Swimming Carnival take place at Somerset College. I wish to acknowledge the training and dedication the students have put into their swimming and the results showed how much this effort has paid off. Well done – you represented A.B. Paterson College with aplomb!

The Junior School students celebrated Andrew Barton “Banjo” Paterson’s birthday which is officially on 17 February with the annual Banjo’s Poetry Recital on Friday. This took place in the LPAC and saw many renditions of his famous ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas. It was outstanding to see and hear the students passion on display.

Simon Edgar
Head of Junior School

This week our Junior School celebrated the birthday of our College namesake, Andrew Barton 'Banjo' Paterson, with our annual Banjo's Poetry Recital. The event was performed in the DMPC in front of all classes in Years 1 - 6, Ms Sheehy, Mrs Bakanay, Mrs Roth, Junior School teachers and staff. Aiden Papworth and Teya Morgan did a fantastic job of hosting the recital. The audience enjoyed performances from every year level, as well as five special solo performances by some Year 6 students. All students are to be congratulated for their wonderful efforts. The program for the event featured:

As part of their current unit, Year 12 Health students are investigating the effectiveness of community as a resource for healthy living. Their focus topic is anxiety. In Term 4 the students surveyed members of the Senior School community to examine the causes of stress and anxiety for our College community. They also carried out analysis of the most up to date theory and research papers looking at what resources can be implemented to support members of a community in dealing with stress or anxiety.

As the College already operates a positive psychology program across all year groups, the class looked to implement an initiative that focused on building positive relationships for students new to the Senior School and their homeroom teachers. Our vertical homeroom system means that most students will have the same homeroom for the duration of their time with us, so it is often the most significant staff/student relationship during their time at the College.
 
All 58 new Senior School students were invited to meet with their homeroom tutors and Heads of House at Matilda's Café at The Winton Centre for a morning tea. Dennis and Lawson House met on Thursday 11th February and Mackellar and Wright on Friday 12th February. The Year 12 Health class will then follow up with students and tutors to collect data to be used in making recommendations for future action.

Peter Brookes
Head of Dennis House

Our littlest students weren't going to let a rainy day stop them from having some special time at school with their favourite teddy bears! Today our Preps enjoyed lunch with their teddy bears outside under shelter and then snuggled inside to watch Paddington for the remainder of their rainy lunch break. Lucky teddy bears!

This year, the Sustainability Club is excited to introduce several new recycling initiatives, including collecting and recycling bread tags. This initiative is in collaboration with South Australian company, Aussie Bread Tags for Wheelchairs. The bread tags are collected nationally across Australia and then recycled locally into products which are sold to raise funds to buy wheelchairs for disadvantaged people in South Africa.

Collect your bread tags and drop them off to one of the following collection points:

• Student Services
• Miss Moore’s room in 6M (C11)
• Winton Staffroom
• Homestead Library
• Rickard Administration building 

For more information please visit: https://ozbreadtagsforwheelchairs.org.au/

Congratulations to Wright House for taking out the trifecta in the recent Inter-house swimming carnivals! Wright House won first place in both the Junior and Senior swimming carnivals and took out the overall win for both carnivals. Some impressive records tumbled in the Senior competition. You can see all the results outlined in the tables below. 

Congratulations to everyone who participated and gave it their all for House glory!

Lions Youth of the Year

This week, A.B. Paterson College hosted the Helensvale Lions Youth of the Year Competition. College Captain, Jodie Down and Angelina Inthavong represented the College. Jodie won both the Public Speaking section and the Overall Competition and will now compete at the Regional Round in March. Congratulations Jodie!

Triathlon 

Congratulations to Jonas Longhurst (Year 9) and Riley Grimmer (Year 8) who will both compete at the National Triathlon Championships Hervey Bay, in September. Best of luck boys!

Last week we revealed our brand new College entrance feature on the corner of Arundel Drive and Brisbane Road. Please enjoy this video which tells the story of Banjo's legendary poem, The Man From Snowy River, and how this iconic statue came to be at A.B. Paterson College.