Helping students discover a sense of joy in their studies

Week 2 always feels like the first 'routine' week of the year. The students begin to settle into their new classes, discover the most efficient routes to walk between lessons and come to terms with the new, increased workload demands of their new courses.

This time of year is also the best possible moment for students to begin creating new, more impactful habits with regards to their studies. This applies equally to students of all ages. For the Year 7s, developing a routine of regular study and homework can be crucial in navigating the transition into high school. For the Year 12s, their truncated academic year means there is little time to recover from a 'slow start'.

With this in mind, at the Parent Evenings for Years 8, 9,11, and 12 this week, we highlighted some of the key goals for the students this year, and outlined the ways the staff at CBC, parents and the students themselves can work together to make the year a successful one.

This week I would like to focus on one of our major academic priorities. Helping students discover a sense of joy in their studies. At CBC, 54% of the students in graduating class of 2024 received at least one A Grade. This is significantly higher than the statewide WA average of 40%. This speaks to the great work of the Pathways team in helping each student refine an appropriate goal and vindicates the CBC approach of being flexible with student timetables and subjects wherever possible to allow students to dig deeper into areas of interest.

It fills me with pride to see examples of this all over the school, including:

• Year 8 boys who mentioned the Year 7 WA Humanities curriculum "needs more learning points on Vikings" now scheduled to complete an elective unit where they study the historical impact of Vikings
• Year 9s 'thinking about thinking' in the new Philosophy elective
• Year 11s learning to give and receive respectful, impactful feedback as part of the communication unit in the new Year 11 Career and Employability course
• The first 'on-campus yet off-campus' Friday lessons occurring for the students involved in the Certificate II Electrotechnology and the Curtin University Enabling course, preparing students with the targeted qualifications they need to make
• An increasing number of Co-Curricular clubs, including a large number of academic focused offerings being included in the list of Term 1 clubs for 2025.

Students who have a sense of autonomy and control over some aspect of their learning are more likely to feel a sense of ownership over it, as well as a greater level of connectedness to the community. This week I was privy to a wonderful example of this.

At this time of year, a number of students request subject changes as they become clearer about their post-school goal.

While we will always accommodate changes wherever we can, unfortunately, one Year 12 student was unable to make a move due to a Religious Education class being full. This student needed this exact class to be able to make the change work. As it turns out, only a single other student in the school could possibly make the required space by moving to another class.

I debated for some time before telling this student. "Was it fair to let him know?", "How can I give him a chance to help without putting unfair pressure on him?". In this case I actually prepared a script, to be sure I was able to do this.

Turns out I didn't need it. The student said both, "I love that class…" and then, with barely a pause "but of course I will move if it helps someone else out". The most amazing thing to me is that the student who agreed to move, did not even know which of his peers he was helping.

He remains unnamed, as he doesn't like the spotlight. However, this is one of many stories that show the good that already exists in our boys. They care about the community and will make sacrifices for those in it, when they feel safe, and they feel they belong. It is a pleasure to be able to contribute in some small way, and I look forward to sharing more stories with you over the year.

Kind regards,
Jean-Paul Papineau
Deputy Principal - Teaching & Learning