As parents we have all had our children complaining that they can’t do something and we have responded with the old adage that ‘practice makes perfect’ but is there more to it?

Daniel Willingham is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia and he says that it is important that practice is deliberate rather than simple repetition. His tips are:

• evaluate what needs improving
• select one small aspect of the skill to work on
• make a plan on how to work on the skill
• and then evaluate the results

Something teachers do all the time is to have students work at one skill at a time, breaking down the process into smaller tasks.

Whether you are helping children with their homework or any life skills, these simple steps will go a long way in ‘making practice perfect’.

Andrew Wallace visit

On Tuesday we were privileged to have Mr Andrew Wallace, Federal Member for Fisher, visit. Mr Wallace spent some time with the Year 7 students talking about their upcoming camp and hosting a question and answer time.

After his session with Middle School students, Mr Wallace met with the Primary Captains to present a new Australian flag for our flagpole. Our previous flag was looking decidedly tired so it was good timing that Mr Wallace’s visit allowed him to present the flag in person.

Mr Wallace is hoping to take our Year 7 students on a personal tour when they arrive at Parliament House and they are looking forward to this.

Villanova College and St Paul’s visitors

Our educational initiatives are continuing to attract attention from other schools and this week we had a delegation from Saint Paul’s College in Brisbane on Wednesday and Villlanova College on Thursday. Their main interests were in the FUSE and STEM programs in the Middle School and the DeLorean Project in Senior School. It was a pleasure to share our experience and vision with Villanova and St Paul’s this week.

New Bus Zone from 1 August

I would like to thank everyone for their cooperation around the new bus procedures that kicked off this Tuesday. In the short time that the procedure has been put in place it continues to improve in safety and smoothness.

I know there have been some concerns about the standard of supervision. I would like to dispel any misconceptions about this. The bus zone itself on Roberts Road is supervised by two staff members of a morning and afternoon. The pedestrian crossings that cross the car parks are also manned by staff of a morning and afternoon. Students are not permitted to loiter there and once they have exited their bus of a morning they are moved off and into the campus. The crossings that access the campus are also supervised by staff acting as crossing guards. Of an afternoon there are also four staff members in the passenger assembly zone where the students wait for their bus.

There have been some problems with overcrowding in this area and we are using the waiting area at the end of N block increasingly to alleviate this congestion. I would encourage parents who usually use the access on the eastern side of N block to use the other access to N block. This will help the students have a more pleasant experience. If it is raining of course then the eastern access is the best as it is most undercover, we will make it work on those occasions.

We will be continuing to tweak procedures to improve the process and keep a close eye on how things are working out. Thank you to everyone for making the necessary adjustments and helping make our school a safer place for our students and families.

Shine on the Arts 2017

Shine on the Arts night is Friday 1 September which is only a few weeks away. I think it obvious to everyone that our students are very talented and I am excited by the direction the arts are taking at GCC. Our Shine on the Arts evening is when all the arts are celebrated right across the College and our students dazzle us with their talent. I look forward to seeing you there.

Mike Curtis, Principal