There has been some great spirit in the air in the past two weeks at Orana, with sports excursions, many incursions, The Duke of Edinburgh; Bronze Award Hike, Book Week, High School Twilight Concert, Class 4 Early Settlers Camps, Class plays and Learning Journeys. The remaining two weeks of term will continue to be busy and action packed, we hope the students are enjoying the many activities that are on offer to them.
AST and Early Entrance to University
Year 12 students have completed the AST tests this week. Thank you to all the staff, particularly Ricardo Veloso and Jen Cox who have prepared the students for the AST tests to be undertaken by all tertiary students in the ACT this week. The tests require close critical reading, high levels of literacy and the capacity to express a point of view on yet to be seen stimulus. The test is designed to measure a range of general skills considered to be relevant to success in a variety of courses and to studies at university. The AST scores of those students who complete a T package provide the basis for scaling course scores awarded to students by the colleges they attend. A student’s scaled course scores are used in the calculation of that student’s ATAR. Whilst Orana has never believed that defining one’s self in such a narrow measure is healthy, this is a challenge that can be best met with thorough preparation and a competitive spirit. Student’s at Orana have certainly been well prepared for these exams and the students are celebrating the completion of this milestone this week.
Congratulations are in order for all our Year 12 students who completed applications for early entrance to our local universities. All students received notification this week that they have been successful in receiving early entrance.
Phones and Social Media in schools
More and more main-stream media provides articles on how education is grappling with the alignment of the development of children with the effects of modern technology. Interestingly, across State Government ‘s there has been an acknowledgement on the impact of mobile phone use in schools and more states are looking to ban them from all use within school time. An important factor that is leading this ban across states is the concern for the social and emotional development in children. Many teachers have reported students spending much of their break/lunch times communicating on social media rather than talking directly to their friends. It’s gratifying to see the concern for social development becoming a main-stream issue and an emergence of the importance of building emotional intelligence through unmediated, self-directed contact between individuals.
Such empowerment will come from building the human capacities that are inherent in each child. Steiner education focuses on nurturing and enhancing various human abilities by offering a comprehensive and diverse curriculum. We play a crucial role in acknowledging children’s fundamental needs and providing them with appropriate experiences that cater to their natural inclinations towards creativity and social interaction. Our objective is to cultivate these capabilities and skills in children, enabling them to flourish as adults and make valuable contributions to a progressive and innovative future society.
As a school we will be reviewing in November our current mobile hone and IT policies. We will keep you updated of possible charges.
Kelly Armstrong
Acting Principal
