Welcome to Week 10 of Term 2
By Mr Stuart Ralph, Principal
As Term 2 concludes, I thank all parents for their unwavering support. Your involvement and encouragement have been invaluable to us. In Term 3, many new students will join us at the College across all year levels.
This week, we conducted our 2026 – Year 7 interviews and enrolled 125 students. The College has already held taster days for our Catholic Feeder Schools and will host students from the Department of Education schools on Monday 28 July (Week 2 of Term 3) for the first of two taster days. The College has a limited number of places for Year 7 in 2026.
I would like to congratulate all of our teachers on an outstanding term and commend them for their commitment to delivering excellent learning outcomes for our students. Over the last three years, our College has embedded Rosenshine's principles of learning as our pedagogical approach to teaching and learning, and we now have 40 teachers trained as high-impact educators.
The four strands of Barak Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction include:
- Sequencing Concepts and Modelling – presenting new material in small steps
- Questioning – asking questions and checking for understanding
- Reviewing Material – going back over material down the track to ensure learning has occurred
- Stages of Practice – which allow for guided and independent practice by students
Within lessons, staff use the following framework in their teaching practice.
Additionally, we have successfully transitioned to a new learning management system for staff and students. While this is an ongoing project, I am delighted with our progress on our Connect platform. Change is never easy, and our staff has been remarkably resilient, committed, and professional in their design to improve outcomes for our students.
Celebrating Success
Tomorrow morning, we will gather as a school community to honour students in Years 7-10 who have achieved academic excellence. Students who display our College values daily will also be recognised by their peers and the magnitude of these awards should also be celebrated at home.
We are committed to teaching our students expected behaviours, celebrating moments where students demonstrate positive behaviour inside and outside the classroom, and continually unpacking with our students what it means to be a learner at St Brendan-Shaw College. This includes exploring what respect looks like in their daily interactions and how each of them can be a positive contributor to our College community through participation.
National NAIDOC Week 2025
National NAIDOC Week 2025 runs from 6-13 July and marks 50 years of honouring and elevating Indigenous voices, culture, and resilience.
The 2025 theme is The Next Generation: Strength, Vision and Legacy. It celebrates past achievements and the bright future ahead, empowered by our young leaders, our communities' vision, and our ancestors' legacy. Several initiatives will be run in our College to celebrate NAIDOC Week, including our Year 9 Cultural Day and a visit from Mr Scott Darlow today.
Today, our Year 9 students were amazed by Scott's incredible talent for storytelling as an Indigenous man growing up in Australia, combined with his extraordinary talent in the music industry as a performing artist.
I congratulate Mrs Jo-Anne Hoare on her organisation and leadership this week, NAIDOC Week, and throughout the year as First Nations Coordinator.
Chess Tournament
Our chess team came second in the Devonport Interschool Tournament. Congratulations to the team and Ms Imelda Martinez on this outstanding achievement. The team will now head to the semi-finals in Term 4.
The top four players were Norman Smith, Neel Modi, Awasch Shostari and Gavisha Gunarathna, each of whom received a medal.
Sporting Success
We congratulate our Year 7 netballers on their premiership success and commend the Year 8 girls and the 8/9/10 girls’ teams for making it to the grand final.
Our Year 9/10 Boys' football team lost to Marist Regional College on Tuesday afternoon.
I congratulate all students on their outstanding performances and representation of our College. Through participation, many friendships and connections are formed.
Subject Information Evening Years 8-12, 2026 – Save the Date
Please note that our Subject Information Evening for Years 8-12 in 2026 will be held on Wednesday, 6 August. Mr Gerry Peters, Deputy Principal: Teaching & Learning, will circulate more details to families tomorrow.
Reports and Parent-Teacher
Student reports will be available through Connect tomorrow at 3:00 pm. If families have difficulty accessing their parent accounts, please contact the college immediately. This is a reminder that parent-teacher conferences will occur in Week 2 of Term 3 on Wednesday 30 July.
Farewell Exchange Students
Tomorrow we will farewell our two exchange students – Lisa Lind, who has been with us for the last 12 months, and Malo Leboucq, who has been with us for a term. I hope this has been an enriching experience for you both and wish you well as you return home to family.
Mid-Year Break
I wish all families a safe and restful holiday break, especially for those travelling. For those staying home, this provides an opportunity for rest and rejuvenation.
Term 3 starts for all students on Tuesday 22 July.
Yours sincerely
Mr Stuart Ralph
Principal
