Head of College
Welcome back to Term 2. I do hope you were able to have a restful break and are ready for a wonderful term ahead. It was terrific to spend time with Oxley students last Thursday as we marched through Bowral to commemorate ANZAC day. Thank you for your support of this important community activity.
There is much to celebrate at Oxley this term, with many school events and I look forward to sharing these celebrations with you. Please check the school app for times.
Thursday 9 May – P-12 Mother’s Day Breakfast
Tuesday 14 May – P & F Meeting
Wednesday 22 May – Centre for Ethics Lecture – AC Grayling
Thursday 23 May – Foundation Night – Compulsory Event for Years 3 – 12
Saturday 25 May – An Autumn Evening – Foundation Event
Wednesday 12 June – Festival of Light and Learning
Thursday 20 June – Centre for Ethics Lecture – Julia Baird
Staffing
I am pleased to inform you that over the break we have recruited some outstanding staff to fill the positions that were vacated at the end of last term. We are very lucky with the calibre of staff we continue to attract to Oxley. Due to requirements for staff to give a notice with their current employers to join us at Oxley some staff will not start until a little later in the term. However, in the meantime our team here at Oxley will ensure that all students are well catered for in the interim.
Year 12 and HSC 2024
We now only have two terms left with our brilliant Year 12 cohort and over this term they will complete their final assessments before their Trial Examinations at the beginning of next term. This year we have developed some new programs to ensure our students can reach their goals for their HSC. Some of these have included
- Academic Mentoring with a member of the Executive or Senior Leadership Team
- A Senior study centre opening 4 nights a week from 5.30pm – 7.30pm, supervised by teaching staff
- A full week study camp which will run in the final week of Term 3, to ensure they are ready for their HSC exams.
We are also continuing to evaluate what is important to our community in regard to academic success and a big part of this evaluation will be the whole school survey that we will conduct early this term. You will receive information about this shortly.
In the meantime, you may be interested in this article by Robyn Nagy entitled League tables are damaging education in NSW (click here). Robyn works with Oxley and several other independent schools evaluating HSC results each year and looks at how students have grown as learners over many years, rather than reducing them to a single number. At Oxley we continue to tell our students that they are more than just a number, we are an inclusive community that cares about them and values their character. We also believe in all students, no matter their ability level, being able to be offered academically rigorous curriculum.
I look forward to analysing the survey later in the term to continue to ensure we offer the best possible education for every child in the College.
Yours sincerely
Mr Scott Bedingfield
Head of College