Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning

Year 10 Future Proofing Days as part of the End of Year program

On Future Proofing Day 1, our Year 10 students rotated through three engaging areas: Future Proof Your Career, Future Proof Your City, and Entrepreneurship. The Entrepreneurship Session was led by the founders of the Pizza Boys, where students learned the fundamentals of starting a business and then got hands-on experience making pizzas in the Piazza. In the Future Proof Your City workshop by Reverse Garbage, students designed and built a model neighbourhood, focusing on sustainable infrastructure, transportation, and lifestyle choices. This workshop emphasised the environmental impact of community planning and the importance of sustainable development. Additionally, in the Future Proof Your Career segment, volunteer parents conducted mock interviews with students, providing valuable practice and feedback. Students also had the opportunity to explore various university offerings in the Hall, gaining insights into potential future courses. The Hall included stalls from over 13 institutions such as USYD, UNSW, Macquarie, Western Sydney, Notre Dame and ACU as well as other post school opportunities. 

On Future Proofing Day 2, our students rotated through three insightful sessions. In Future Proof Your Financial Wellbeing, led by Dominic from MoneyVest, the girls learned essential personal finance skills, including managing bank accounts and understanding taxes. During Future Proof Your Physical Wellbeing, Tima from Timascoaching taught the girls key self-defense techniques. Lastly, in Future Proof Yourself on the Roads, staff from Galmatic provided valuable lessons on car maintenance. These sessions equipped our students with practical skills to enhance their financial, physical, and automotive knowledge

This comprehensive program was designed to equip our students with the skills and knowledge to make a positive impact on their communities and future careers. Thanks must go to the presenters, the parent volunteers, Eva Guirguis Head of Future Pathways & Partnerships and Brittany Poynting Dean of Innovation & Enterprise.

As 2024 draws to an end, I reflect on the exciting opportunities we provided for our students in Science, STEM, and Engineering. Highlights include The UTS BiG Day In, where Years 11-12 students explored technology careers through sessions on career paths and the latest developments, and interacted with company and university representatives. The Macquarie Bank: Empowering Women in Finance & Tech Event introduced Year 10 students to the financial services industry, showcasing diverse skills and career paths. The Experience Engineering event, hosted by UTS and Engineers Australia, offered workshops on the Engineering Design Process, boosting female students’ confidence in maths and science. Additionally, during the Gioia House STEM Day students collaborated with boys from St Pat’s to hear from guest speakers and design an app addressing student wellbeing. These events have broadened our students’ horizons and equipped them with the skills and knowledge to pursue their future careers with confidence.

Wrapping up another year of impactful Action Research

Our Action Research Coordinator, Kate Corcoran, has provided this thoughtful reflection on the research undertaken by our teachers during 2024:

As our 2025 Action Research Program draws to a close, it is exciting to reflect on the significant impact that these projects have had on student outcomes across all stages of learning. While it is not possible in this space to give credit to all of the projects conducted this year, here is a snapshot of some of what was achieved: 

Our preschoolers at Mary Bailey House and Santa Sabina Prep are now more able to demonstrate self-regulation and respect in the learning environment as a result of their teachers applying and measuring the impact of a range of research based behaviour management practices. Furthermore, by explicitly sharing these strategies with parents and encouraging reinforcement of them at home, children are more readily able to develop routines and habits that indicate a growing readiness for school next year.   

In response to concerns about students’ growing reluctance to tackle challenging learning tasks, some of our P-4 teachers took on the task of developing strategies to build a growth mindset in their students. With the focus on rewarding effort rather than results, a range of strategies including the use of visual aids and new vocabulary around classrooms, the introduction of the performance zone for older students and other fun activities such as the affirmation mirror for the younger ones, students quickly discovered the power of ‘Not Yet’. As teachers observed a much greater willingness of students to take risks with their learning and grow from their mistakes, these strategies will now become part of the universal approach to teaching and learning at Del Monte. 

Our Gioia House teachers responded to Dr Judith Locke’s presentations at the start of the year by focusing on developing Responsibility, Self-regulation and Resilience in our middle schoolers. In building on their well-established Action Girl and Rock & Water Pastoral Programs, teachers introduced a range of activities designed to encourage greater student voice and reflection around developing independence and confidence in their learning, feeling known and valued and interacting positively with their peers. Through ongoing correspondence, the strong and positive partnership with parents was maintained so that parents could discuss and reinforce these strategies with their children outside of school. 

A vast and varied range of research topics were investigated by project teams in the Senior School. With our writing group developing a draft continuum of how writing is currently taught across the College, this group is now ready to develop a common language and structure to ensure consistency and fluency across stages and subjects. Research findings from our team of English teachers into the use of modelling and from the Science team on responding to command terms will be valuable in adding specific strategies to complete this continuum next year. With a number of groups focusing their research on the use of GenAI in the teaching and learning process, we will undoubtedly be seeing a much greater and more confident uptake of these tools in the development and delivery of our 2025 programs. 

Many thanks to all teachers across the College involved in our 2024 Action Research Project. While this project has added to the demands of another busy year, it is the breakthroughs, professional learning and ultimately the improvements in student outcomes achieved from this process that have made it all worthwhile.

Kate Corcoran
Action Research Coordinator

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to our incredible staff, from our leadership teams and classroom teachers to the support staff working tirelessly behind the scenes. Your dedication to educating our Santa Sabina students is truly inspiring. Wishing all our staff, students, and families a safe and rejuvenating break!

Jacqueline Pugh
Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning