29 Jun 2020
The Student Representative Council previously wrote to our Principal to say 'Thank You' for her leadership after the fires and during the pandemic, where the school put wellbeing first and changed the structure of the school day. Then, the SRC started to wonder how we could hear from more students about how they're going and what kinds of structure, support and school experience they want.
The SRC formed a research team of 10 students who worked with Ms Lowe to research lots of different aspects of the student experience.
These 10 researchers spent all day on Tuesday running 17 different focus groups, with about 10 students per year group from Years 7 to 12.
The students who were interviewed were selected by Year Advisors to get a representative group who could share a range of views. A big thanks to those interviewed for being awesome participants and sharing your experiences! It was a special and insightful experience for all involved.
There were some clear take-away messages that the SRC has already started sharing. First, everyone likes to have a break between each lesson because it helps you "relax", eat, "have time to play sport or handball" and "feel refreshed before the next class". A second universal finding was that the biggest barrier to learning was disruptions from kids who probably didn't want to be there. It's worth noting that while some students feel their friends can distract, they're also the first people we turn to for help in class. Technology is a double-edged sword, as it makes it easier to get organised, especially with assignments, but can be distracting and frustrating, particularly when you have an old, slow device or lots of new platforms to learn. A detailed report is coming soon which will show overall experiences and preferences, as well as the different messages across every year group, plus all the issues students raised about assignments, lunchtime seating, uniform, and more!