SPIs: Thank you for your partnership

A vote of thanks for your participation in our first round of Student Progress Interviews last week. As a rough estimate, more than 2000 conversations took place over the 3 days of SPIs, all of which were centered around the learning journeys of our students. Thank you for the spirit of partnership that you brought to these conversations, and for your ongoing support in our shared work to ensure every student can flourish.

Communicating and disconnecting

At Sacred Heart we appreciate that learning is a communal endeavour, and we welcome ongoing channels of communication between teachers, students and families. Modes of electronic communication, particularly emails, are helpful resources to clarify, check-in, and share feedback. It is often at the end of the day when we might find time to sit down and compose an email for sending to a teacher or other member of college staff. We ask that you remember that an immediate response to emails should not be expected, and that our staff have a right to disconnect. Time outside of school hours spent away from the duties of the working day allows our teachers to be at their best when they are in the classroom. Partly for this reason, our view is that 1-2 working days after receiving an email is a reasonable window of time for teachers to have an opportunity to reply in most circumstances. We ask that you please also consider that, for part time staff, 1-2 working days may be spread differently to a full time staff member. In a similar spirit, we encourage all students to find regular times to disconnect, including times for stillness and silence, and times for living gently within the present moment.