Gymea Technology students set their eyes on raising aspiration and commitment with learning.
Key Points
- Teachers at Gymea remain committed to a unique program of weekly formative online homework tasks built around our feedback system for students and their parents.
- Weekly reporting to families on student commitment to school and learning is unique to Gymea and highly valued across the school community.
- In 2024, a Gymea initiative to individualise aspiration for success is pursued through individual smart goals that serve to help students navigate improvements to raise their aspiration and commitment with their learning and engagement.
- Our high potential students pick up the pace to maintain strong performances and stretch out to open a long term plan for a successful HSC and university options.
Our junior school has embarked on a very unique program that individualises an approach to inspire our students to commit, and achieve at their very best, in all areas of school life, and in particular, in being aspirational with their learning.
The high potential stream is intended to help differentiate and extend those students to give them the edge and open up those opportunities, particularly in their choice of universities and associated courses after the Year 12 HSC. Setting individual goals around measurable achievements here at school, which can be monitored by families, students and staff is something very unique and very meaningful here at Gymea Technology High School. Student’s strong engagement in their classroom learning, their commitment to completing formative tasks set by their class teachers, and with regular attendance at school are not only achievable but essential if students are to realise their potential and achieve aspirational goals. The weekly progress summaries show teachers, students and families very clear and personalised data on student application and engagement.
Our students have identified where their improvements need to be, where they need to sustain their efforts, and importantly, what they will do to help move in those positive directions with measurable targets to aim towards.
Positive behaviour and engagement in classroom learning is a minimum expectation but these goals are about striving for individual best, raising aspiration, opening their minds to the opportunities and choices in front of them. Being aspirational means to develop that sense of confidence and commitment to exercise their unique abilities and reinforce that they are capable of great things and need to work to those opportunities and choices to support their future.
Our teachers continue to raise expectations across the school and for students in our high potential streams, this requires their individual commitment to their studies. While class streams are very much influenced by student overall assessment results, the applicability to their placement in these streams requires that commitment with positive engagement and learning in class and with personal work completed. Learning must be focused in an environment that sees students flourish as they learn and work together.
These individual goals as chosen by each student now appear on their weekly progress summaries for our families so that together in partnership, we can support those positive directions that each child has chosen. Students will soon reflect on their progress towards their chosen goals throughout Term 1 and adjust their chosen strategies to help continue their uplift towards success.