I hope all of our students have had a restful and rejuvenating break and are well into their semester two studies. Reflecting on the results coming out can bring about many lessons learned from semester one:

• For a remarkable number of our students, semester one brought great success! Our Academic Achievement luncheon, to be held on Tuesday 13 August, will celebrate a number of outstanding performances. Over 8% of our students scored a GPA of 6.5 or above, with 11 scoring a perfect 7.0 GPA. Positions at the luncheon were tightly contested, though, with over 21% of our students achieving 6.0 or above. These are certainly results to be proud of and are a testament to the efforts of our students!
• For the first time, I also wanted to acknowledge those students who have shown significant improvement. We had eight students improve their results by a GPA of 2.0 or higher from the previous semester. Sometimes, things don't go to plan, and results aren't what we are hoping for, but I always love to see young people demonstrate the ability to bounce back, and to me, these results are at least as equally impressive as those higher achievers.
• Some of our students learned a hard lesson in semester one. The ability to step-up to tertiary study, particularly with a new found sense of independence, can be a tricky one to navigate. I've spent the last two weeks meeting with those who may be struggling, coming up with some concrete goals and support structures to help find further success. Who knows - perhaps some of these students will be at the Academic Achievers Luncheon next year!

The tutorial program is due to start officially in Week 4 (12th August), with most tutorials again occurring on Monday and Tuesday evenings. I would implore our students to not only access this support but also reach out to me if they are unable to attend. There are always additional support options, and you are never alone in your studies. 

While it has been a busy couple of weeks, I do love that the students here feel comfortable enough to seek my help for academic support. The key to this is always to be early, be consistent, and don't be afraid to ask for help or admit that you're struggling. There's not much I can do to help one week before an exam, but there's a lot I can do if you were to come and see me today.

All the best to everyone for semester two.

Thanks,
Luke