Pathway To Academic Excellence

Life is hard. Homework is hard. Arriving in your room knowing you have three assessments due in two weeks is hard. And the strange thing about that moment is that you feel alone, unsure of where to even start. You feel this even though you have a family and a teacher to guide you, and classmates who are in the exact same position.

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This is why Mr Pal and his daughters, Jeslyn and Janesa, came up with PAE (Pathways to Academic Excellence). Having recently guided both daughters to the HSC Distinguished Achievers List in 2022, they set out to distil the key ingredients of their success into something others could use.

Ingredient 1: Teamwork
You are not alone. People are often better at being accountable to others than to themselves.

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Ingredient 2: Independence
The curriculum and assessments aren’t a secret society of wizards that you need an invitation to join. You can read ahead, try the next chapter in the textbook, or look up the unit you’re studying next term.

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Ingredient 3: Short Term & Long Term Motivation

Everyone may have the same long term motivation: Live a long, healthy, happy and prosperous life. Great. But how does that help you make good decisions when the structured school day is over? Like any good video game designer knows, people respond to scores and checkpoints. That is the final piece of the puzzle to academic excellence: A structure for short term success that scales up to long term success.

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What Does It Look Like?
With the support of their classroom teachers and year coordinators, students are placed into small peer groups. They’re coached in teamwork skills and organisational tools — then encouraged to take their learning and personal goals home with them as their own. Throughout the year their groups participate in a range of scored challenges from highly academic to fun teamwork challenges. As much as is possible, they get to experience competition and success.