DEPUTY'S DESK
LEARNING AND TEACHING REPORT
EXAMS
Exams will occur for all students in Years 9, 10 and 11 in the last week of this term.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish all these students the best for these exams. Like most things in life, there generally are not too many shortcuts to success. Generally, to do well in exams you need to work consistently throughout the semester and apply a specific revision process in the lead up to the exams. The more dedicated you are in your preparation the more confident you can be that you will perform at a satisfactory level.
YEAR 12 RETREAT
Year 12 students get a well-deserved break next week whilst on the Year 12 Retreat at Anglesea. I encourage our Year 12 students to embrace this interlude, but remind them that most if not all will have schoolwork to continue with or complete during the holidays. If they are to give themselves the best opportunity to do well with their exams in October and November, it’s imperative that they use the term break to keep an academic focus and catch up, revise and prepare during this time.
REPORTS
As we come to the end of the semester this is a great time and opportunity for families to reflect on their child’s progress. To this end, reports will be available from Friday June 28 at 4:00pm in the Parent Access Module. These reports will be updated again with Exam Grades included for Year 9, 10 & 11 students on Friday July 19.
To access these reports you will need to go to the College website and go to Login > SIMON/PAM > and enter your username and password. If you have lost your login details or cannot remember your login details you can ring reception at school and they can organise for your login details to be reset. Once you have logged in go to your child’s profile by clicking on their name or photo, then click on the student assessment tab and that will give you access to all completed reports for the year for your child. The reports are also accessible for students through their normal SIMON profile.
I encourage you to discuss with your son/daughter the contents of this report which aims to communicate how students are progressing in their various subjects. The report is an important document and warrants parents/guardians and students taking some time to consider its contents and to reflect on progress and current levels of achievement.
Questions like: Does the report highlight strengths and weaknesses?
If so, what should we be celebrating and is there anything that can be done to improve areas of weaknesses?
For example the report might highlight that organisation is a concern, or that work is sometimes rushed rather than being completed to the best of their ability, or that data presentation is good but data description is too general. – if this is the case, the question to ask your child is what can be done to address this.
Report time is a great time to have these really important conversations with your child. Remember, feedback is a critical element to improved learning and reports can provide valuable feedback. This feedback can be very important for keeping students “on target” for achievement.
If you experience any difficulty accessing your child’s report or if you would like a hard copy of the report and you cannot print the report at home please come to the schools front office/reception area and they will be able to help you with this.
VCE ONLY - PARENT/STUDENT/TEACHER INTERVIEWS
These interviews will be held on Wednesday July 17 from 4:00pm to 6:00pm in the Catherine McAuley Precinct at the Enright Campus. This will be the last formal opportunity to discuss progress of Unit 3 / 4 students before the end of year exams. Interview appointments are made through the Parent Access Module.
You will have access to bookings from Friday June 28. Instructions for making bookings:
We are using a system that allows bookings to be made directly through the Parent Access Module, which means one less username and password that you need to remember. To access Parent Student Teacher bookings you will need to go to the College website and go to Login > SIMON/PAM > and enter your username and password. If you have lost your login details or cannot remember your login details you can ring reception at school and they can organise for your login details to be reset. When you login to the Parent Access Module you will see a tab like the one below at the top of the page on the left hand side.
Parent Teacher Interviews
Click on Enter, if you have more than 1 child at the College, select the child you want to make bookings for and you will see a list of their classes. Click on the classes that you would like to make appointments for and select a time, then use tab “Book Interview”. After you have made all the appointments you require you will see towards the bottom of the page a list of booked times and you should be able to print these appointments.
Reports give an indication as to progress and also indicate if the teacher considers an interview is necessary. However; parents/guardians are always welcome to attend Parent/Student/Teacher interviews to discuss their son/daughter’s progress. There will be Parent/Student/Teacher interviews for all other year levels at the beginning of Term 4 (Tuesday October 15).
PLAGIARISM AND ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
As we head towards the end of semester and some students are coming to the realisation that they have not kept up to date with their work, some students desperately seek out shortcuts, such as using another student’s work rather than completing the work themselves. This not only defeats the whole purpose of school (student learning) but also is a very serious offence in the education setting. To submit a piece of work as your own, when you have merely replicated another student, or another person’s work is dishonest and will be addressed in a serious manner.
The school has an “Academic Integrity Policy”, with clear guidelines regarding plagiarism. A copy of the policy is attached. St Joseph’s College has an obligation to the community to ensure that students conform to best practice and hand in work for assessments that is not plagiarised.
<