Senior School Update
Dear Families, Students and Community Members,
I hope you all enjoyed a restful long weekend as we approach the end of a very busy term. In recent weeks in the Senior School, students in Years 10 and 11 have completed their end of semester exams. For most students, this is their first experience of sitting formal examinations in the gym. Overall, students should be proud of the way in which they conducted themselves; they were punctual, prepared and adjusted quickly to examination procedures. Hopefully they found these exams to be a positive learning experience. Students will receive feedback on their Semester 1 exams shortly. As effective feedback has a positive impact on learning, students should ensure they utilise the feedback provided to identify their strengths and areas of focus for Semester 2, and adjust their learning behaviours if required.
To further support study skills and to assist students in preparing for exams and tests, this year students in all year levels have participated in study skills seminars presented by Elevate Education. These have been tailored to the needs of our students after collecting student and staff feedback. Students in Years 7-9 learnt about time management and ways in which to kick start positive study habits, while students in Years 10-12 learnt strategies for managing their competing priorities, creating study groups, note taking techniques and effective exam preparation strategies. Feedback from students regarding these sessions has been very positive thus far. Year 11 and 12 students will have another session later in the year, and the techniques will be revisited in future classes and Mentor lessons. We encourage students to continue to develop their exam preparation techniques and study habits in Semester 2 to assist them in achieving success.
The Curriculum Committee of the Mordialloc College Student Council is currently developing a timetable to conduct additional, optional Year 12 practice exams during Term 3, which will occur after school. The aim of these exams is to provide students with the opportunity to obtain exam experience prior to their formal, compulsory practice exams at the end of Term 3 and their final VCAA exams in Term 4. We encourage all interested year 12 students to participate in these. Please keep an eye out for further information.
While we still have another week of the term remaining, this week marks the beginning of Semester 2 work for year-long subjects, and new electives for semester- based subjects. Throughout this week, students and teachers will work together to develop or revisit their class Codes of Cooperation, which set up the classroom expectations in order to maintain a positive learning environment. A new semester brings a sense of renewal, which is an opportune time for students to reflect on and evaluate their performance, reset their goals and make positive changes to assist them in having a successful second half of the year.
Subject Selection
Over the next few weeks, we are commencing the 2023 subject selection process for students in Years 8-11. Please be aware of the following important dates for subject selection:
- For current Year 8 students: WebChoices opens on 25/7 and closes on 29/7
- For current Year 9 students: WebChoices pre-selections opens on 20/6 and closes on 24/6
- For current Year 10 students: WebChoices pre-selections opens on 20/6 and closes on 24/6
- For current Year 11 Students: WebChoices pre-selections opened on 14/6 and closes on 24/6
In addition, current Year 9, 10 and 11 students will have Course Counselling appointments early in Term 3:
Current Year 9: Thursday 28/7
Current Year 9 SEAL students: Tuesday 26/7
Current Year 10 and Year 10 SEAL: Friday 22/7
Current Year 10 VCAL students: Tuesday 19/7
Current Year 11 Students: Tuesday 19/7
The Course Counselling process will be presented to students in year level assemblies. It is important that students spend time preparing for Course Counselling by reading the relevant year level handbooks closely, reflecting on their Careers meetings, the Information Evening and the information presented in assemblies to determine their subject choices. Students should check their respective year level Google Classroom pages for further information about the process.
In addition, a parent information night for current Year 9 and 10 students was released yesterday via the Compass newsfeed and important course counselling documents will be uploaded to the star menu on Compass.
I wish you all well for the final week of term.
Sally Mitchell
Instructional Coach - VCE Achievement