12 & 11

 Assistant Principal 

Senior Years and Teaching and Learning.

With only a few weeks to go until term one finishes, we have started to see the senior school students busy completing assessment tasks. In assemblies over the past few weeks the senior school teams have been supporting students to manage their time during periods of competing demands. For the best opportunities to experience success, students have been advised to complete and commit to a weekly study and revision timetable plan. This practice allows them to allocate adequate revision and to complete the preparation tasks ahead of time, so as to avoid that dreaded last minute, or the night before mad rush to prepare. We all have the same number of minutes available to us each day, but maximizing the best use of this time is a critical skill to ensure lifelong management in our daily lives.

This can also be a time where some students may experience stress and anxiety, and the use of a study plan can assist in providing a sense of control in students. Having a balanced approach to study, including regular exercise, adequate sleep and the participation in hobbies helps to promote our personal wellbeing. Please check the wellbeing page for regular updates and strategies to support young teenagers during periods of anxiety and stress.                     

 Subject teachers will soon be completing Progress Reports for their students. These are a snap shot of the application to course work exhibited by students, and reflects on aspects such as the completion of set work in class, Completion of homework as well as the effort placed on learning in each class. These reports provide an important indication of the future academic success of each student, and it is vital parents and guardians check these with their child to best support the learning opportunities at school. These will be available to parents at the end of the term.

Next Tuesday February 28th, the college will be having a curriculum day for all staff. Teachers will be preparing their individual Reading Action Plans to improve reading skills for students in their classes. It is through regular reading that students acquire most of their subject vocabulary. It is also an opportunity for parents and teachers to expand their teenagers view of the world. It helps them make sense of the world they live in, but also the people, building social emotional skills as well as imagination. Non fiction texts like school text books for example, introduce students to new knowledge and fictional books develop social reasoning skills such as understanding of others and empathy. As parents of secondary students, please encourage your child to read. All year levels have novels as part of their English class, ask your child what they are reading, what is interesting and their understanding of what they are reading.

The provision of additional reading materials is also a great way that families can support reading development in their child. Local libraries are great places to encourage your child to visit and study.

The second part of our curriculum day will be spent on examining our assessment practices of student work and beginning the audit in the variety and frequency of tasks for students across the year levels. These insights will the feed into our planning work for the next several years to ensure that we continue to apply best practice when assessing students to the required Victorian Curriculum standards and VCE assessment criteria.

Please feel free to contact either myself or any of the senior school team if you have any concerns regarding your senior school child. 

Warmly,

Laura Forster 

Assistant Principal Senior years.