Principal Team Report
Creating Futures Together
Hello Everyone
A sincere thank you to all our families who participated in the Student Learning and Wellbeing Conferences. We hope that our parents, carers and students have gained more insight into how students are approaching learning and recognising the importance of collaborating with their teachers and teachers collaborating with them, to promote high expectations and personal best. Our End of Semester Reports will be published at the end of Term Two which provides plenty of time to address work habits if they do need to improve.
All students have been provided with an A5 School Planner. The purpose of this is to give students easy access to key school processes but also a convenient tool to write down independent learning tasks. The planner also has a section for students to get teacher permission if they need to leave class to seek support from IT, toilet break and so on. Attached to this report is also our WHSC Independent Learning Policy, which sets out our expectations as a College towards Homework. This is also on our School Website.
Regarding Learning, one of the most important factors contributing to academic achievement and life success, is the acquisition of Vocabulary. Providing young people with the tools to express their views and be proactive in the world around them is the number of words they have access to. This is the fundamental building block of reading comprehension and relevant from Years 7 to 12 and beyond.
Vocabulary in learning can be divided into three tiers. Tier One words are the most used and the first ones acquired in Primary School. They are not explicitly taught in Secondary School. Tier Two Words are of huge importance, because they are:
Formal, concise and used across a variety of subject areas and in textbooks
Often have multiple meanings
Excellent indicators of academic success
Examples: production, credit, coincidence, plot, absurd, industrious, discuss, hindrance, compare, explain
Tier Two Words are also precise and eloquent:
Get in the way: Hindrance
Be left out: Excluded
Scary: Sinister
Coming out: Emerging
Tier Three words are subject specific and are critical to subject success as they are the building blocks of skills and knowledge. Each subject that your child studies have key terminology that may be used in other subjects as well but will be nuanced by the context of the subject. For example, characterisation is a key Tier Three word in English but is also a Tier Three word in Drama and our School Production.
To support your learners at home, consider building family word banks can that collected and stuck on the fridge! Quiz your children about key vocabulary in their subjects. Read an online article or their class novel and identify Tier words together. Most Importantly, when conversing with your children, ask them to elaborate on their responses. What other words could they use to explain things. These techniques are simple and effective. Most importantly, they can have such a powerful and positive impact on learning. If you have any questions about better supporting your children at home, please do not hesitate to contact our Literacy and Numeracy Specialists, Brian Yong and Yeneo Pousoulis.
Update on our School Production
There is indeed something incredibly special about our School Production. To witness young people from across the year levels, collaborate and learn from each other is quite profound. Our co-director, Nic Gramatakos, has taken on full directorial responsibilities, and is doing an amazing job supporting the students along with his wonderful support team. We wish them a fun and productive time on Production Camp this weekend.
School Photos Have Arrived
We hope that families are happy with our school photos which were distributed in Homegroup on Tuesday. We have used a different company this year, mainly so that the student Compass card has much greater functionality. The change in the formatting to Homegroups have enabled students who were not present on the day to still be included as well as providing more sensitivity for students who cannot be part of group photos for a variety of reasons. The actual process for the photography on the day was highly professional and minimised disruption to the students’ program. We welcome any constructive feedback which can be directed to the school email address.
On June 3, all teaching staff will be participating in a Professional Learning Day facilitated by Glen Pearsall. Glen is a highly experienced educator who has been delivering high quality teacher learning for well over a decade. Our focus for the day is Student Engagement and Regulation which are key aspects of the Department of Education’s Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0, which will be fully implemented in the school over the next two years. This will be a student free day.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge how proud we were of the respectful and positive behaviour of our students during our ANZAC Day Assembly. They are a credit to themselves, their families and our school. It was noted by a guest to the College on the day that our student leaders are highly impressive young people. We are very proud of them.
Fern Brisbane
Principal
