Assistant Principal 

Senior Years and Teaching and Learning.

Welcome back to all students and families in our senior years. For any new families joining us this year, the senior school team and I are most excited to be alongside you as you embark on this journey with us.

 Can you believe it we are at mid-point of term one, already! Seems like we only just started the year. With only six weeks to go until term one finishes, we have started to see the senior school students busy in their preparation to complete 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. Both year levels attended a presentation By Mr. Bullen as part of the college Excel program. In his delivery, students were provided with the opportunity to examine their personal motivations and how these can contribute to academic success, and achievement of goals. For the best opportunities to experience academic and personal success, students need to complete and commit to a weekly study and revision routine. This practice allows them to allocate adequate revision tasks ahead of time, to avoid that dreaded last minute, or the night before rush to prepare adequately and have the greatest opportunity for success. 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. 

The College has once again purchased  Edrolo subscriptions for students completing   the following studies in unit 3 and 4 VCE Accounting, Economics, General Maths, Specialist Maths, Maths methods, Health and Human Development, Psychology, Media, VCD and Physics. This is an online platform which supports senior students with the provision of access to quizes, exam questions, additional revision materials and video lessons provided by a range of educators on all key knowledge points as written in the current VCE subject study designs. These are incredibly useful as additions to the lessons provided here by our wonderful year 12 teachers, and past students who have excelled in their final years, have all spoken of the value that Edrolo provided in helping them acquire excellent VCE results. Login information will provided to students on Compass and via Teams when its made available. Please check in with your child to ensure they are using this exceptional resource and are not missing out on the extra resources provided.

 Our first parent and teacher Learning Conference for the year will be taking place on the 25th of March. This is a fantastic opportunity for parents and careers to gain an insight into how their children have settled into the school year. I encourage all parents to book appointments to meet with subject teachers and partner with us to support your child in their learning.

Next Tuesday February 24th, the college will be having a curriculum day. Staff will be undertaking further professional learning on The Victorian Teaching and Learning Model and unpacking evidenced based research into the ways to facilitate the best learning approaches for our students. Staff will also learn about effective ways to incorporate discipline or subject-based literacy strategies in supporting literacy growth for all students a which is part of our work as identified in our Strategic Plan. Teachers will be preparing their individual Reading Action Plans to improve reading skills for students in their classes. It is through regular daily reading that students acquire most of their subject vocabulary. It is also a valuable opportunity for parents and teachers to expand their teenagers’ view of the world. Nonfiction texts like school textbooks 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 widely. The college Library has a huge range of fantastic books to engage all readers. 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.

As always 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.