Senior School Report

Welcome to Term 2

The Senior School team welcomes students, parents and carers to Term 2. It has been a different beginning to the term with the introduction of learning from home; however, it has been pleasing to see our students adjust to this new way of learning during the first two weeks. The successes experienced during the first two weeks of term demonstrate that our students, parents, carers and teachers have the determination and ability to overcome any challenges faced. It is important to remember that education remains the same with teachers developing curriculum and resources and supporting students to reach their full potential in their studies.

The Senior School Co-ordinators have been extremely proud of our Senior School students meeting their responsibilities of completing the daily attendance survey, reading their co-ordinator and teacher emails, attending Webex meetings, making contact with co-ordinators and teachers when necessary, completing the set work and submitting assessments by the due dates. Though parents and carers may not have the specialised subject knowledge, parents and carers can play an extremely important part in supporting their child with their studies at home by:

Ensuring that their child maintains a study routine that ensures that all of their subjects are kept up to date. Following their daily school timetable will support this.
Setting expectations of the highest level of effort and commitment to their studies.
Ensuring that their child has a comfortable study area that is free from distractions and can be monitored.
Ensuring phones and other digital devices are only used for learning activities and aren’t available as a distraction at other times.
Encouraging their child to manage and take responsibility for their own learning, but support their child to contact teachers and co-ordinators if required.
Listening to their child and observe their welfare and seek support from the college if required.
Ensuring their child takes breaks and maintains physical exercise and connections to family and friends.
Being ready to provide the reassurance and support we all need from time to time.

Time spent on homework and revision outside of school hours is still expected. The College’s suggested minimum time for homework is 10 hours per week for Year 10 students, 15 hours per week for Year 11 students and 20 hours per week for Year 12 students.

Contacts for the Senior School:

Mr Tom Santos.

Year 10 Co-ordinator:

tsantlogianis.tom.t@edumail.vic.gov.au

Ms Sylvia Wood

Year 11 Co-ordinator:

wood.sylvia.j@edumail.vic.gov.au

Ms Vicki Manioudakis,

Year 12 Co-ordinator

manioudakis.vicki.v@edumail.vic.gov.au

Mr Tony Stirling

Head of Senior School:

stirling.tony.a@edumail.vic.gov.au

Free Unit 1 and Unit 3 VCE Lectures

TSFX is a commercial organisation that offers VCE exam revision programs and other services to VCE students. TSFX have released a number of Unit 1 and 3 online lectures across 24 subjects – free of charge. The lectures are presented by experienced VCE teachers and VCAA Assessors and the offer is open to our VCE students, their parents and teachers. These lectures were recorded in January 2020 and covers the main topics from the Unit 1 and/or Unit 3 course and works through potential SAC and exam questions.

To access the recordings, students choose their subjects on the registration form at the following link:

https://forms.zohopublic.com/theschoolforexcellence/form/SummerSchoolFreebieFiday/formperma/9EL-jCzTanDNehqam5Wwsb1fk7ztnk6UpJkYHlljoQk

2020 Year 12

The College will continue to update Year 12 students, parents and carers of the advice provided by the Victorian Government and the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) concerning the arrangements for 2020 Year 12. The advice is subject to change depending on the circumstances faced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020 Year 12 students will receive an ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank) based on school-based assessment and external exams. VCAA will be advising schools in the near future of the Unit 3 school-based assessments that must be completed on-site at the college due to their practical nature and facilities required. Current Victorian Government policy is that small groups of VCE and VCAL students can attend on-site for short periods if their learning requirements cannot be conducted at home. Physical distancing provisions will be made for the safety of teachers and students.

Other VCE, VET and VCAL studies will currently set assessment remotely where students will be asked to submit work to their teacher electronically. This assessment will be subject specific and teachers will make the requirements clear to students. Students will be informed of a specified window of time to complete and return the assessment tasks and teachers will provide feedback to students. Authentication processes will be applied to these assessments, including remote assessment task results being validated at a later date when school returns.

The Victorian Government has announced the following adjustments to the delivery of the VCE:

The GAT (General Achievement Test) will move from June to October or November. All students enrolled in one or more Unit 3 and 4 VCE or scored VCE VET sequences must sit the GAT. The GAT is primarily used to help check that school-based and external assessments have been accurately assessed and determine examination scores if required due to illness, accident and trauma.
End-of-year exams will be postponed until at least December. VCAA has been asked to consider a compressed end-of-year exam schedule in recognition of the disruption caused by the pandemic. This may include slightly shortening the length of each exam.
VCAA are looking to reduce the number of school-based assessment tasks in Unit 4 studies.
Universities will be asked to delay the start of the 2021 university year to account for impacts of coronavirus on senior secondary students.

A small number of students undertaking VET may have their award of the VCE or VCAL delayed until the beginning of 2021 so they can complete their mandatory practical or workplace learning requirements. VCAL students will have more time to complete their course

Student Wellbeing

Student Wellbeing

Remote Learning Article - Leader Newspaper