Director of Studies

Subject Preferences Years 8 - 9

In Term 3, Calrossy students will submit their preferences for subjects they would like to

study in 2024. This process will commence with an information session for students to explain the processand allow them to speak to teachers from each faculty about the subjects available at Calrossy.

We warmly invite parents to also attend these sessions so that they too can hear about the

Subject Preferences process and have the chance to speak to teachers about potential

choices for their child.

• For current Year 8 and Year 9 students who are choosing elective subjects for Years 9 and 10 in 2024: Friday, August 4th, 12:20pm at William Cowper Campus auditorium

Each session will last approximately 1 hour and will include a short presentation outlining the process before an exhibition-style forum to speak to teachers. Representatives from each faculty will be present along with some external providers such as TAFE.

Following these sessions, a recording of the presentations will be made available on The

Hub, and detailed information about the process and the available subjects will also be

available online. Parents will be emailed when this material is published so that if they are

unable to attend the sessions they will still have access to all information.

Students will be required to submit their subject preferences by Tuesday, August 22nd. This is the day following the Leave Weekend so that our Boarders will have the opportunity to discuss their choices with their parents in person before submission.

Calrossy is fortunate to be able to offer a wide variety of courses that cater to the diversity of student preferences in each cohort. Rather than run a fixed set of courses every year, each year Calrossy determines which of the available offerings will run based on the preferences of that cohort's students. This helps ensure the maximal number of students are able to study their preferred subjects. Students should carefully consider which subjects they elect as their collective preferences will determine which classes are formed the following year.

Year 10 Minimum Standards Testing

Earlier in the year, our Year 10 students sat the first of three Minimum Standards tests for Literacy and Numeracy - the first one being for Writing. These tests are a requirement of the Higher School Certificate, and can be attempted multiple times a year from Year 10 through to Year 12. Once a student has demonstrated they have met the minimum standard in each of the three domains, their result is recorded and forms part of their HSC credential.

On Friday, August 11th, Year 10 will be sitting their second Minimum Standard Test, in the Reading domain.

On Friday, August 25th, Year 10 will be sitting their third and final Minimum Standard Test, in the Numeracy domain.

The testing will take place in Period 3. Students will complete the test on their school MacBooks, which should be brought in fully charged on the day. If students have any existing technical issues with their MacBooks they should ensure they visit our IT Help Desk before this day.

Any students who do not demonstrate the Minimum Standard on their first attempts in any area will be contacted about completing a second attempt of the relevant test at an appropriate time.

Further information about the contents of the Minimum Standards Tests can be found here:

https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/hsc-minimum-standard/online-tests

Parent Teacher Telephone Interviews

Our final Parent Teacher Interviews for the year for Years 7-10 will take place on Tuesday, August 15th.

These interviews will be conducted by telephone, which has proven to be a very popular option with many of our parents who find it difficult to physically visit the school, including our boarder parents and many others.

Bookings for these interviews will be opening soon, and an email will be sent out to parents with information about how to book through the Parent Portal. As timeslots will be limited, parents are encouraged to book an interview if they have specific important matters to discuss about their child’s progress. Our teachers are always happy to give general updates at other times of the year by email or telephone enquiry.

Matthew Frazer

Director of Studies