SECONDARY NEWS 

From the Assistant Principal 

Parent Teacher Meetings

Years 7 and 8 will be held on Wednesday 4 April Years 9 and 10 on Monday 9 April.  Notes with more information will be distributed closer to the dates.

HSC Minimum Standard of Literacy and Numeracy

Changes to the HSC Minimum Standard

A note and flyer went home last week detailing the information from NESA regarding the changes to the HSC minimum standard of literacy and numeracy.

There will be multiple opportunities for your child to show they meet the HSC minimum standard by passing online tests of basic reading, writing and numeracy skills. These tests can be taken when your child is ready – be that this year, in Year 11 or 12 or after the HSC.

From this year, Year 9 NAPLAN tests will no longer be an early way for students to demonstrate the standard.

This change has been made to ensure NAPLAN remains focussed on its original diagnostic purpose and reduce unnecessary stress on young people.

Please be assured that if your child achieved Band 8s or above in one or more of the 2017 Year 9 NAPLAN reading, writing or numeracy tests, they are recognised as having met the HSC minimum standard in that area/s and will not need to sit the corresponding online test/s.

For more information, and flyers about the online tests and what they involve, visit the NESA website: educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/HSCminimumstandard

Year 10 students have had the opportunity to sit the Reading test yesterday and the Writing test today. They will undertake the Numeracy component later this week.

NAPLAN Online Practice Tests

In 2018 NAPLAN will begin moving from pencil and paper tests to online. Holy Trinity students will be sitting the NAPLAN Online tests next term.

On Wednesday in preparation for this, students in Years 7 and 9 will sit a 45-minute omnibus test which covers a combination of questions from all of the NAPLAN components.

The purpose of the practice tests is twofold. Firstly, and most importantly, it allows the students to get a sense of what the online test procedure is like. Secondly, it allows ACARA, the administrator, to check the network requirements for delivering online tests on a large scale. 

Uniform

It has been very pleasing to note the efforts that most students have made regarding school uniform and it is important that this effort is maintained. Students are reminded to protect themselves from the sun with the school hat and sunscreen as the weather continues to be very warm and shade is limited in some areas of the school.

Students must be in full sports uniform if they wish to represent the school in any competition. Failure to be in the correct sports uniform will result in the student being withdrawn from the team.

Please contact Miss Bailey or Mrs Rainger if you require any assistance with regard to the correct sports uniform.

Earrings:

 Our uniform policy clearly states that only one set of earrings may be worn. Several girls are regularly wearing more than one set of earrings and they will be asked to remove these during the school day.

School Photos

School photos started today and will continue tomorrow. It is essential that your child is in full school uniform. This includes the correct school socks. 

Easter Fair

Our annual Easter Fair will be held this Friday night. Secondary students and staff will be assisting in many ways.

• The SRC will be selling drinks and Glo Stix.
• The running of the basketball shooting competition.
• The Food Technology class will be selling cakes and slices that they have made.
• Assisting with entertainment on the evening with musicians and singers busking throughout the night.
• Visual Arts students helping out at the photo booth.
• The Vinnies students will be organising the Easter Egg Hunt.
• The selling of raffle tickets.

Thank you to all of our volunteers who give up their time to support this important school event.

Library News - Now open after school on Thursday from 3.20 - 4.00pm

Mrs Fraser will be opening the Library after school on Thursday afternoons, starting this week, from 3.30 - 4.00pm.

This is a time for students to work on assignments and homework, catch up on any missed work and to use the library resources for research purposes.

It is not a time for students to play games.

Mrs Fraser will be in the Library to offer assistance to students.

Students must be picked up by 4.00pm.

Independent Learning

Some students take a long time to realise that there are actually two types of work in secondary school. There is the obvious work, the work your teacher specifically tells you to do and that is compulsory: homework, working on assignments, preparing for tests and assessments. But students who get good results in school take a larger measure of responsibility for their learning. This means that the nights where they do not have much compulsory work, they also do independent learning. These are the additional things you do, if you have no other schoolwork to do that night, to improve your understanding of your subjects. It is what students who get good marks are doing, they are just not talking about it to their friends!

Examples of independent learning:

• Reading
• Reviewing what you have been learning at school that week
• Extra practise on questions you find hard
• Research on an area you are interested in learning more about
• Making a mind map about what you have been learning
• Making study notes on a topic
• Improving your touch typing skills
• Reading ahead in your textbook
• Improving your study skills
• Doing work from a different textbook or study guide for one of your subjects (check the school library, local library and bookshops).

Some nights you will not have time to do any independent learning. Other nights you will have no homework and will spend the whole time allocated to schoolwork for that night working on independent learning tasks. Your teacher may even give you a sheet that has suggestions of independent learning work for that subject. If you are unsure, you can always ask. This means in secondary school you can never say ‘I have nothing to do’ – this really just means ‘I have nothing compulsory to do at the moment!’.

One component of independent learning in high school is making your own study notes or summaries.

Building Concentration Skills

Many students find it difficult to concentrate and stay focused when they are doing their schoolwork at home. So what can we do to improve concentration levels? Try these top tips:

1. IMPROVE THE ENVIRONMENT: Have a good hard look at the environment you are trying to concentrate in. Is it noisy? Are there more exciting things happening around you? Is it too hot? Too cold? Are you uncomfortable? Too comfortable? What can you do to make the space more conducive to concentration
2. BLOCKS OF TIME: If you are someone who finds it difficult to concentrate at home don’t try and study for too long at a time. Instead tell yourself you will work for 20-30 minutes then you can have a break. If you know it is only 20-30 minutes it is much easier to concentrate than if it was for an indefinite period of time.
3. ANCHOR TO THE PRESENT: Create a focus word that brings you back on task. We all daydream. The key is to start to pay more attention to when you are doing it and then immediately take action. If your key word for example was ‘orange’ when you notice you are day-dreaming say ‘orange orange orange’ to refocus your attention to your work.
4. RESET THE BRAIN: Sometimes you just need a time-out from what you are doing in order to be able to concentrate again. If your attention is constantly wandering, then get up and have a drink, walk outside, kick a ball – just take 5 to 10 minutes to clear your head so you can come back fresh to your work.
5. WORK OUT PEAK TIMES: Start to pay attention to what time of the day you are most focused. That’s when you need to do the harder work or the work that requires greatest concentration. If you know you get tired after dinner don’t leave the difficult work until then.
6. CARROT AND STICK: Some people are motivated by working towards rewards, others by avoiding punishments. Give yourself a target time to focus with a little reward at the end if you achieve it – or maybe a little punishment if you don’t!