Learning and Teaching News

Term 1 Examinations

As we move towards the end of the term many assessment tasks are due across all year levels. Assessment Schedules and Exam Block Schedules have been published in the Student Café and the Parent Portal. Your son is encouraged to download these and transfer assessment dates to his College Diary – especially making effective use of the term planner (pages 44–45). 

In addition to these schedules, end of Term 1 Exam Block is being held for Years 8, 9, 10 and 12 students. Below is an outline of these important assessment blocks:

• Year 5, 6 and 7 – Formative and summative assessments will take place in normal timetabled classes.
• Year 8 and 9 – Summative exam block will run from Monday 20 – Friday 24 March.
• Year 10 and 12 – Summative exam block will run from Friday 17 – Friday 24 March.
• Year 10 will remain at school, not on exam block privileges. 
• Year 11 students will remain in normal classes as they continue work on Unit 1. The end-of-unit exam block will be held in Week 5, Term 2.

Students in Years 5-10 will all remain at school throughout the assessment period. The only cohort who are granted study leave (to study at home and only come to campus for scheduled assessments) is Year 12. Any student not up to date with all required assessment items will not be granted study leave and will be required to remain at school. This includes modules for Certificate courses.

The Term One Exam Block Schedule for each year level has been released to students this week. Make-up exams will be scheduled for Friday 24 March, and throughout Week 10. A reminder that if students are absent for an exam, a parent note is required for students in Years 7-9 and a medical certificate is submitted for Years 10-12. Years 11 and 12 medical certificates must list the specific illness and not just state “medical condition”.

We encourage our boys to best prepare for these examinations by studying each day. The College Diary (page 21) outlines the minimum expectations for homework, revision, and study across Years 5-12: 

• Year 5: 40 minutes inclusive of reading 
• Year 6: 40-60 minutes inclusive of reading 
• Year 7: 60 – 80 minutes 
• Year 8: 60 – 90 minutes 
• Year 9: 90 – 120 minutes 
• Year 10: 120 – 150 minutes 
• Year 11 and 12: 180 – 240 minutes. 

This study is pertinent given the time of term. Students are encouraged to create a study and homework schedule each week, so this time is managed effectively. The middle school boys were emailed a template for this earlier in the week. 

Video: How and When to Reference

Accessing Student Results and Task-Specific Feedback

After each assessment task (assignment and exam), students results will be released to Student Café. Boys are encouraged to ensure they are checking student café for their results with task-specific feedback. These results and feedback can also be located on Parent Lounge. Please follow the steps below which highlight how to access your son’s results and feedback. 

1. Open Parent Portal and click on “Parent Lounge”

2. On the left-hand tab select “Curricular Activities Due” and select “view all activities” on the top right-hand side of page. 

This will take you to a screen that lists your son/s assessment to complete or has been completed.

3. Click on a subject to view feedback. 

4. Once you click on the subject you will be able to find the following information:

a. Task sheet for assessment – this will outline what your son needs to do to complete the task successfully

b. Draft due dates and due dates

c. Criteria sheet

d. Feedback

e. Result

Friday Academic Detention

As per the College diary students will be placed on Friday academic detentions for not meeting classroom expectations. This may be due to missed homework, incomplete drafts, or non-submission of assessment to name a few. 

The College has introduced Pastoral Comment (PC) entries for Curriculum Leaders to enter details for Friday academic detentions. This process will send automatic notifications to parents and students via parent lounge and student café. Parents are asked to acknowledge notification of this detention when issued. 

Parents and guardians will be notified via email of a PC entry and will be directed to Parent Lounge to view and acknowledge the notification. 

Steps to follow are:

1. Parent Lounge: click on the notification tile 

2. A drop-down item will appear with details pertaining to PC Entry. Click on ‘see more’ to read further details for the Pastoral Care Entry.

3. Once you have read the reason for the detention, please tick the acknowledge box. If you would like to see other PC Entries your son may have received, please click on the ‘show history’ link.

Elevate student sessions – Follow-up and Resources

Over the coming weeks, the school will emphasize the learning that our boys engaged with through the Elevate Education sessions. Students and Parents can also access these resources, and Elevate Education has provided us with the following:

Each student who heard from us has access to our student portal at www.elevateeducation.com where they can access a range of practice questions, presenter tips and a copy of Elevate’s study guide The Science of Student Success. When students arrive at the Portal, a pop-up will prompt them to enter a password. The password rondo grants students access to all premium resources. Students can also create a profile on the website, allowing them to tailor their experience and save their preferences.

Year 12 - Griffith University Online Academic Bootcamp

Griffith University is offering an online ‘bootcamp’ on a range of Year 12 Maths and Science subjects in September this year, during the September school holidays. They are open to any Year 12 student currently studying either Maths Methods or General Maths and Biology or Chemistry or Physics.

Expressions of Interest can be made at https://forms.office.com/r/r5fsQ6uz6i or by contacting - onlinebootcamps@griffith.edu.au for more information. 

NAPLAN

NAPLAN begins this week. Please ensure that your son has a fully charged laptop each day, corded headphones (Bluetooth headphones like AirPods will not work) and a pen/pencil.

The timetable for testing is below. When your son does not have a NAPLAN test, he will be in normal timetabled classes. For those students who have withdrawn from NAPLAN, please check your email for where you need to be. 

Tutoring at the College

Tutoring at the College is available for all students and outlined below are faculties where your son can receive assistance.

*Other faculties by appointment with the classroom teacher.

If you would like an external tutor, please find a list of Old Boy tutors here.

Senior Library Hours

Our senior library is open from 7:30am every morning until 5:00pm Monday - Thursday. It closes at 3:30pm on Fridays. 

Your son is encouraged to head to the library before and/or after school to complete his homework or study free from the distractions at home.

Illness

If a student has tested positive for COVID-19, Queensland Health recommends that they isolate until they have been fever-free for 24 hours, register positive RAT results and wear a face mask for 7 days after receiving a positive COVID-19 test result. Students who are absent from school should contact their Head of House and class teachers and access work on Moodle. It is important that any student requesting an extension on assignments due to illness have at a minimum, a letter from their parents (Years 5-9) or the registration of RAT results with Queensland Health or a medical certificate (Years 10-12). 

2023 Calendar

The College calendar provided to each family outlines the scheduled exam blocks across the year for students in Years 7-12. Please ensure you check these Exam Block dates before booking any holidays, as they are an essential and compulsory part of the learning process at the College. Leave is not granted to students during this time. 

Year 12 Night Study Sessions

The Night Study Sessions are weekly study times available to Year 12 students who wish to work in collaboration with their peers for assessment, complete revision, revisit classwork or work on external exam preparation. The Night Study Session recommenced at the beginning of February, further details are outlined below. 

When: Every Wednesday during term time from 5:00pm-8:00pm 

Where: Senior Library 

Who: 2023 Year 12s only 

Requirements: 

• Current ID card is to be presented on arrival 
• All students must sign in and out of the library 
• All standard library rules are to be followed (including no eating) 
• Normal student behaviour expectations apply; if these cannot be met, boys will be prohibited from returning to future sessions 
• Students are free to wear full College uniform or plain clothes 
• Students are free to arrive and leave as they see fit. Supervision is only provided in the library between 5:00pm-8:00pm. 

Students are to be in the library only. This is not a time for sport or social gatherings.   

A librarian will be on duty from 5:00pm-8:00pm to assist if required; however, these are not tutoring sessions. Students are encouraged to work collaboratively. Thank you to Mrs Mary Stirling and the wonderful librarians for staffing these valuable study opportunities for our 2023 Year 12 students.

Study Hall – All Year Levels

Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, teacher librarians in the senior library offer study hall sessions from 7:45 am to 8:30 am. These are designed to build the student’s capacity to study independently by teaching them critical skills for the first 15 minutes of the session, then offering independent supported study for the remainder of the time.

Please find below the outline for the Study Hall for Term 1. We encourage students of all year levels to attend these valuable sessions.