10-12 Teaching and Learning
David Hall, Head of the 10-12 Campus
About 6 weeks to go for our year 12 students...
A guide to the 6 weeks before Unit 3 & 4 examinations
Week 1: Last week of term 3 (today - 17th)
- Parent teacher interviews
- Thursday 2:20pm - 8pm
- Friday 8:30am - 2pm
All class details will be left on Compass. No direct learning through TEAM.
- Small number of online SAC's (for some Unit 3 & 4 studies)
Week 2: First week of the holidays (17th - 24th)
- Trial Examinations (Unit 3 & 4 students)
- Performing Arts subjects have some on-site rehearsals (see compass for times)
Week 3: Second week of holidays (24th - 1st)
- Past paper revision
- Some time to decompress
- Performing Arts subjects have some on-site rehearsals (see compass for times)
Week 4: First week of term 4 (4th - 8th October)
- VCAA Languages examinations oral component start
- VCAA Performance examinations start
- Return to normal class schedule (hopefully face to face)
- The GAT - 5th October (At Holloway Road) - 9:20am arrival at Holloway Rd.
- Some remaining SAC's for some Unit 3 & 4 subjects
Week 5: Second week of term 4 (11th - 15th)
- Final week of school for our year 12 students
- Friday 15th October will be the last day for year 12 students.
- VCAL students to come to school for final periods on Friday 15th.
Week 6: Revision / Study vacation (18th - 26th)
- Revision lessons will be held by Unit 3 & 4 classroom teachers (online) in normal scheduled class timetables. Students can also, via email or teams chat, arrange for times to talk with their teacher. These sessions are optional and will vary in content and length depending on the teacher and the needs of the cohort.
The examinations start on Wednesday 27th:
9.00am–12.15pm (arrive at Holloway Rd no later than 8:30am)
- English
- English as an Additional Language (EAL)
Graduation 2021
Graduation was scheduled for the 17th October. Given that this is a short time before the English paper, and with the current Victorian COVID numbers, we I felt that that date was just too close to the exams to risk getting caught up as possible exposure site. A few months ago, I reserved a second date at Robert Blackwood Hall for our graduation ceremony. We will now move graduation to the 28th November.
Sunday 28th November
5:00pm start (the ceremony is about 2 hours long)
Venue: Robert Blackwood Hall.
(Should this be problematic due to COVID restrictions, we will work within the health regulations to find other alternatives - one of which would be to hold smaller group graduations on site in the Holloway Theatre)
Trial Examinations
By now, Year 12 students completing a scored VCE and those year 11 students completing one or more Unit 3 & 4 studies will have received their 'care package'. The pack holds an array of printed resources but most importantly contains the Trial Examination(s) for 2021.
Make sure you practice the process of sitting a paper as well as assessing your skill base:
- Where possible, find a quiet place to sit the paper
- Have a water bottle handy – just water (no juice etc.)
- Eat before the paper – not during
- Remove your mobile phones / computers etc. FOMO can wait.
- Use your reading time to read – no pens
- Timing is an important part of the learning process - run your trial to the given time.
Trial exams (specially marked and bundled with an elastic band) need to be returned to us at Holloway Road.
Hopefully this form has already been completed letting us know if we need to pick up your papers on Friday (24th) and from where or whether you will be close enough to deliver them yourself..
- You can (if you live close enough) drop the completed trial papers (not the entire pack - just the papers that are highlighted as a trial) back to Holloway Road reception between 1pm and 3pm on Friday 24th;
- If it is too far to travel, we can arrange for a courier to pick up the papers but you need to fill in the form.
Please fill in the form before Friday 17th of September. Without a form, we will assume you can deliver the papers to Holloway Rd yourselves on Friday 24th (1pm to 3pm)
Practice Papers
Like the trial examination, the same rules apply:
- Where possible, find a quiet place to sit the paper
- Have a water bottle handy – just water (no juice etc.)
- Eat before the paper – not during
- Remove your mobile phones / computers etc.
- Use your reading time to read – no pens
- Run to time. For some subjects (Maths/Science) – I would set a timer and, when it runs out, I would continue with the test but in a different colour pen. You gain the knowledge but know that you need to quicken up and by how much.
- Seek feedback
- Perhaps share with a study partner (mark theirs, let them mark yours)
- Check examiners reports / solution sets (where possible)
- Write short, but detailed, revision notes on the areas of weakness revealed through this process
- Talk to your teachers when you return to school in term 4.
There is time to make huge gains here. Past Papers are vital to this process. Get them done by all means (the more the better), but make sure that you are learning from your mistakes and not just repeating them. The past papers are helping you learn how to speak fluent VCAA.
Every error you make in a past/trial paper is an opportunity to learn. Don't be put off by these errors - use them you to refine your study and to maximize your grades.
Consideration of Educational Disadvantage (CED)
The CED process is well underway. The vast majority of students sitting a VCE Unit 3 & 4 subject have taken up the opportunity to highlight their particular circumstances and the level of disadvantage that this caused them during the extended lockdown period. This information will be collated and triangulated against teacher and wellbeing staff inputs. Teachers will use this tabulated information to gain a better insight into those disruptions when indicating expected grades for students in the coming month.
Year 10 and Units 1 & 2
Life is a touch simpler for our year 10 and VCE unit 1 & 2 students but no less of a challenge as they continue to battle through this lockdown period.
Teachers continue to focus on the content within the course that best prepares these students for the year(s) to come. ALT's will continue into the final term either online or face to face.
From now until we return to face to face learning, single periods of online learning will not take place on screen. Students will be provided with written instructions of asynchronous work to continue with independently. This work will be aligned to classwork being undertaken in class. This is to reduce screen time and to increase the independent learning behaviour required in Years 11 and 12.
The examination period (at the end of the school year) has been cancelled for these cohorts, although many subjects will hold larger assessments in regular class times.
I encourage all of our families to talk to their health care professionals and gather advice in regards to the vaccination process and access to the COVID-19 vaccines.
Parent Teacher Interviews
Parent teacher interviews dates:
Thursday 2:20pm - 8pm
Friday 8:30am - 2pm
All class details will be left on Compass. No direct learning through TEAM.
Bookings can still be made, although some teachers are already nearing capacity, via the newsfeed on compass.
- Thursday 16th @ 9am: Bookings closed to parents
- Thursday 16th @ 8pm: Bookings reopen to parents for the Friday sessions
- Friday 17th @ 7:30am: Booking close for the Friday sessions
Happy Holidays
Could I take this opportunity (for those that have bravely read this far) to wish all members of our school community a restful but productive break. Stay well and be kind to those around you. Term 4 and the challenges it holds awaits us all. We will be ready.
'I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.'
Winston Churchill