Teaching & Learning

News

It has been wonderful to see so many students launch straight into 2016 classes and ready to learn.  This is one of the many benefits of the Flying Start Program which was implemented across Years 7 to 11 in the last weeks of 2015. 

Reporting Changes – Active Reporting

By now you will have received a letter via email regarding important changes to assessment and reporting in 2016 and 2017.  This letter has been reproduced as an appendix to this Newsletter.  Please make yourself familiar with the content of the letter and if you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact the College.

VCE Acceleration

During subject selection time we are often asked about our VCE Acceleration policy. This refers to students who wish to complete a VCE subject a year before they ordinarily would.  For example a Year 10 student who wants to study a Unit 1 & 2 VCE subject.  While there are many benefits to acceleration, it is not for every student.  Many students benefit more from developing their skills in subjects at their own level.  However, for those students who are thinking of acceleration (particularly in Years 9 and 10) the policy on acceleration is very clear on the academic and other requirements.

There are several reasons for the introduction of this policy, including:

• Evidence that students need to have developed sound skills in literacy to manage the jump in difficulty from Year 9 to Year 11 work.
• Our experience tells us that some students are better off with another year of knowledge and skill attainment at their level.
• Students can still strive to meet the acceleration requirement in Year 10, to study a Unit 3 and 4 subject in Year 11.
• High demand for places in Units 1 and 2 subjects from Year 11 students, Year 11 students must be given preference.

This Policy has also been reproduced as an appendix.  Subject selection period will again be during early Term 3.

If you have any queries regarding this policy please do not hesitate to contact the College.

Changes to Reporting 

In late 2014 and throughout the course of 2015 Catholic Education Services (formerly Catholic Education Office, Melbourne) consulted with all Catholic schools about modifications to Student Reporting.  This consultation occurred in light of changes announced by the Victorian Curriculum & Assessment Authority in February 2014.  The outcome of this consultation was a change in policy regarding the way in which Catholic schools are required to report student achievement and progress to parents.  The new requirements are mandated from 2017.

St Bede’s College response

At St Bede’s College the Teaching and Learning Committee consulted with like schools, our parent community, staff members and educational research to evaluate the effectiveness of the College’s practices, as well as possible directions for future practices.  As a result of these discussions, the Leadership Team accepted a recommendation that St Bede’s College move to a staged implementation of an Active Reporting Model.  This coincides with the introduction of a new Learning Management System, SIMON, and an audit of all assessment tasks in each subject.

What does this mean?

As a result of this, the process of reporting for students in Years 7-10 and in VCAL will differ significantly in 2016.  These changes will flow onto Year 11 and 12 VCE students in 2017.

Active Reporting means:

• Every 6-7 weeks information about your son’s performance on specific assessment tasks in each subject area will be available.
• This information will include a short comment and a percentage mark.
• Parents will be able to access this information via a new parent portal, Parent Access Module (PAM). (Instructions on accessing this portal will be available to families in early March.)
• Modified reporting will remain for Beacon students.

Some of the changes you will notice include:

• Standards from 2017 will be reported for each subject at the end of each semester.
• No overall semester comments will be generated by teachers, however an overall ‘S’, ‘N’ and semester grade will be available.
• Shorter comments, directed to your son.
• The comments will form a part of his teacher’s feedback on specific tasks, rather than general comments about the semester. 
• The AusVELS Standards (Victorian Curriculum Standards from 2017) will be reported for each subject at the end of each semester.

Active Reporting reflects St Bede’s College’s effective integration of ICT into education planning and delivery. The system increases responsiveness to individual learning needs, provides better quality and timelier information to parents, and improves classroom and administrative efficiency.

This system is founded on a wealth of research in assessment, reporting and student learning. It draws on the work of Professor John Hattie from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education and his analysis of 180 000 studies representing over 50 million students, which found that ‘informative feedback’ had the greatest effect on student learning.

When will this occur?

For parents of VCAL students, and students in Years 7-10 AusVELS subjects, reporting information will be uploaded to PAM on the dates below.  The time of upload is yet to be confirmed.

(includes AusVELS Standards and final result for semester subject)

Parent, Student, Teacher Interviews

Parent-Student-Teacher Interviews remain an important part of school-home communication.  For students in Years 8-12, these interviews will occur on 13 and 21 April.  Parents of Year 7 students will be invited to “Meet the Homeroom Teacher” on the evening of March 15.  Information regarding this event will be available in the coming weeks.

Please do not hesitate to contact the College if you require further information about the improvements we are making to assessment, feedback and reporting.  Of course if you are concerned about your son’s progress at any time please contact his Year Level or House Co-ordinator.

Ms Maria Haggett

Deputy Principal