Curriculum News

Head of Senior School Curriculum

Year 12 Mock Exam block

The Year 12 mock exam block will run from Friday 27 August until Friday 3 September. 

As per the assessment schedule, due to the number of exams required, the original student free day on Friday 3 September will now be used to hold necessary exams. 

As with previous exam blocks, students only need to attend if they have a scheduled exam.  However, this privilege is provided to students who are up-to-date with assessment for all subjects.  If your son has not submitted assessment or completed the tasks to a reasonable standard, he will be required to remain at school over this exam block in order to catch up on this work. You will be contacted before the commencement of exam block via email if this applies to your son. 

Expectations during exam block are as follows:

• Normal College rules apply when on campus
• Boys must arrive to and from school in full school uniform (including blazers and bags)
• Boys are to travel directly to and from school without congregating at shops, outside other schools or the like
• Boys must arrive 15 minutes prior to their scheduled exam
• Boys must bring all required equipment (calculator, pens, highlighters etc)
• Boys must adhere to the exam coordinators’ instructions at all times.
• Boys are also encouraged to bring their equipment in a clear plastic sleeve or container.

Any questions regarding senior mock exams please contact smeedj@marash.qld.edu.au

Optimus Breakfast

Tomorrow morning, we will celebrate the Year 12 Gold Optimus awards recipients listed below.  

Jacob Anderson, Lachlan Britcliffe, Will Jennings, Julian Murphy, Leon Simonetti, Nate Armitage, William Curr, Sam Keoga, Finbar O'Donnell, Hugh Torpie, Jaxon Barwell, Matthew Duff, Oliver King, Connor Petterson, Oliver Vandenberg, Max Bonasia, Sam Garbellini, Jacob Kumaru, Josh Pignolet, William Waters, Jamie Bowden, Finn Hooper, Nathan McKarzel, Alex Pitman, Sam Watts

The College looks forward to welcoming Professor Ian Frazer as the keynote speaker for this celebration of excellence. Professor Ian Frazer is a clinician scientist, trained as a clinical immunologist in Scotland. As a professor at the University of Queensland, he leads a research group working at TRI in Brisbane, Australia on the immunobiology of epithelial cancers.  He is recognised as co-inventor of the technology enabling the HPV vaccines, currently used worldwide to help prevent cervical cancer. He heads a biotechnology company, Jingang Medicine (Aus) Pty Ltd, working on new vaccine technologies, and is a board member of several companies and not for profit organisations. He was the inaugural president of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, and a member of the Australian National Science and Technology Council. He chairs the Australian Medical Research Advisory Board of the Medical Research Future Fund.

We look forward to celebrating the outstanding academic achievements of these Year 12 students, along with their parents on Wednesday morning in the Cyprian.  

External assessment invigilators for QCAA 

The QCAA appoints members of the Queensland community to observe the administration of assessments. The invigilator role is independent; they are appointed to observe and report on the administration of the external assessments. Invigilators play an important role in promoting public confidence in the Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE) system and ensuring that proper and fair administrative procedures are implemented. 

Invigilator roles 

Applications from Queensland community members for invigilator roles are now open. Invigilators are appointed as casual employees.

Role summary 

Invigilator duties and eligibility requirements are detailed in the External Assessment invigilator: Position description located at https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/senior/assessment/external-assessment/external-assessment-invigilators. In brief, invigilators are required to attend allocated assessment sessions at assessment venues to observe the administration of assessments. Invigilators report their observations to the QCAA after each assessment session by completing an online Invigilator report. Invigilators do not move or distribute materials, participate in or assist with any aspect of the administration of assessments, supervise or have any contact with students, or provide advice or feedback to staff at assessment venues about any aspect of the administration of the assessment 

Eligibility 

To be eligible to apply for a QCAA invigilator role, community members must hold a current, paid blue card, or, for teachers with a current Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) registration, an exemption card from Blue Card Services. Applicants must be at least 18 years old and eligible to work in Australia. They must possess personal attributes of discretion, tact, attention to detail, and an ability to maintain confidentiality, as well as meeting straightforward requirements for identification and access to technology. 

If you are interested in invigilator positions within the school community or you worked as an invigilator in 2020, you need to reapply for 2021. Prospective applicants should follow the below steps-

1. Read the attached External assessment invigilator: Position description and the frequently asked questions, available on the QCAA website at: https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/senior/assessment/external-assessment/external-assessmentinvigilators/external-assessment-invigilators-faqs
2. Obtain your paid blue card (or exemption card for teachers) from Blue Card Services.
3. If necessary, register for a QCAA Portal account, following the instructions in the External assessment invigilator: Position description.
4. Submit your application for a QCAA invigilator role via the Assessor Jobs app in the QCAA Portal. To find out more please email externalassessment@qcaa.qld.edu.au or phone 07 3074 7570.

Head of Middle School Curriculum

Accessing Your Son’s Assessment Schedule

Your son’s assessment schedule is accessible via Parent Lounge on the Parent Portal. 

STEP 1

On the Calendar tab select the drop-down menu “eDiary”.  This will take you to your sons dairy with listed activities across the College. 

STEP 2

You will then be able to select the curricular activities that are due by selecting the correct box in the calendar feeds. 

STEP 3

Once you have applied this filter to the calendar, your son’s assessment schedule will appear.  See below. 

Secondary Learning Leader

Being only two weeks out from most major examinations, learning needs to be consolidated with regular, active study. Students should be aiming for at least a minimum of 6 x 30min sessions, per exam, of revision, spread through the next fortnight – to make sure learning for the whole term is retrievable come exam time. This number should obviously be higher for our senior boys.

An effective active study technique is summarising – making summaries of material, concepts, texts, discussions and other learnings that have occurred through the term and the revision period. Summarises can come from recordings, textbook passages, conversations and notes made during class – to name a few! The trick is to work smarter, not just harder, and lots of small summaries made regularly are considerably more effective than big summaries made sporadically. Avoid the “cram” – start regular summaries today!

Keep a summary book. Use this book to review, reread, re-summarise, make questions, test yourself and compare your summaries to others, and approach your teachers when you identify material and concepts you are finding difficult. Having a visual record of your summaries is important.

Now is the perfect time to engage in Study Hall sessions on Tuesday afternoons in the library. We wish all boys the best in their preparation for their Term 3 exams – particularly our Year 11s preparing for Unit 2 assessment, and our Year 12s for their mock External Exam block.