Assistant Principal 

Senior Years and Teaching and Learning.

 Can you believe it we are almost at mid-point of term one, already! With only six weeks to go until term one finishes, we have started to see the senior school students busy completing assessment tasks. In assemblies over the past few weeks the senior school teams have been supporting students to manage their time during periods of competing demands. The year 11 students this week had the fortune to listen to a presentation from Elevate on goal setting and successful study practices for maximum results in VCE and VM.  For the best opportunities to experience success, students were advised to complete and commit to a weekly study and revision timetable plan. This practice allows them to allocate adequate revision and to complete the preparation tasks ahead of time, so as to avoid that dreaded last minute, or the night before mad rush to prepare. We all have the same number of minutes available to us each day, but maximizing the best use of this time is a critical skill to ensure lifelong management in our daily lives. 

The College has once again purchased subscriptions for students completing studies in VCE units 3 and 4 to access Edrolo. This is an online platform which supports senior students completing VCE with the provision of access to quizzes, exam questions, additional revision materials and video lessons provided by a range of educators on all key knowledge points as written in the current VCE subject study designs. These are incredibly useful as additions to the lessons provided here by our wonderful year 12 teachers, and past students who have excelled in their final years, have all spoken of the value that Edrolo provided in helping them acquire excellent VCE results. Login information was provided to students on Compass and via Teams. Please check in with your child to ensure they are using this exceptional resource and are not missing out on the extra resources provided.

Learning Conferences will be taking place on the 5thand 6thof March. These are opportunities for parents and careers to gain an insight as to how their children have settled into the school year. I encourage all parents to book appointments to meet with subject teachers and partner with us to support your child in their learning.

Next Tuesday February 25th, the college will be having a curriculum day for all staff. Staff will be undertaking some further professional learning on the needs of students and families with refugee backgrounds and a session around supporting literacy growth for all students a which is part of our work as identified in our Strategic Plan. Teachers will be preparing their individual Reading Action Plans to improve reading skills for students in their classes. It is through regular reading that students acquire most of their subject vocabulary. It is also an opportunity for parents and teachers to expand their teenagers view of the world. It helps them make sense of the world they live in, but also the people, building social emotional skills as well as imagination. Nonfiction texts like school textbooks for example, introduce students to new knowledge and fictional books develop social reasoning skills such as understanding of others and empathy. As parents of secondary students, please encourage your child to read. All year levels have novels as part of their English class, ask your child what they are reading, what is interesting and their understanding of what they are reading.

The provision of additional reading materials is also a great way that families can support reading development in their child. Local libraries are great places to encourage your child to visit and study.

 The second part of our curriculum day will be spent with our key learning area teams building upon their syllabi and continuing to ensure we deliver high quality educational programs which align with the Victorian Curriculum. This important work ensures that we continue to apply best teaching practice to meet the needs of all our learners here at college.

As always please feel free to contact either myself or any of the senior school team if you have any concerns regarding your senior school child. 

Warmly,

Laura Forster 

Assistant Principal Senior years.