Learning  

Dear Parents /Guardians,

As we conclude Term 3, I wish to congratulate students for their effort and contribution to school life.  Last week we enjoyed the end-of-term assembly and celebrated Mercy Day, both very significant days in the College calendar. It was wonderful for our College community to come together and celebrate our traditions as well as the achievements of our current students. 

While most students, and teachers, are looking forward to a two-week break, for our VCE students this is definitely not a break. The next two weeks involves preparing for, then completing, their VCE trial exams. [Friday 22 September to Thursday 28 September] Over the next two months, while there needs to be a significant focus on revision and preparing for the VCE as well as Year 10 and 11  exams, I encourage families to help their daughters take care of themselves and each other during this time. I would like to refer to the words from Madeleine Palmer, Arts Captain, who shared this in the assembly.

“Right now we can become stuck in our own heads, preoccupied with the next result to be released, the next piece of work to be submitted or even how we’re going to do our hair for school tomorrow. But I want you to do the opposite. Whilst writing this speech, I thought to myself how I can turn my gaze to those around me and show gratitude to those who make my day a little brighter. And purely just thinking about the people closest to me and how I can show them how grateful I am, it made me feel better. Because when we lift others up we go with them, because right now especially in this difficult part of the year, we are stronger together and we will come out the other end of that last exam feeling like the best versions of ourselves”

Madeleine Palmer

Good luck to all students who are completing a Unit 3 & 4 exam. This is a stressful and challenging time but the College is here to support students and families. As long as students do their best, they can be proud of themselves.

Progress Reports

The Term 3 Progress Reports for all students have been released on Compass. These reports reflect a student's approach to learning. Separate to the Approaches to Learning, results of assessments can be found in the Learning Tasks section on Compass. 

At the College, we acknowledge that students are of various academic ability levels and will have different expectations and goals in terms of results. However, we expect all students to strive to be the very best they can be, and set high standards in their approach to learning. 

In the Progress Reports, you may notice a shift in the rating of your child’s approach to learning. Overall our students work well and do everything that they are asked to do by the teachers and we are proud of this.  The majority of our students are doing this and they, and will, be marked as ‘Usually’ in their approaches to learning. 

However, in order to be the very best versions of themselves and achieve success, we are challenging our young people to go beyond what is asked and to do the extra ten percent. We hope for our students to be proactive in their learning by seeking out further opportunities to extend or consolidate their knowledge and skills; doing extra revision, preparation or study in addition to set classwork and homework, trying different study techniques, asking thoughtful questions, being self reflective on their own learning, using feedback to improve, providing feedback to others, and working with others to improve.  Students who are going over and above and doing this will be marked as ‘Consistently’.

I challenge each and encourage all students to strive to be the best version of themselves and to look for opportunities to be better learners. 

I wish all students and families a safe and happy holiday and the best of luck to the students who have trial exams.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or feedback.

Ms Lucy Neil

Deputy Principal, Learning & Teaching