Junior School Report

From the

Director of Learning

Junior School

Miss Jessika Cichy

Hello all, and welcome to the back half of Term 3. It has been a quieter term on the events calendar, but a very busy one in the classroom. Our Year 7 and 8 students are now well into CAT season, and this newsletter focuses on what that means, how you can keep track of your child’s results at home, and what is coming up in Term 4.

The Road so Far

It’s CAT season!

Our Junior School students are currently completing the first of their Semester 2 Common Assessment Tasks (CATs) across all their subjects. These are the major pieces of assessment for the semester, and results are progressively being released as teachers finish their marking.

A CAT might be a test, an essay, a practical task, a presentation or a folio piece — it varies by subject. What they all have in common is that they are the clearest evidence we have of how your child is tracking against the Victorian Curriculum, and they feed directly into the semester report. Some students will still have tasks outstanding; if that is the case for your child, we ask that they see their teacher to arrange a time to complete or catch up on the task as soon as possible.

All CAT results and teacher feedback are published on Compass under Learning Tasks. If you have not looked at this section before, it is well worth doing — it is the fastest way to see exactly where your child is at. You can log in to your Compass parent portal, select your child’s name and find the Learning Tasks tab. Each individual task has a letter grade, and a rubric. If you open the rubric, you will able to see where your child was marked and why. If you have trouble logging in or have forgotten your details, please contact the school office and we will get you set up.

Results on Compass are reported using an A to E scale. The most important thing to know is that C means your child is working at the expected level for their year — it is a solid, on-track result.

Working With Your Child to Improve

Once you have had a look at the results together, the next step is deciding what to do with them. With the next year quickly approaching, it is important students are not only thinking about how they are tracking now, but how they can use the next few months to improve and be better prepared for their next-year classes. A few suggestions for families:

• Set one or two specific goals - “Do better in Maths” is difficult to act on. “Submit every Maths task on time this term” or “Ask one question in class each lesson” is something a student can track. Pick one or two, write them down, and check in on them in a few weeks.

• Read the feedback, not just the grade The rubrics show where students met criteria, and where the gaps were. Reading these with your child — rather than focusing only on the letter — is important and can help with goal-setting.

• Contact the teacher - If something is unclear or you are concerned, please email the subject teacher directly through Compass. Teachers are very happy to explain how a task was marked and what your child can do next. 

• Keep it steady - Consistent homework habits, a set study space, and being organised with the right materials matter far more over a semester than any single task result.

Celebrations and Looking Ahead

Events in Term 4

Term 4 is a busier one for the Junior School, with three significant events already locked in:

• Courage to Care Incursions (Weeks 1–3) – All Junior School students will take part in the Courage to Care program early in the term. This incursion explores the impact of prejudice and discrimination through real stories, and challenges students to think about the role of the upstander rather than the bystander. It links directly to our iCARE value of Care for Others.

• Celebration Day (Week 8) – A celebration of the year that was, held just before Headstart. Students will spend the day with their 2027 classes, giving them a chance to meet their new cohort in a relaxed setting before the formal transition begins.

• Headstart (Weeks 9–10) – Over the final two weeks, students move into their 2027 classes and begin their new subjects with their new teachers. It is a genuine head start on next year, and we ask families to reinforce the importance of attendance across this period — students who are present for Headstart begin 2027 already knowing their timetable, their teachers and their expectations.

   

More detail on each of these, including any permission forms, will follow closer to the date. We are also setting up and preparing for our 2027 Year 7 cohort. The Junior School team are starting to collect information from the different primary schools and organise the Orientation Day in Term 4. Very exciting!

Westall Way Leaderboard & Shining Stars

Westall points are awarded to students for demonstrating our iCARE values — Care for Learning, Self, Others & their School — and are celebrated at our fortnightly assemblies. Points build towards Bronze, Silver, Gold, Sub-School and Principal’s awards, and students who earn enough points across the semester are invited to our celebration lunch (pizza and ice cream!).

Let’s give a big shoutout to our Top 10 Westall Way Leaders across Year 7 & 8 so far this semester:

• Year 7: Alya, Sakina, Steven, Grace K, Sabrina, Deryck, Yesha, Mia, Zi Ming & Tommy
• Year 8: Alex L, Maahi, Evelyn, Darsh, Ruzgar, Reach, Muhammad, Thariq, Dominic & Ngan!

Congratulations also to the many students across both year levels who received their bronze, silver and gold awards at our most recent assembly — a wonderful reflection of the consistent effort happening every day in our classrooms.

I also wanted to highlight a few of our ‘Shining Stars’ this term — students recognised on Compass for going above and beyond:

• Shoutout to Andrew, Felicity & Evan (Year 8) – These students were “Working diligently and answering the comprehension questions in intervention.” (Miss. Sohail)

• Shoutout to Ricky, Abel, Nathan & Ibrahim (Year 7) – These students showed great initiative in their intervention classes. Great work! (Miss. Yoshizawa & Miss. Sohail)

• Shoutout to Adam & Andy V (Year 7) – Both students “worked diligently on their English CAT. Well done!” (Mr. Smith)

Warm Regards

Thank you as always to our families for your continued support. CAT season can feel like a stressful stretch for students, and a calm, curious conversation at home about what the results show makes an enormous difference. If there is anything at all we can do to support your child, please reach out to the Junior School team.

Warm regards, 

Miss Jessika Cichy

Director of Learning – Junior School Westall Secondary College