Curriculum News

Year 12 Masterclasses

General Subjects 

In order to prepare Year 12 students for sitting External Assessment, the College has developed Masterclasses that allows targeted revision of skills and subject-specific exam strategies. For each general subject, it was compulsory that boys enrolled in three classes (e.g. English A1, B3 and C6 across Week 1-3). 

There are two Masterclass sessions per day, one starting at 8:50am (Period 1) and the other at 12:20pm (Period 4). Timetables were sent to parents and student in Week 10 of Term 3 and was re-sent to students last week. Students are only required to attend classes (not Pastoral Group) and can leave the campus once their session has finished. For students who complete less than six general subjects, this will mean they may leave the campus after the morning session or not arrive onto campus until the afternoon session.

For all Masterclasses, students will need to be dressed in full school uniform and ensure they have all required equipment for their subjects (e.g. calculators). Your son can access his masterclasses by logging into the web preference link they used to enrol in each of their courses. This email was sent on Thursday 9 September. 

The External Exam block runs from Friday 22 October to Tuesday 16 November. The External Exam block schedule, as well as the required equipment lists, are available on the Marist portal and on the QCAA website.

If you have any questions about Masterclasses please do not hesitate to contact Jen Smeed, Head of Senior School Curriculum at smeedj@marash.qld.edu.au 

VOC Masterclasses

For boys who are not enrolled in any general classes and therefore, will not be required at Masterclasses, the College is running VOC classes. These classes are designed around the concept of life skills required after school. While these classes are designed for students not completing general subject Masterclasses, if your son has a break in his Masterclass schedule and would like to attend, please ask him to email Mr Peter Gaiter at vet@marash.qld.edu.au so that his place can be confirmed. 

For the VOC classes, boys will need to meet at the Cyprian each morning at 9:00am. Classes will run from 9:00-11:00am. While there are no formal classes in the afternoon and boys are not required to be on campus, they are encouraged to take advantage of the support services at the College including working with Mr Gaiter and Mrs Franklin for individual help in career planning, developing employment resources or discussing tertiary education opportunities.

The VOC masterclass timetable was sent to parents and student in Week 10 of Term 3 and was re-sent to students today.

If you have any questions about VOC Masterclasses please do not hesitate to contact Peter Gaiter at gaiterp@marash.qld.edu.au 

Commencement of Unit 3 for Year 11 students

The commencement of Term 4 was the beginning of Unit 3 studies for Year 11 students. This means that for general subjects, student assessment is now summative and contributes to ATAR calculations (if the student is ATAR eligible). According to QCAA requirements, Units 3 and 4 for all subjects must be completed as a pair. This means that students will not be allowed to change subjects across these units. If your son is contemplating changing subjects please direct him to the Studies Office as soon as possible. All subject changes will need to take place by the end of Week 2 (Friday 15 October). If you have any questions or would like to discuss subjects changes, QCE points or senior academics please do not hesitate to contact Ms Jen Smeed, Head of Senior School Curriculum on smeedj@marash.qld.edu.au or Mrs Tara Franklin, Secondary Learning Leader at franklint@marash.qld.edu.au 

Year 7-11 Assessment Schedule

This week the assessment schedule for all students will be uploaded to Student Café.  Students are encouraged to take note of their upcoming assessments and establish a study schedule to keep organised and on track.

Year 7-11 Exam Block

Changes to Calendar

The Year 10 and 11 Term 4 exam blocks will run from Tuesday 16 November to Tuesday 23 November.  During this time these students will only need to attend the College, in full school uniform, for their scheduled assessments. 

The Year 7-9 Term 4 exam block will run from Monday 15 November to Tuesday 23 November. During this time students will attend regular classes, unless in scheduled assessment. 

The exam block timetable for Years 7-11 will be released early next week.

Catch Up Exams

Students who are unable to complete scheduled assessments during exam block in Years 7-9 will be required to make up these assessments on Tuesday 23 November from 3:30pm-5:00pm in the senior library. 

The evidence from these assessment tasks is from part of your son’s final grades for 2021 and therefore it is necessary that they are present for the duration of the exam blocks. Please ensure holiday plans are made with these dates in mind. 

High Achievers Morning Tea

From Monday 18 October, high achieving students across Years 7-11 (based on GPA from Term 3 interim results) will be acknowledged at a morning tea, held in the Tower courtyard.  Invitations to this student-only event will be sent this week. 

Study Habits for Success

Thinking about and managing study is the key to a stress-free, well managed, balanced and successful life while completing school and life commitments.

Some suggestions put together by The Conversation are:

• Focus! And don’t multi-task – Direct attention to just one or two tasks at a time.
• Sleep well, learn well – Get a good night’s sleep to feel fresh and attentive the next day.
• Test yourself – We learn much better when we test our own knowledge
• Space out – Space your learning over days, weeks and months.
• Use memory aids – Linking information to another experience in any way helps us recall information

To see more ideas and a detailed explanation of each point, refer to study habits for success tips for students.

Finally, it is vital for students to develop or refresh their study timetable/schedule.