Learning  

Dear Parents/Guardians 

As we approach the end of Term 1, I would like to congratulate the students and teachers in what they have achieved over the past 8 weeks.  It has been a short, but very busy term, where students have been involved in many rich experiences both, in their subjects and through the wide variety of co-curricular activities.  

Feedback for Parents and Students 

In addition to the ongoing feedback provided to students and parents via Learning Tasks and Chronicle entries on Compass, teachers will complete Progress Reports in Term 1 and full semester reports in Terms 2 and 4.  Parents can discuss student progress with their subject teachers during the Student-Parent-Teacher Conferences in Terms 2 and 3.

 Given the regularity of ongoing feedback and Student Parent Teacher Conferences in Term 3 we won’t be completing Progress Reports in Term 3. 

Term 1 Progress Reports will be available to families next Wednesday via Compass.  These progress reports reflect a student's approach to learning in terms of organisation, engagement, response to feedback, collaboration and homework. 

Strategies to activate students in their learning 

Following our work with Andrew Fuller last year, teachers have been sharing different strategies to activate students in their learning and creating dopamine-regulated classrooms.  This has included mixing up the pace of lessons, encouraging social interaction, decreasing screen time, as well as using a variety of quizzing and participation strategies and games, so that students are actively engaging in class.  It has been great to see the enthusiasm with which students and teachers have taken to using mini whiteboards and the increase in engagement in lessons.  There are still a small group of students who do not yet have a mini whiteboard.  Please can all students come to school with a whiteboard next term, if anyone is having difficulty obtaining one, please let me or their Wellbeing Leader know.   

Year 7 and 9 NAPLAN Testing 

Thank you to all Year 7 and 9 students for their engagement in NAPLAN, in particular to the Year 9 students who experienced the statewide disruption during the Writing component.  Thank you also to all staff involved, and in particular, to Ms Betty Lin and Ms Bianca Siciliano for their organisation in preparing and running NAPLAN so that it ran smoothly for students.  

If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to contact me.  Otherwise, I wish you all a Happy Easter and safe holidays when they come. 

Ms Lucy Neil 

Deputy Principal – Learning and Teaching