Learning & Teaching

Curriculum Day - Teacher Professional Development Day 

We recently surveyed 130 VCE students about how teachers and students use Developmental Rubrics in their classes. The data was positive and encouraging, with the vast majority of students indicating that teachers use the rubrics to design SAC assessments and give feedback.  They also indicated variations in how often teachers update the rubrics and use them to formatively assess students rather than in a summative way.

Today the teachers engaged in a full day program about improving the design and use of our VCE rubrics so that we are engaging students to use their rubrics lesson by lesson, to study and to prepare for assessments. The focus of the teacher's professional learning communities this semester is about using the rubrics to identify discrete skills and designing a quick assessment to get evidence of learning and give feedback. This evidence will help students and teachers to determine when the student has demonstrated the skill. 

This work is in preparation for 2025 when we plan to put all our VCE rubrics onto Maestro to assess students. The parents will then have access to the student and teacher rubrics with feedback on their progress. 

Semester 1 Reports 

Last week, Semester 1 Reports were published on Compass and Maestro

We are very pleased with the information provided to parents in the reports this year. The additional summative assessment grades for students in Year 7-10, and the overall learning progress element in the learning behaviour section, provide parents with more information for learning conversations at home. 

The Maestro Data Dashboards will be front and centre of our Academic Review Conferences on the Monday 12 Aug and will promote great conversations between parents, students and Teacher Mentors. Principal, Carrie Wallis will provide more detailed information about the format and focus of these 'new look' conferences on Tuesday, next week. 

If you have any difficulties accessing the reports or your Maestro account, please email me.

Semester 1 Academic Awards Evening

 For Year 7-11, Monday 29 July

Invitations to awards recipients have been sent out to parents of students receiving one or more awards for Academic excellence and or NAPLAN Achievement. 

This year we are recognising achievement in two categories in the Mid-Year Awards:

1. Academic Excellence Year 7-11
2. NAPLAN Achievement (students in Year 7 and 9)

The Awards Program

Part 1 - Year 7 and 8 Awards:

• Afternoon Tea - 5:00 pm to 5:30 pm (Orchard) - Prior to the awards ceremony, all awards recipients and their families are invited to enjoy light refreshments with our leadership team
• Year 7 and 8 Awards Presentation - 5:30 - 6:10 pm (Theatre)

Part 2 - Year 9 to 11 Awards:

Afternoon Tea - 5:45 pm to 6:15 pm (Orchard) - Prior to the awards ceremony, all awards recipients and their families are invited to enjoy an afternoon tea with light refreshments with our leadership team

Year 9 to 11 Awards Presentation - 6:15 - 7:00 pm- (Theatre)

Logging into Maestro

Natalie Manser 

Assistant Principal

mar@wantirnacollege.vic.gov.au