Deputy Principal of Operations

Term one draws to a close on Thursday 28th March.  Students will be dismissed at the earlier time of 2.30pm. Thursday marks the completion of one term of primary school for our Foundation students and at the other end of the spectrum, the completion of nine weeks of VCE and VCE VM course work for our Year 11 students. 

Around the Grounds (of St Mary’s College)

Today I visited classes in the Primary Learning Centre (PLC) and observed established routines and student engagement in the College’s InitiaLit program. 

St Mary’s College is committed to providing all students with the essential core knowledge and strong foundations to become successful readers and writers. Foundation students were working on letter sounds s, t, and m, Year 1 were identifying nouns and compound words in sentences such as ‘the jellyfish swam’ and Year 2 students were learning to write, with correct spelling the tricky words ‘something, what and ask’. 

Throughout the past two weeks Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students have been completing NAPLAN assessments. NAPLAN measures knowledge and skills in the areas of reading, writing, spelling, grammar, punctuation and numeracy. There are many characteristics of an individual that NAPLAN does not measure. Characteristics and qualities equally important in helping students become young people of faith, ready to be effective members of community, contributing to and enriching the world around them.

Year 11 students have been maximising their use of study time, at school and home to prepare and study for outcome assessment tasks (OATS) in Unit 2 English, Physical Education, Biology, Mathematical Methods. Students studying Year 12 General Mathematics Unit 3 & 4 in 2024 will, at the end of the year, receive a study score for the subject. During Year 12, students are given School Assessed Coursework (SACs) and at the end of the year, they have the final exam to test their competency on the subject. The marks they get for the SACs and final exam are used to determine their raw study score for each of their VCE subjects. Scaled study scores are used to determine a student’s Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR). The ATAR is a ranking of Year 12 results that measures a student’s overall academic achievement compared with all other final year students in Australia (excluding Queensland). The ATAR is not a score out of 100 – it is a rank. The ATAR allows tertiary institutions to compare the overall achievements of all students who have completed Year 12. Students studying Year 12 General Mathematics Unit 3 & 4 are scheduled to complete their first piece of School Assessed Coursework during Week 1 of Term 2. This is a Data Analysis Application Task and will be conducted over several lessons.

VCE VM and Year 10 Ignite students have been participating in a number of hands-on learning activities. As a part of Clean Up Australia Day these students conducted their own event to improve the environment around the College, working to remove rubbish along the boundary fence neighbouring Hughes Creek and the train line. 

Early in Term 2, Year 3&4 students head to Phillip Island (22nd to 24th April) and Year 7 students to Halls Gap, Grampians (1st to 3rd May) for camp experiences. 

Enjoy the Easter break. 

Genevieve Gordon

Deputy Principal Operations

genevieve.gordon@smseymour.catholic.edu.au