Student Learning Growth

Our dedicated teachers and leaders are committed to ensuring that all students demonstrate growth in their learning.  “Success” does not always mean getting perfect marks on a test. In fact, when things are too easy for us, we can get quite bored! We believe that Mentone Girls’ students are capable of doing hard things – with the right balance of support and encouragement, rising to challenges is a great way to learn and grow. 

Adam Grant is an American organizational psychologist and bestselling author, and a leading expert on how we can find motivation and meaning. He suggests “if you never fail, you are not aiming high enough”. We encourage our students to challenge themselves in their learning. Rather than chasing perfectionism, we should focus on improvement and growth. Grant suggests that a great way to improve is to seek feedback, and that one way to illicit constructive feedback is to ask, “what can I do better next time?”. Students receive formal feedback on summative assessment tasks. For our Year 7 – 11 students, these tasks are called Common Assessment Task (CATS), and for our Year 12 students in our final year, they are School Assessed Coursework or School Assessed Tasks (SACs or SATs). Teachers provide thorough feedback on these tasks in a range of ways – face-to-face conferencing, discussions in class, and/or comments and rubrics on Compass. Students and parents/carers can view teacher feedback on Compass by navigating to Learning Tasks. Importantly, students receive feedback on their learning regularly – not just on summative tasks. Formative assessments (exit tickets, quizzes, classroom tasks, homework) give students an opportunity to demonstrate what concepts/skills they have mastered, and where they might need assistance. 

Learning is a partnership between students and the teacher, and it is important that Mentone Girls’ students take ownership of their learning and feel empowered to seek assistance when it’s required. 

MGSC teachers routinely use data to guide their practice. Our Year 7 students completed their PAT ACER tests in Reading and Mathematics last week. This data, together with transition information provided by our many feeder primary schools, enables Year 7 teachers to identify where their students are at in their learning, and where they need to be challenged or supported. In March, our Year 7s and 9s will complete their NAPLAN testing (students have been spoken to at Year Level Assemblies, and more information will be sent to students and their families in the coming weeks).

The beginning of the year is a great time to set goals for the year ahead, and to remind students that they are competing only against themselves. Success looks different for all of us, and we should be focusing on growth and improvement, not perfectionism. 

Hayley Dureau

Assistant Principal, Student Learning Growth