DEPUTY PRINCIPAL - TEACHING & LEARNING REPORT 

The past few weeks have been a celebration at the College. Last Friday we held a Christmas Liturgy in our chapel. Liturgy is an important part of our Catholic identity and a chance to come together for prayer and reflection. It was wonderful to be able to join as a community to celebrate Advent. We lit the Advent wreath, a symbol of the four weeks of waiting and the themes of hope, peace, joy and love. The Christmas Liturgy is an important commemoration of Advent as a time of waiting for the birth of Jesus, as well as a time of hope for all humanity. Many thanks to Ms Wright for putting together this beautiful celebration.

Monday night’s pre-recorded Presentation Night was a wonderful occasion, providing an opportunity to come together to recognise the diligence, hard work and success of our students during another challenging year. I congratulate all students who were recognised for their hard work and commitment. You should be truly proud of your efforts, and I know your teachers and parents share your pride.

This week on Tuesday and Wednesday I was fortunate to be involved in the College’s production of Little Shop of Horrors. The many months of rehearsals culminated in performances held during the day and evening on Tuesday and Wednesday. Congratulations to Ms Henderson for directing the production, and to all the students and staff involved on stage and behind the scenes. It was a thoroughly entertaining musical.

A huge thank you to our staff who have worked tirelessly throughout another challenging year. Our staff go above and beyond in their work, and their unwavering dedication and commitment to our school and young learners is very much appreciated. Thank you to our students for engaging in your learning throughout the year. We know it has been challenging going from face-to-face learning to online learning, but you approached this with resilience and adaptability, and we are very proud of you all.  I would also like to extend a huge thank you to our community for your support throughout 2021. It is a great privilege to be part of leading this wonderful school, and I look forward to continuing our learning journey together in 2022.

At the end of the year, we are all tired and looking forward to the holidays. Recently I came across ‘For one who is exhausted’, a blessing by John O’Donohue, which might resonate with a lot of our students and staff as they are feeling weary at the end of another busy year. The blessing can be found here. The Christmas festivities, exchanging of presents, enjoying good food and the company of family, combined with a time to reflect on the religious significance of this holiday, makes Christmas, as the song goes ‘the most wonderful time of the year’. I wish all members of our community a holy and peace-filled Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year. May it be a time of joy, connection and love for your family. I hope you take the opportunity to rest, recuperate and celebrate with your family and friends over these holidays. We certainly hope that 2022 will be less tumultuous than the past two years.

Holiday reading

The holidays provide an opportunity to do some reading. We encourage our students to read the novels for their English classes in 2022. We also promote reading for leisure, and the Reading Australia website provides some tips for parents to support their child with their reading and literacy development (here). 

Semester Two Reports

At St Mary MacKillop College we recognise the importance of ongoing feedback to students about their academic progress. In light of this we have the Parent Access Module (PAM) where grades for assessment tasks are published and feedback is provided to inform students of their achievements and areas for improvement. We encourage students and parents to access PAM on a regular basis and to have conversations at home around their child’s academic progress. End of Semester reports have almost been completed and will shortly be available online via PAM. I encourage parents and guardians to take the time to discuss the report with your child.

To review detailed feedback on each assessment task, please refer to the individual subject Learning Area, accessible via PAM. Hardcopies of End of Semester reports will only be printed and posted home over the holidays, if specifically requested. Please contact the office prior to Wednesday 15 December if you need any assistance accessing reports or if you need your password reset.

If any parent is unable to access their child’s report online, or does not receive their specifically requested hardcopy by the beginning of Term 1, 2022, please do not hesitate to contact the Front Office.

All Victorian Government and Catholic schools now must use the Victorian Curriculum F-10 for determining achievement levels for students in Years 7 to 10. Schools are required to report on the achievement of all students including those with disabilities ‘without exception’. The Victorian Curriculum achievement graphs contain some significant changes, with an explanation of new terms and codes under each graph. If you have any questions or concerns with the reporting of Victorian Curriculum levels for your child, please contact me.

Please note: Some students who have a Personal Learning Program (PLP) may have an expected achievement level set which differs from their year level in some subjects. This will be explained in more detail at the parent’s next PSG meeting with Sally Op’t Hoog (Learning Diversity Leader).

Victorian Curriculum Standards

The scoring range for the Victorian Curriculum for Foundation Level to Level 10 is structured in 0.5 increments which nominally equate to 6 monthly progress within an achievement standard.

Achievement means a teacher locating a student on a continuum of learning for a Learning Area and and/or Capability by making an on-balance, holistic, evidence-based and defensible judgement of assessment evidence gathered during a reporting period.

Progress means representing the growth in learning that has occurred by referencing the last time such achievement standards were reported against for that student in the school.

Typically by the end of the year students should have achieved the following levels for the Victorian Curriculum as outlined in the table below. When students are at these levels on the continuum they are considered as ‘at standard’.

Grading Scale for Year 7 to 11 Assessment Tasks

End of Semester Reports: Grading for Assessment Tasks 

Assessments at Year 7 – 11 use the following grading criteria: 

VH (Very High):                 All criteria addressed to a very high standard or 85 – 100%

H (High):                              Most criteria addressed to a high standard or 70 – 84%

M (Medium):                     Criteria addressed to a medium standard or 50 – 69%

L (Low):                                Criteria addressed to a low standard or 30 – 49%

VL (Very Low):                   Criteria addressed to a very low standard or 14 – 29%

NE (Not Eligible):              Student is not eligible for a result due to: Non-submission of work by the due date; lowest standard not met; copying or; plagiarism; or below 14%

LS (Late Submission):     Late but Satisfactory

NA (Not Assessed):         Task Not Assessed

AB (Absence):                   Absent for task

Grading Scale for Religious Education

Awakenings

Extensive Knowledge     All criteria addressed to a very high standard

Thorough Knowledge     Most criteria addressed to a high standard 

Sound Knowledge            Criteria addressed to a medium standard 

Basic Knowledge              Criteria addressed to a medium to low standard

Elementary Knowledge  Criteria addressed to a low standard

Not Eligible                         Student is not eligible for a result due to: Non-submission of work by the due date; lowest standard not met; copying or; plagiarism.

Reflecting on Learning

As the year comes to an end for our students, I encourage them to reflect on their learning throughout the year. Reflecting at the end of the year also helps students think about how they will approach their studies in the new year. Parents can help their child to reflect on their learning by asking these starting questions:

• What has been the highlight of your learning?
• Have you settled into the classroom learning environment after remote learning?
• Did you try a new learning strategy during our time of remote learning? Did this strategy work and are you still using it?
• Are there any concerns you have regarding your learning progress?
• What has been the most challenging thing for your learning this year?