Assistant Principal's Report
Year 11 & 12
This week all of our year 11 and 12 students who are studying Unit 3 and Unit 4 subjects, sat the General Achievement Test (GAT). For most this was their first experience of an external examination run by the Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority (VCAA). The exam was a taste of what the end of year examination period will be and lasted for 3 hours and 15 minutes.
In preparation for this, the Senior team ran a preparation session with students sitting the GAT which involved a breakdown of the task and resources provided to the students to allow them to prepare for the examination.
As students go through the ups and downs of study in their final year, it is incredibly important that as a school community that we not only support our students and their wellbeing, but that we hold students to high standards of effort at school and at home when studying. Unit 3 is now complete. Year 12 students will start Unit 4 and will complete this by the end of Term 3. Students who wish to achieve their best results at the end of the year need to be working consistently and pushing through times of low motivation.
Students should be scheduling a significant amount of study and exam practice over the holiday break to ensure that they are ready for the challenges of term 4.
I remind all parents and students that the school provides a free resource at no cost to students called Edrolo. All students have a log in to this and all students should be accessing this content for extra support for their learning. It provides practice tasks, extra lectures on subject content and a range of resources to support students to build content knowledge and refine skills required to be demonstrated in assessment and end of year exams.
Year 11 students have just finished their exam period and have moved into their Unit 2 subjects. I commend them on the way that they approached the exam period and their efforts in exams. Students will receive exam feedback from their teachers which is very important information for students to use to improve exam performance by focusing on areas for improvement.
At the end of term all families will be able to access student reports via Compass. I strongly urge you to go through the results your child is receiving and then to note the areas for improvement. Please contact relevant staff if you have queries about how you can further support your child through the rigours of VCE and VCAL
Ms. Julie Ryan
Assistant Pricipal
Year 9 & 10
Our semester one exam period for students in years 9, 10 and 11 came to a conclusion this Thursday with the completion of the year 9 Maths exam. We were proud of the manner in which our students approached and conducted themselves throughout this period. The experience of sitting exams helps prepare students for the exams they may sit in VCE, and is a valuable learning opportunity regarding the development of their application to study, management of time during the exam, stamina and sometimes managing stress that exams can bring on for some students. Teachers’ support their students through this experience, guiding them appropriate study routines and advice as well as practice managing time.
The year 9 and 10 team and I, look forward to celebrating the achievement of our students in years 9 and 10 in the end of semester assemblies scheduled for the last week of term.
Semester one Reports.
The End of Semester Report is a subject-by-subject summary of the feedback provided via the Continuous Online Reports on Compass. Essentially, the data that appears on this report is a printable summary of the feedback received on each of the Learning Tasks that were completed and assessed throughout this past semester. For years 9, 10 and 11 students, you will also see scores of the mid semester exams that have recently taken place.
The End of Semester Report also includes your child’s achievement in relation to the Victorian Curriculum or VCE/VCAL, specific to each subject area. You will also receive information relating to Work Habits specifically those of Effort, Organisation, Classroom Behaviour and Completion of homework for each subject. Strategies your child could implement in order to improve their learning has also been provided by each subject teacher, in the section named “Areas for further Improvement”.
The End of Semester report will be available on the Compass Portal from Friday 28th June. Parents and Guardians are encouraged to download or print these reports. To access the End of Semester report, visit the Home screen of Compass, click on the “View Academic Reports” link. This will take you to a “list view” where you will be able to click onto your child’s 2019-semester one report.
Celebrating Teacher Contributions,
Some wonderful news, two of our staff have been recognised for their roles as educators within the Victorian Department of Education sector, Ms Lana Siryani for her work facilitating exciting educational opportunities and partnerships, for students at LSC and the Whittlesea Tech school, and Ms Claire Delaney for her role supporting Maths educators not only at LSC, but also through her work with the Maths Teachers Association of Victoria. Both Lana and Claire have been invited to a prestigious event at Government house to acknowledge and celebrate their amazing contributions. We are very proud of Lana and Claire. Congratulations from our community here at Lalor secondary college.
Ms. Laura Forster
Assistant Principal
Year 7 & 8
It is with great anticipation and excitement that we await our music Soiree at 6.00pm on Tuesday 18th June. Many of our junior students are involved with the Soiree, and I look forward to welcoming families of performers on Tuesday evening. There will be a cuppa available early in the evening, so please come and meet other parents and support our children’s musical endeavours. I has been a great pleasure to watch the student rehearse. Special guests including our local state MP Bronwyn Halfpenny will be in attendance. The Soiree, is in part a dress rehearsal for our students participation in the Victorian State School Spectacular ‘Made of Stars’ to be held on Saturday 14th September at the Melbourne Arena. This prestigious concert will be filmed by channel 7 (broadcast at later date) and involve acts from students across Victoria. Tickets for this event can be purchased the Ticketek.
The end of the term brings report time, and teachers have been working exhaustively to complete assessments and reporting. Could all families please take the time to carefully read reports with their children once available. The reports are a reflection of a lot of work by students with the support of their teachers.
As the term is coming to a close, I want to take the opportunity to personally thank the exceptional year 7/8 team of Samantha Laird/Luke Carey (year 7) and Adriana Trajkovic/Lauren Christian (Year 8), all of whom have been led by Josh Simpson ( Junior Sub-School Leader). These professionals work long hours to bring out the best in our students and we are very grateful to them.
I also want to thank our office staff for their professionalism in working with our children.
The work of our Wellbeing Team – Amanda Dipasquantonio (Student Counsellor) and Laz Zaekis continues to provide enormous support to our students, often at times of vulnerability. Improved social and emotional wellbeing of course leads to strong growth and improved academic outcomes.
Melanie Foster is our program leader and works with many students who have complex needs in the College, I am also grateful to her for helping to improve outcomes for our integration students in particular.
Please be sure to contact myself, or any of the above professionals if we can be of assistance to your family.
Tim Cottrell
Assistant Pricipal