Teaching and Learning
Edgars Creek Secondary College
Term 4 : Teacher Professional Learning
During our recent Curriculum Day, our teachers were hard at work mapping our teaching and learning sequences from Years 7 through to the VCE and VM. Each Learning Area had the opportunity to look at how learning and assessment progresses across the year levels and discussed strengths, gaps and further opportunities to build students skills and knowledge in 2023. If you look closely at the images, you may spot a Halloween Witches hat or two!
Members of our Leadership team also ran Professional Development workshops, that teachers elected to go to, in a range of areas from Literacy strategies to differentiation and use of data to improve student learning outcomes. These workshops gave teachers the opportunity to work in small groups on areas they find interesting, and want further development in.
Finally, our Curriculum Leaders also worked alongside Tom Campbell on unpacking the kinds of texts that our Year 9 students encounter during PAT Reading and NAPLAN testing. This helps us to better understand their results and work out what we need to focus on in the classroom to build their literacy skills across all subject areas.
Examinations approaching
Our exam period kicks off this week with our first Year 11 exam scheduled for Friday where students will sit their 2 hour English. Across next week students, will sit exams in all of their subjects before moving into their Step Up classes as early entry to Year 12. While examinations are only one form of assessment, they are still the main form of assessment in Year 12 for those students seeking an academic pathway after school. It is our job as a College to help and support students to achieve their potential to succeed in exams and holding exams from Year 9 onwards is a part of that preparation. It is important to remember that exam results do not directly reflect the strengths and worth of a young person. Youth Central has some excellent tips for students on how to make the most of the exam period: https://www.youthcentral.vic.gov.au/study-and-training/help-with-study/how-to-study-better/top-10-exam-tips