Director of Curriculum

Effective teaching and learning includes timely and evidence-based feedback. According to Professor John Hattie (2013), a researcher in education at the University of Melbourne, when feedback is combined with effective classroom instruction, it is the most powerful tool to enhance learning. 

The College staff are emphasising the importance of feedback on student learning and continue to embed feedback into their planning and implementation of Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum. 

To accompany the College’s approach to continuous reporting, our Senior School families will receive an invitation or request for a Student Learning Conference from each learning area teacher. These will take place on two possible evenings in Term 2: Thursday 27 April and Monday 1 May 2023. The statements released on Wednesday 5 April 2023 will be supported with the encouragement to access SEQTA Engage to participate in your daughter’s learning progress. 

Senior School teachers will be communicating individualised, purposeful and meaningful feedback that highlights students' knowledge, skills and understanding of concepts, as well as logical connections to learning and explicit strategies for continued improvement. This process replaces the traditional Progress Report previously issued in Term 1. The mode of feedback can vary across and within learning areas. The following are examples of feedback that families can expect to see through SEQTA Engage. 

• Written narrative responses: What is being learnt, how students are progressing, key strengths and areas for improvement. 
• Rubrics: Identified strengths and areas for improvement through success criteria. 
• A progress indicator using the Catholic Education Office rating scale: Developing, Consolidating or Extending. 
• Planning templates/checklists: Showing progress towards a larger piece of work.
• Questions: Teachers propose questions for students to engage in reflective thinking about the next stages of learning. 

The below diagrams model the feedback provided to strengthen student learning. 

Table 1: Minimum number of feedback provided in Term 1 for each year level learning area.

Table 2: Summary of academic communication for families in 2023.