SECONDARY NEWS 

From the Assistant Principal 

Parent Teacher Meetings

Years 7 and 8 Parent Teacher Interviews will be held on Wednesday 22 March and Years 9 and 10 on Tuesday 28 March.

The interviews on Parent Teacher nights offer an opportunity for you to find out how your child is getting on with classmates, in which areas they excel and which areas are giving them difficulties. Parents and students will also be advised about what they can do at home to build on individual strengths and to overcome any weaknesses.

Teachers are helped considerably by getting to know parents and by gaining information from them that can enhance their child’s classroom experiences. 

In order to streamline the evening interviews will be limited to five minutes. If a longer session is required arrangements may be made with the relevant Pastoral Care teacher or the Assistant Principal.

Notes with more information have been distributed for all years. Please return the attendance slip to indicate whether you are able to attend the evening.

Uniform 

It has been very pleasing to note the efforts that most students have made regarding school uniform and it is important that this effort is maintained. Students are reminded to protect themselves from the sun with the school hat and sunscreen as the weather continues to be very warm and shade is limited in some areas of the school.

Students must be in full sports uniform if they wish to represent the school in any competition. Failure to be in the correct sports uniform will result in the student being withdrawn from the team.

Please contact Miss Bailey or Mrs Rainger if you require any assistance with regard to the correct sports uniform.

NAPLAN

Students in Years 7 and 9 will be involved in NAPLAN testing early next term. The dates of the tests are Tuesday 9 May to Thursday 11 May. It is important that these dates are kept free from appointments so that students will be able to complete the assessment in the allocated time.

Stage 5 Assessment Guidelines

Last week Year 9 and 10 students will receive their assessment booklets, which outline the assessment guidelines for the year. This important document contains vital information regarding the RoSA, Record of School Achievement. It would be appreciated if parents could read the information contained in the booklet and discuss the issues raised with their children. Please return the slip to school indicating that you have received a copy of the booklet. The assessment process is similar to that which the students will encounter in Stage 6 as they prepare for their Higher School Certificate.

Peer Support - Resilience

Week 4

The focus of this week’s session is Wellbeing. Students discuss the need to enhance their wellbeing so they are mentally and emotionally fit to face obstacles and setbacks they encounter.

They consider the positive effects of elements such as eating well, getting sufficient sleep and regular exercise. Achievements are redefined as the skills and attitudes learned in reaching a set goal rather than the final product.

Students are encouraged to identify their strengths. These strengths could be their achievements, activities they enjoy, their aspirations and the opportunities and people they have to support them.

Encourage your child by praising effort rather than results. You could say something like “I’m really proud of you, you worked hard to practise for this test, you even asked your teacher for help.”

Study Skills Tip:

5 reasons not to put off starting assignments

Here are 5 reasons you can give your child as to why they should start working on their assignments immediately.

GET YOUR BRAIN THINKING ABOUT THE TOPIC:

Even if your assignment isn’t due for weeks, start thinking about it immediately. At the very least, answer the key starter questions on the day you get your assignment. Even if you are not thinking about it directly, your subconscious will be hard at work.

FIND LIBRARY RESOURCES:

Although the school or local library will probably not be your main source of reference, you should drop in soon after receiving the assignment. Your teacher will probably have alerted the school librarian to the assignment and reference books, magazines etc may well be displayed. These will disappear quickly if the whole class has the same assignment. Books, periodicals, magazines can sometimes be a useful general overview for an assignment and they help to clarify a direction as you begin to immerse yourself into the assignment topic. It is not a good idea to only use Google!

DISCOVER OTHER RESOURCES:

You could also ask your local librarian for any additional direction on where to look for resource material for your assignment. Librarians are often your best source of information. They know how to help people access relevant and appropriate information, in books, the Internet or computer based references. One of the challenging aspects of Internet based searches for school students is the complexity, language and purpose of websites, not to mention bias and reliability.

STARTING EARLY MEANS MORE TIME TO EXPLORE & ASK FOR HELP IF NEEDED: 

If you do some initial research on the assignment points you’ve identified through the library, references your teacher may have given you, school textbooks, and general internet search engines, you could find yourself having more direction in your research. For example: Perhaps there isn’t enough information, or perhaps you find you don’t understand important concepts, or perhaps you need to speak to your teacher to get further clarity. If you find this out early, you will still have plenty of time to plan, research, write and present your assignment. Imagine if you didn’t start your assignment for a week or so, and then discovered you needed more guidance. You could easily run out of time.

CREATE A SAFETY NET:

Starting your assignment immediately will give you a safety net in case you get sick, or something unexpected happens. Assignments usually require a large amount of time; students must plan a strategy or schedule to ensure they are completed. You should always have a schedule that allows for the unexpected.

So get started today!

WHY DO WE HAVE TO DO HOMEWORK?

Homework in secondary school serves many purposes. It could be to consolidate or check or extend the learning from the day or prepare for the learning to come in subsequent days. It could be to do with longer term work such as assignments or preparing for tests and examinations. Ultimately it comes back to what school is all about – learning. Learning not just content, but learning and developing skills. At times students feel that the work they are doing at school is not relevant to their lives, however, sometimes we need to look beyond the content to the purpose of the learning exercise. At times the content will be a vehicle to teach particular skills. Much of what we learn in Mathematics develops the problem solving circuits in our brain. When you are analysing Shakespeare you are learning not just about Shakespeare but to think critically and expand your point of view and broaden your experience of the world through examination of different lives, emotions and experiences. The message is that everything you learn at school has purpose and value, even if you can’t quite see it at the time.

There is much debate in the media as to the value of homework. In Primary school it has been shown that only a small amount of students actually benefit from doing homework in terms of academic achievement. The exception to this is reading at home – every student benefits from this. However the other benefits can’t be discounted: developing independent working skills, establishing study routines necessary for learning in later years, helping students master things they are struggling with and allowing parental involvement. In secondary school homework has been proven to be an essential component of academic success in the senior years. The reality of Year 11 and 12 is that a large component of independent learning needs to be undertaken at home. One of the biggest problems for students transitioning to the senior years is that they have not learnt to work effectively and efficiently in the home environment. This is why developing good habits and learning to do at least a solid hour a day of home study is essential in Years 7-10. It is also about developing the qualities of discipline and perseverance, both essential for senior studies. Students will not like every subject equally, students need to learn how to make themselves do the work even for their least favourite subjects.

So what can you do to manage your homework effectively? Try these top tips:

As soon as you get home unpack your bag before you have a break and something to eat. Lay out all the work first. It is easier to get started if you have everything ready to go.

Before you start work, write a list of what needs to be done and decide what order you will do it. Focus on what is most important, not just what subject you like best!  Also, write down how long you think each task will take to do.

Keep in your mind that it is all about learning. Try and look beyond the actual content to what type of skill this homework might be developing in you – analysing, critical thinking, writing skills, or problem solving skills for example.

Do your work in 20-30 minute blocks with no distractions during that time. So switch off the TV and turn off your phone for that 20-30 minutes. When you just focus on the work that needs to be done you’ll be amazed at how much work you complete. Of course if you are on a roll, you can keep going past the 30 minutes.

If there is a task you really don’t want to do then alternate this with a task you enjoy doing. For example 15 minutes on the homework you like, 5 minutes on the homework you don’t like. When you chip away at it you will be surprised how quickly you get through the work.