Brookhill

                                                       Mr David Murphy

Year 11 Presentation Ball

Dance lessons will start on Monday 20 May, in preparation for the annual Year 11 Presentation Ball, to be held on Saturday 31 August. Students will once again be under the guidance of dance teacher, Mr Sebastian Riscica and will have ten lessons and a full day rehearsal at Moonee Valley on Thursday 29 August. There will be three dance practice time slots: Mondays 3.30 to 4.40pm; Tuesdays 3.30 to 4.30pm; and Wednesdays 3.30 to 4.30pm. Participating students have been informed of which session they are allocated to. Invitations to attend the Ball will be mailed to families towards the end of term. Tickets will be purchased through Try Booking online booking; detailed instructions of the booking procedure will also be mailed to families.

Mid-Year Exams

Mid-year exams are approaching. Year 10 and Year 11 exams will take place from Friday 14 June to Thursday 20 June. The GAT, for all students studying a Unit 3-4 subject, is on Wednesday 12 June. It is very important that all students make mid-year exams their highest priority over this period of time. The exam timetable is quite tight and students will have more than one exam on a day on some occasions. This means that Year 10 and Year 11 students will have to prioritise study over the next few weeks. Organisational skills and forward planning will be important; study cannot be left to the night before an exam, particularly if there are two exams on a particular day.

I strongly encourage all parents to talk to their children about their preparation for the upcoming exams. At this stressful time, students need loving support and gentle encouragement from their families; parents should focus on helping children to achieve their own personal best performance. The following advice from Elevate Education, who provide Study Skills education to Aitken College is pertinent:

Notes should be complete at least 2 weeks before the exam. You need good notes for final preparation, but making notes in the last couple of weeks is less effective. Elevate recommends the following process for effective use of notes:

1. Write notes.
2. Review notes within minutes of completing them.
3. Review the same notes after 24 hours.
4. Review the same notes twice in that week.

Use colour in your notes and use key trigger words to aid memory recall. Do not try and memorise large chunks of notes, but develop recall techniques around trigger words and phrases and colour.

Alternative to Schoolies - Year 12

As the school year in Year 12 draws to a close for your son/daughter, many students plan to have a celebration with friends to mark the completion of 13 years of schooling. At the Brookhill Assembly on Monday 13 May, a professional group called Antipodeans Abroad will present to the senior school students. Please note a Parent Information Night will also be held on Thursday 23 May at 7.00pm to 8.00pm in the senior school building (room B3), which will allow a more detailed follow-up and exchange of information. We invite you and your child to attend. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Mr Chris Ward at the College.