Senior School

City Cite has commenced! Year 9 students embarked upon the train trip from either Croydon or Lilydale stations on Monday morning, destined for the city and the life changing event that this program represents. Mr Gavin Fox, Year 9 Coordinator, and Oxley staff accompanied the students as they made their first foray into metropolitan Melbourne – they will always be close at hand. Students travel in the same carriage as staff for the first days, but gradually acquire greater freedom and responsibility, making their own way to the City Cite building by the end of the first week. We greatly look forward to the continued growth and development in our Year 9 young people.

Monday saw a group of Senior Music students participate in a delightful learning opportunity. Under the supervision of Mr William van Pinxteren, the VCE students visited the Melbourne Recital Centre and observed a range of musical instruments, played at a superlative level by the students of Top Class Music 2022. Vocals, drums, saxophones, bagpipes, and more, highlighted the high standards required to achieve exceptional grades at a VCE level in Music Performance. We trust this served to demonstrate what can be achieved with perseverance and commitment over a period of years.

Year 7 students are currently enjoying the pristine wilderness that is Wilsons Promontory. Here, Mr David Cutler, Year 7 Coordinator, and Oxley staff will work with Auscamp staff to provide an age appropriate introduction to camping and bush activities. It will be exciting to report on what they discover about themselves and God’s creation, as they spend time in this beautiful part of the world.

Students and parents have recently been advised that the first round of formal, formative feedback for the year has been finalised. While teachers continue to provide frequent feedback to students in the form of verbal feedback, written comments on work, quizzes, suggestions on practical work and the like, as a College we have also formalised one set of formative feedback to be shared with the learning team, approximately every six weeks. 

Formative assessment consists of tasks which evaluate progress towards learning goals, with the intent of identifying areas for improvement during the teaching and learning cycle, while action to improve is still possible. Formative assessment, obviously, has significant advantages over summative feedback, which reports on issues after the teaching and learning has ended. While summative reporting remains useful for informing of progress, it does not typically enable the same corrective actions to be taken to assist immediately in further learning. 

We encourage all parents to review each subject with their child and discuss the feedback provided, as well as your child’s student reflections, as a vital member of the learning team. This can be a truly enjoyable and fruitful time that provides parents with great insight into how their child is progressing and what steps may be helpful. Simultaneously, your child will appreciate and benefit from just how interested you are in their progress, although they may not express it for years to come.

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 6:6-7

Greg Barker

Deputy Principal – Head of Senior School