Senior School News

Year 12

Term 3 is when much of the Senior School focus is on next year. Many of the senior students have been visiting various University and TAFE campuses on weekends for open days. It is an exciting time for Year 12 students with starting the process for tertiary applications for next year. The Year 12 students have now begun the process of registering and entering their 2020 course preferences through VTAC. Each student should book a meeting with Heather Palm to ensure this is done correctly and is fully completed before the closing dates.

 

Along with planning for next year the students need to maintain a balance with the SAC and coursework required for their Unit 4 classes. All teachers are expecting to complete content for their classes before the end of term. The rest of this term will be extremely busy completing the remaining SACs and also beginning the exam revision process.

 

All Year 12 students will be required to sit practice exams during the first week of the upcoming school holidays. These exams are a vital part of the students’ preparation. The first set of practice exams that cover content encompassing an entire year's learning can give the students a real insight into their level of readiness.

Year 11

Many of our Year 11 students have also been attending open days at a variety of tertiary institutions during the first few weeks of this term. We have almost completed the first part of the course counselling process. We are in the process now of interviewing the students who requested a course counselling interview. While our focus has been on next year, students have been getting stuck into Unit 2. Most subjects have had their first SAC by now and students need to continue to ensure they are prepared well for all of their classes. Students who do not satisfactorily complete a SAC are required to sit a SAC redemption after school on a Tuesday. Once students start requiring SAC redemptions it is hard to get out of that cycle as it takes away from the preparation required for other SACs.

 

Year 11 students are also looking forward to the ski camp coming up on the 10th September. Hopefully there will be plenty of snow around when we get there; the recent weather seems to be helping out with that. A reminder to parents of students attending to continue to complete payments for the camp.

Year 10

Year 10 students should have all completed their course counselling interviews by now. Students who have not done this should see Heather Palm in the Senior School office as soon as possible to book an interview. Any student that has not put in their subject selection form for 2020 should do so ASAP.  We will be using the information on these forms to advise us on which subjects should run next year.

 

We would also like to remind Year 10 families of the arrangements for the final week of term. During the final week some students will be at the Surf camp in Anglesea. All students that do not attend camp are required to organise work experience for the week. The work experience program is designed to provide a glimpse into working life and possible career paths. Any students that have not yet found a work placement need to do this quickly. Please get paperwork in to Heather Palm for processing ASAP.

 

It is the expectation of the school that all students will participate in one of the 2 activities. Any students wishing to attend camp that are not currently on the list need to see me in the Senior School office and discuss this. We do have limited vacancies but this needs to be confirmed soon. Any students having trouble finding work experience placements should come and see me for ideas.

Course Counselling

Subject forms for Years 10-12 in 2020 should all be in by now (please hurry up with any that are not). The next part of the process requires us looking at numbers and working out how many classes of each subject are required. We will be speaking with students who have chosen classes that will not run and confirming their alternate subjects, as well as confirming enhancement subjects for those entering Year 10. Once this process is complete we will block the subjects and follow up with students with class clashes. We hope to have subjects confirmed later in the term.

Key Dates

Monday 23rd September - Friday 27th September: Practice Exams

Monday 30th September: VTAC course application closes at 5.00pm (but late applications will be processed at a higher cost)

Friday 11th October: VTAC SEAS and Scholarship applications close at 5.00pm

Monday 21st October: Last day of classes for Year 12 students (students in class until the end of day)

Tuesday 22nd October: Year 12 Celebration Day

Monday 7th October - Tuesday 29th October: VCAA Oral Examinations

Wednesday 30th October - Wednesday 20th November: VCAA Written Examinations

Wednesday 20th November: Year 12 Valedictory

                                                               

Jeff Micallef

Senior School Leader