Learning and Teaching News

Year 12 Mock Exam Block

As per the College calendar, the Year 12 Mock Exam Block will run from Wednesday 24th August to Thursday 1st September. Chemistry Paper 1 will be held on Tuesday 23rd during Periods 6-7, however, all other students will remain in normal timetabled classes until 3:10pm on this day. This exam block is an important phase in student preparation for external exams in October and November. Teachers will use the results of these mock exams to target areas of revision for students prior to their external assessment. The Mock Exam Block schedule was released to students and parents last Thursday with more details to follow in the coming weeks.

Year 5-11 Academic Awards

Semester 1 and Unit 1 Academic Awards will be presented at the full school assembly next week. Due to current COVID-19 practices in place at the College, this assembly will be virtual. Parents of award recipients will be emailed to inform them of their son’s award. The recording of the assembly will be available via the parent portal by the Friday of next week. A list of all recipients will be published in the newsletter next week. 

Year 9 Camp – Work Completion

With our upcoming Year 9 camp in Week 9, the boys are reminded that all Year 9 assessments should be complete by the end of Week 8 this term. If there are any assessment items incomplete through legitimate reasons, the boys will catch up either on Thursday the 1st of September (for exams) or in Week 10. 

Year 12 Night Study Sessions

The weekly session is available to all Year 12 students who wish to work in collaboration with their peers for assessment, revision, classwork or external exam preparation. The Science Centre is open and supervised from 5:00-8:00pm; students can arrive and leave as required. Normal student behaviour expectations apply; if these cannot be met, boys will be prohibited from returning to future sessions.

Upcoming Year 12 Night Study Session Schedule

Science Centre from 5:00pm-8:00pm

ACU Year 12 Revision Webinars 

ACU know that the thought of Year 12 exams can be daunting and even a little bit stressful for your students, but they’re not alone. ACU, along with InspirED, have created free online revision webinars to help them prepare for what's to come. 

These revision webinars are run by experienced Year 12 assessors and exam markers who will know exactly how to guide them through this process and even help them respond to example exam questions. During the session your students will be able to better understand the topics presented and learn some fantastic study tips and tricks too. 

And, there will be a live 30-minute Q&A, giving them the chance to have their questions answered.

More information and registration details here.

Elevate Education Webinar for Parents 

RE: Upcoming Webinar for Parents - How to Help Your Child' Write Better Notes

We’re excited to announce that parents of our school have exclusive access to Elevate Education’s Parent Webinar Series this year. Elevate works with our students, delivering high impact workshops on study skills, motivation, wellbeing, and exam preparation. By tuning into their webinar series, you will learn how to better support your children at home through reinforcing the skills they learn at school.  

Wednesday 24 August @ 6:30pm (AEST) 

How to Help Your Child Write Better Notes  

 Here's what Elevate will be covering:  

✅ The most effective way to structure notes

✅ The 3 levels of acquiring knowledge and how to implement this with your child at home

✅ The power of deliberate practice and the fastest way for your child to improve their marks.

The webinar is run live online from 6:30pm - 7:30pm (AEST) where the presenter will share Elevate’s key research and skills, and will conduct a live Q&A so you can ask them questions directly. If you are unable to make the webinar, don't worry! If you sign up to attend, you'll receive the webinar recording on Thursday morning.

Should you have questions or would like to contact Elevate directly, their details are listed below.📞 1300 667 945, ✉️ aucoaching@elevateeducation.com, 💻 https://go.elevateeducation.com

Study Hall – All Year levels

Every Tuesday and Thursday morning the teacher librarians in the senior library offer study hall sessions from 7:45 am to 8:30 am. These are designed to build the student’s capacity to study independently by teaching them key skills for the first 15mins of the sessions and then offering independent supported study for the remainder of the time.

Please find below the outline for the Study Hall for Term 3. 

How to access Academic Reports – Parent Lounge

Please follow these steps to access academic reports

1 - Open Parent Portal and click on “Parent Lounge”

2 - Academic Reports are accessible via the link on the left-hand side of the page, or at the bottom of the main screen. Click on the academic report you would like to see.

Accessing LMS for Task-Specific Feedback 

At the completion of each drafting stage and final completion of the assessment (both written and exam), your son will receive task-specific feedback from his teachers. It is important that your son/s access this feedback, so they are aware of their strengths and limitations. Parents are also encouraged to access this information.

Please follow these steps to access task-specific feedback.

1 - Open Parent Portal and click on “Parent Lounge”

2 - On the left-hand tab select “Curricular Activities Due” and select “view all activities” on the top right-hand side of the page. 

This will take you to a screen that lists of your son/s assessment to complete, or has been completed.

3 - Click on a subject to view feedback. 

4 - Once you click on the subject you will be able to find the following information:

1. Task sheet for assessment – this will outline what your son needs to do to complete the task successfully
2. Draft due dates and due dates
3. Criteria sheet
4. Feedback
5. Result