SENIOR PATHWAYS
VCAL
Our VCAL students recently took our year 7 students on a tour of the school to show them the significant aboriginal installations at the college. They explained their significance to students at the college and expression of culture and importance.
YEAR 12 FOOD STUDIES
Year 12 (Unit 3) Food Studies students participated in a new practical activity this year, with the aim to focus on social factors that influence food trends. Students focused on the social factors of income and available time when preparing the food delivery boxes, which are currently on trend. Students individually cooked up a meal from a Hello Fresh or Marley Spoon to evaluate. There was a consensus that home delivery meal boxes are a great option for people in Australia who may be time poor, however, could become expensive to use on a full time basis. The students all agreed the quality of the ingredients and the nutritional efficacy was high.
SENIOR PATHWAYS
What a term it has been for our senior students. We are incredibly proud of the way in which our senior students have shown resilience towards their learning and assessments over the duration of the past month. As you can appreciate, the lockdown period resulted in several changes being made to the VCE teaching and assessment timelines, including the VCAA GAT exam, nonetheless, our students took these changes in their stride. The successful recent mid-year practice exams are an excellent example of our students' high level of maturity and ability to ‘get on’ with the task at hand.
Our sincere thanks also goes out to all senior teaching staff who continue to show great professionalism and flexibility in light of COVID, by seamlessly adapting their work and supporting our senior students yet again in remote learning. Year 12 can be challenging at the best of times, let alone during a pandemic, and whilst there is a degree of uncertainty associated with times, it is important for students to remember to focus on the areas that they can control and have influence over, such as their study habits, awareness and management of their wellbeing and the development of goals for their future. For our VCE Students, each day of study and every completed piece of school assessed coursework (SAC) has brought them one step closer to completing the year, and the finish line is most certainly in sight.
Whilst this upcoming holiday period is an opportunity for our VCE students to recharge ahead of a busy term 3, it is also important they’re reflecting on their learning and utilising the two weeks to develop an effective and ongoing study routine in preparation for their finals SACs, and exams. Students therefore have been encouraged to sign up for and attend the many online external VCE subject revision lectures available, as well as accessing past exams and reports from the VCAA website.
Angela Connelly (Our Wellbeing Leader) has provided some wellbeing tips of how students can look after themselves, whilst also remaining focused on their studies over the term 2 break.
EUSTRESS VS DISTRESS not all stress is bad. The right amount helps motivate us to do the things we need to do (Eustress). The key is to keep it in the sweet spot and stop it from tipping over into an overwhelming emotions.
BREAK IT DOWN - Planning to study for hours on end is not really achievable for most of us. Break your study time in to 20-minute blocks- science tells us this is an optimal amount of time for peak focus and performance.
BREAKS ARE GOOD, DISTRACTIONS ARE NOT - Planning regular breaks is helpful for concentration, scrolling social media every few minutes is distracting. Put your phone away from your study area to avoid temptation. It really works.
SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP! - You might have heard this before, but a good sleep routine is so important. Sleep helps with memory retention (rather important for VCE) mood, motivation etc!
Try to head to bed around the same time each night and give yourself a tech free period before bed (an hour is ideal).
STAY HEALTHY - Exercise and diet play a massive role in our mood, motivation, focus and even sleep. So, get outside for a walk (or however you like to exercise), drink some water and eat your vegetables!!
MOST IMPORTANTLY…
VCE is hard, there is no denying that. But you can do things that help make the hard stuff more manageable. By looking after yourself, you can reduce your stress, increase your mood, motivation and concentration, improve your sleep etc etc! Everybody has different things that help them de-stress, you need to find the ones that work for you, no matter how busy you are! And most importantly, if it is all getting on top of you and you can’t find a way to de-stress on your own, talk to someone- friends, family, teachers, school wellbeing team or reach out to an external professional.
Over the past two weeks VCE students have caught up on their SACs, that were scheduled during remote learning, and all students will be receiving their end of semester reports at the end of term, with Year 11 and 12 exam feedback being delivered via a Learning Task on COMPASS by the end of Week 1, Term 3.
We are also excited to announce that in Term 3 ALL our VCE Students will have the opportunity to have their End of Year Unit 3 and 4 Practice English Exams marked by VCAA Assessors. With VCE English being the core compulsory subject (for an ATAR), we recognise the importance that students are given every opportunities to receive meaningful feedback in relation to the key knowledge and skills in order to maximise their performance in the exam.
As mentioned above the VCAA GAT exam has been postponed, and we will communicate any new information regarding the rescheduled date as soon as we are informed.
In early Term 3, our current Year 10 and 11 students (and parents) will be undergoing Course Counselling with a member of staff from the leadership team. This week, our Careers Advisor, Leanne Patterson, arranged for all our Year 10 – 12 students attend an onsite Careers Expo at the college whereby they have been able to speak to representatives from the universities, tafes and professionals within the industry about different career pathways. In the coming weeks, both parents and students will also have access to the college Senior Pathways Course Guide. With many meaningful yet diverse pathways existing in senior school, it is important students and their families take the time to read through the course guide and have conversation around pathways so that when in course counselling students and parents are able to make informed decisions about students’ pathways.
Next term there will be some changes to the staffing in Senior School with Senior School Leader, Mrs Elena McLuskie, taking on the Middle Years Leader role for the remainder of 2021 and one of our own VCE teachers, Mrs Amy Leonard, taking on the Senior Pathways Program Leader role, alongside Mrs Ashleigh Bell. Our thanks to Elena for her exemplary leadership in Senior School over the last couple of years, and a very warm welcome to Amy Leonard who will be joining not only the Senior Pathway Program Leadership team but also, the College Leadership team.
Please see below updated key contacts for Senior School, as of Semester 2.
Year 10 – Amy Leonard amleonard@mesc.vic.edu.au
Year 11 & 12 - Ashleigh Bell
Wishing you a wonderful and safe Term 2 holidays.
Mrs Elena Mc Luskie & Mrs Ashleigh Bell
Senior School Leaders