Data and Pedagogical Practice News

Start of Term

Starting the new term feeling fresh and organised will help you feel prepared and ready to take on upcoming assignments and exams with confidence.  This week take the time for the following three tips.

1. Set up a study routine – never underestimate the value of a routine.  Ensure that you have time scheduled into your day to complete homework (set tasks by your teacher) or study (summarising notes, self-set tasks etc). 

2. Set positive, realistic goals for the term – take some time to reflect on the goals you set yourself during Week 3 of Term 1.  Have you had success or do you need to refocus to attain these goals?

Setting yourself goals and dedicating yourself to achieving them will help you stay motivated and help you achieve the results you want.

3. Use school diary and calendars – using your diary is one of the most important things to do to get organised and to manage your time wisely. 

Setting goals, being organised and having a routine are all behaviours that allow our students to be self-regulated learners.  There has been broad literature supporting the effect of self-regulated learning and achievement.  Studies demonstrate that those students who are able to regulate their learning are more likely to achieve specific learning goals (Willoughby and Wood, 1994; Artelt, 2000 and Veenman and van Hout-Wolters, 2002) and that there is an assumption that life long learning is reliant on self-regulated learning behaviours. 

NAPLAN Online 2021

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy is a high stakes, point in time assessment of literacy and numeracy skills which are essential for every students progress throughout school.  Students in Years 5, 7 & 9 will participate in the annual NAPLAN tests this term during Weeks 4 and 5.  They will sit writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy across the testing days.  

This year will be the first time that MCA participates online for NAPLAN. 

In preparation for NAPLAN online, MCA has participated in school-readiness tests and practice papers to allow students to become familiar with the testing platform, functions and tools of the online tests in a test environment. 

NAPLAN is an important test that provides information to schools about what each student is able to do and how they have progressed from each testing year.  The results can be used to support teaching and learning programs at the College as well as providing additional evidence for classroom teachers to make professional judgements on your child’s progress. 

Moving to an online testing environment offers many benefits, including: 

• introducing ‘tailored testing’, which gives students questions better suited to their ability, resulting in more precise results 
• improving student engagement through computer-based tests and,
• reducing the time it takes to provide feedback to schools, students and parents.

Further information regarding NAPLAN timetable and requirements for each test will be sent closer to the testing window.  In the meantime, if you wish to know more about NAPLAN please visit the website http://www.nap.edu.au/

Senior School (Years 11 & 12)

Subject Changes – Year 11

For those students who are thinking about changing subjects at the end of Unit 1, it is important that you make a time to meet with Ms Jen Smeed in the Academic Care office. Please email smeedj@marash.qld.edu.au or visit the Academic Care office (below the library) to organise a meeting. Following on from this, subject change forms can be issued which require signatures from relevant Curriculum Leaders, teachers and parents. If you have any questions about subject changes, please do not hesitate to contact the Senior Learning Leader, Ms Jen Smeed.