Learning and Teaching News

Did you know about the Library’s Research Guides?

Our wonderful library staff curate research guides to assist students from Year 5-12 with finding resources for their assignments. Take a look at the short screencast below to learn more.

Watch - The Library's Research Guide

Academic Conversations – Year 10 2023

Bookings are now closed for academic conversations with our current Year 9 students and their parents/guardians and cannot be booked further. Any boy who was not part of a conversation will speak to a member of the Academic Care team in the coming week to finalise subject selections for 2023.

Subject Selections – Year 8 and 9 2023

Our 2023 Year 8 and Year 9s (current Year 7 and 8) will be finishing their conversations with their Heads of House this week in deciding their subjects for next year. Information on subject offerings can be found in the Curriculum Hub section of the Learning Portal (Moodle) under 2023 Subject Handbooks and Subject Selection. In preparation for these interviews, we encourage boys to have conversations with their parents, visit the material on the Learning Portal and contact relevant staff if they need further information on subject offerings. Handbooks and subject selection forms have been emailed and are available on the Learning Portal as mentioned above. 

Any boy who has not completed this task by the end of this week must contact his Head of House to complete as soon as possible.

Year 9 Camp – Work Completion

With our upcoming Year 9 camp in Week 9, the boys are reminded that all Year 9 assessment 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 5:00pm-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 

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 period 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 One and Unit One Academic Awards will be presented at full school assembly in Week 6. Due to current Covid 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. Details of how to access a copy of the assembly recording will also be included. A list of all recipients will be published in the newsletter after the presentations. 

Elevate Education Webinar for Parents 

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 10th August @ 6:30pm (AEST) 

How to Help Your Child’s Essay Writing 

 Here's what Elevate will be covering:

✅ The importance of goal-setting in essay writing; 

✅ How you can provide real-time support and feedback to speed up the process of improvement; 

✅ How students can begin to self-assess their work so they can become independent writers; 

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 and 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/e/891981/au-schoolwebinar/8w651/252865825

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. 

Book Week - 2022

Mary Stirling, Head of Library 

"Dreaming With Eyes Open …"

This 2022 Book Week theme acknowledges Australia's First Nations People and their rich story-based culture. The theme also encourages a connectivity between authors – the storytellers – and readers. No matter the genre, when words are crafted into a great story it captures a reader's imagination. Reading a book has been described by some of our boys as ‘a gateway to another world’, ‘an escape to a mythical land’, and ‘a mix of terror and calm’.

In 2002, the OECD research report found that reading for pleasure is more important for a student’s educational success than their family’s socio-economic status. We witness every day the benefits of reading and we know the advantages span across every aspect of an adolescent’s life and provide them with a deep understanding of how the world really works.

At Marist College we promote reading for pleasure and our library collection is organised by genre, providing every reader with ample opportunity to find their magic book. If you would like to check out some suitable titles for your son, follow the link to the library’s reading page https://libguides.marash.qld.edu.au/read/reading-lists where books are curated under genres and age suitability. We also have plenty of new and classic titles on our eBook site, found at https://maristashgrove.eplatform.co/ where you have the choice of reading/listening online or through the ePlatform App. There is no better hobby than reading and, in the Marist Library, we encourage the boys to close their screens and open a book. We all know that literacy crosses every curriculum area and advanced levels of literacy will be necessary to perform and enjoy every aspect of their adult lives.

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 of 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 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 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