Learning & Teaching

The end of the term is rapidly approaching with a lot of learning and teaching activities happening in the next few weeks.

Yr 9 &10 Revision, Assessment and Feedback (RAF) Cycle June 2 -14

End of semester assessments are an important part of the learning and teaching program, and the learning outcomes are vastly improved when students have the opportunity to revise/retrieve content in class, complete the assessment and benefit from assessment feedback that they can digest and respond to. 

During the Year 9 and 10 RAF cycle, students will be provided with structured revision, a common assessment activity/task and an opportunity to reflect on the feedback provided on the assessment task to demonstrate evidence of learning (knowledge and skills) learnt within a unit of learning, topic, or semester. Students may experience a variety of assessment types e.g.- an exam, a test, a practical assessment tasks, a problem-solving task, or a sustained writing task (e.g., essay or report).

Learning Walks 

Our Leadership team have been undertaking regular College-wide learning walks this term. 

During a learning walk we visit a number of classrooms for short periods to observe student learning in action. Learning Walks are a great way for teachers/leaders to observe different teaching approaches and to explore how students learn best. These visits provide an authentic snapshot of a classroom environment and they do not disrupt learning or teaching. The observation from the walks helps the College to track progress on new teaching strategies and identify areas of future focus. 

The focus of our Term 2 walks has been on tracking the Classroom Learning Routines that we have been embedding this year. We are making very good progress with the vast majority of classes following the protocols, especially the entry and exit routines. 

Semester Reports - on Maestro and Compass

The new and improved semester reports will be released on the morning of Friday 23 June in the final week of term and will look a little different this year. 

1. Year 7-10 Reports - two parts 
2. Compass - Learning Behaviour Reports - parents can download the learning behaviours reports from Compass.

Maestro - Victorian Curriculum Reports will be accessible on Maestro. The Maestro report will give accurate information about a student’s Victorian Curriculum level of achievement and their achievement relative to their peers. Parents will need to log into their Maestro Accounts to access these reports. Please see the attached guide to assist you.

VCE Reports - On Compass 

The VCE semester reports will include the learning behaviours reports and subject reports as normal. 

This year, the subject reports will include the S (satisfactory) and N (unsatisfactory) result for each unit and the achievement Letter Grades (from A+ to E) for each or the major SAC and SAT assessment tasks. 

The reintroduction of letter grades at the end of the unit is in keeping with our practice of our students focusing on (and acting on) quality feedback during the unit to improve their learning, and grades are important at the end of the learning sequence to reflect achievement.

More information about these grades will accompany the reports.

Maestro Guide

If you are interested to know more about Maestro and Developmental Rubrics and how to log into Maestro and how to interpret the information, I have attached a guide for parents. Please reach out if you want more information or training. 

Teacher Professional Development 

Our teaching staff are always learning and improving their teaching practice. This term teachers have been meeting to plan their exit ticket assessments, structured worked examples, and retrieval practice tasks. 

We know that student learning is improved when teachers use these strategies regularly in their lessons. Teachers have also been recording their lessons and sharing their footage with colleagues to have rich discussions about teaching and learning. Our teachers continue to demonstrate great professionalism and dedication to continuing to improve their practice. 

In Term 3 we will launch our next professional learning cycle on using literacy strategies - more specifically, subject specific vocabulary in VCE classes. The cycle will kick off on the first day of Term 3 which is a Whole School Student-free Curriculum Day - Monday June 10.

Natalie Manser 

Assistant Principal

mar@wantirnacollege.vic.gov.au