Leader of Learning and Teaching

Amongst the business of Term 2 and the beginnings of Winter, many great successes have been happening at MCC.

Firstly, I am pleased to share the success of our NAPLAN Testing during Weeks 3 and 4. All tests were facilitated smoothly and efficiently by staff and IT Team members.

I wish to thank all the staff involved in the testing, the students for engaging in the process and parents who supported the testing process and ensuring their children attended during the set period.

Results will be available for parents and staff in the latter half of Term 3.

Staff have been engaging in continual Professional learning around the explicit teaching of writing and have been creating writing activities to ensure the three text types of persuasive, imaginative and informative are taught across all KLA’s. Staff have then participated in Gr8 Learning Walks to witness these strategies and activities in action.

We also wish to thank the Year 12 parents and students who participated in our final HSC Parent Teacher Student Conferences on Wednesday evening. These conferences have proven in the past to be a strong influence on student improvement, focus, growth and communication.

For all those students and parents who did not have conversations with teachers during allocated conferences it is essential that:

1. Student and parent have a constructive discussion around student learning, feedback, well being and goals moving forward
2. The Student initiates a one on one conversation with their teacher for each subject to review their progress and receive specific feedback on the way forward to the HSC
3. The Student meets with their Mentor or Pastoral Leader to discuss their progress, well being and plan moving forward

I cannot stress the importance of engaging in these conversations in the lead up to the HSC and to energise and motivate our Year 12 students.

In addition to this, we ask Year 11 and 12 parents and students to mark Thursday the 9th of June in their calendars. On this day the College will be live streaming the Year 11 and 12 Semester 1 Awards Ceremony from 1pm. Furthermore from 6pm the College will host the first Stage 6 Support Evening of the year for Year 11 and 12 students. This pivotal experience for parents and students will run for 60 minutes and will include presentations from expert teachers, highly successful past HSC students and our roving counsellor.

We are so lucky to be able to host these evenings again, post COVID lockdown, and we urge parents and students to make the attendance at this evening a priority. A Google Form will be sent to parents and students in the coming weeks to confirm your attendance.

Finally, please note that Year 11 reports will be accessible via Compass next Friday afternoon (3rd June).

Yours in learning,

Damien Herb