Learning & Teaching News

NAPLAN Co-ordinated Practice Test

Thursday, 24 March 2022 saw the implementation of the VCAA NAPLAN Co-Ordinated Practice Test (CPT) for our Year 7 and 9 students across the College. The test ran for 45 minutes to provide students with the opportunity to practice what it would be like completing a NAPLAN test, as our Year 9’s missed their NAPLAN testing in Year 7 due to the cancellation of this test by VCAA as a result of COVID-19. Students and staff were eager to test the system, to jump on and see what the platform is like when completing the writing test and to ensure all laptop issues were addressed prior to the actual test occurring from 10-20 May 2022.

The VCAA, along with St Peter’s College would like to thank the staff and students who were involved in the CPT event. Overall, the CPT was a success with 75% of Victorian schools participating. Nationally, 5,152 schools participated with 503,895 students logging in during the event. There was a significant amount of work that occurred to make this CPT possible prior to the date from our Middle Year’s Curriculum Leaders Bradley Scammell (Clyde North) and Pamela Fox (Cranbourne), along with our IT staff led by Stephen Bloomer. We wish to thank them and their teams, as the vital work ensures the tests will run smoothly in May.

The NAPLAN platform remains open for students to complete practice testing until 22 April 2022. Please ensure if your child missed the CPT test and is currently in an eligible NAPLAN year level (Year 7 & 9), they have the opportunity to become familiar with the question types contained in the NAPLAN Online tests through accessing the ACARA NAPLAN Online public demonstration site.

Edrolo - a VCE study resource free for your child

Our teachers work extra hard every year to support our VCE students to achieve their very best. This year we are once again partnering with Edrolo to give our VCE students some extra support and complement the learning happening in class.

Our students are using Edrolo to:

• Watch videos prior to class and get ahead on key concepts, so they’re ready to ask questions in class
• Revise and revisit content taught in class (especially useful if they need extra time to learn a concept)
• Catch-up on content if they miss a class
• Engage with VCE exam-style questions, to help familiarise themselves with what to expect in the exam room, and know what examiners are looking for in student responses.

The subjects that are using Edrolo at St Peter’s include:

Units 1 and 2

Accounting

Business Management

General Mathematics

Legal Studies

Mathematical Methods

Physical Education

Psychology

Unit 3 and 4

Accounting

Biology

Business Management

Chemistry

English

EAL

Food Studies

Further Mathematics

Health & Human Development

History Revolutions

Legal Studies

Mathematical Methods

Media

Physical Education

Physics

Psychology

Specialist Mathematics

Studio Arts

Visual Communication Design

As a parent or carer, you can help your child get the most from Edrolo by encouraging them to use the resources as a part of their study routine. They can use the theory videos to check their understanding of concepts, try practice assessments and flag any areas where they need extra support from their teacher/s. If your child is absent due to COVID-19 isolation, this resource also becomes pivotal in providing extra support and ensuring they do not fall behind in their learning of class content. If you would like extra information about Edrolo, please visit their website that can be found here or don’t hesitate to email the subject teachers of your children through SPACE to better understand how they are using Edrolo to support learning in their classes.

Study habits over the Easter break

With the pending excitement for the upcoming school holidays, it is important for us to be conscious of factoring in some good study habits to ensure the momentum gained from Term 1 is not lost. Your brain is like a muscle and like all muscles it loses strength when you stop using it, therefore it’s crucial that students continue exercising their brain during the holidays so that it can run at full capacity when school returns. Furthermore, the holidays are a great time to catch-up and get ahead. Students have two weeks to fill in missing gaps of knowledge and prepare themselves for Term 2. This will reduce their stress levels (and yours as parents/ caregivers and learning coaches) during the term because students won’t be frantically trying to learn new content and complete assessments, whilst catching up on work missed. The three things students should do every school holidays include:

1. Revise the course content
2. Study in small chunks
3. Relax and enjoy some downtime

Here are some tips that can help build effective study routines into the holiday break:

1. Create a study plan with reasonable goals
2. Study in small chunks
3. Catch up on notes
4. Revise what you learned in the previous term
5. Get ahead for next term
6. Study with a friend
7. Focus on long term goals
8. Relax! (1 or 2 chill days a week)

Despite providing students with tips to stay motivated to study throughout the holidays, we want everyone to take a break too! It’s especially important for students to have plenty of rest during the holidays to refresh and refocus. So, ensure students are awarding themselves 1-2 days a week where they are not staring at laptops, screens or textbooks. Attempt to do more energising activities like walking or enjoying the outdoors with your children, instead of high-concentration activities like gaming for 12 hours straight. That way, we can hit the ground running in Term Two with renewed energy and a ‘yearning for learning’! 

Jade Smith and Sarah Turner                                       David Hansen

Learning & Teaching Pedagogical Coaches          Deputy Principal Learning & Teaching

Cranbourne and Clyde North