Learning  

Dear Parents /Guardians,

It has been busy start to the term with students and staff getting back into the routine of being back at school, getting used to a new Learning Management System, new bell times, new subjects, classes and teachers and in some cases a whole new school. 

It was wonderful to welcome back many of our high achievers from 2022 and hear the inspiring words of our 2022 Dux, Georgia Wood. I particularly liked that she talked about ‘mindset being everything’, we often believe academic success is about ability whereas it is much more than that. It is about having a growth mindset; persisting when things are challenging; pushing ourselves just that little bit more and realising we can achieve what we want to and more when we work hard, ask for help and don’t give up. She spoke about Dory facing the impossible task of finding Nemo and remembering to ‘just keep swimming’ and urged us all to do that throughout the year. 

VCE Information Evening

Thank you to the parents and students who joined us for the VCE Information Session on Thursday 9 February. The partnership between school, parents and students is vital to a student achieving their individual success and we appreciate your attendance and support. We have placed a news item on the Compass Newsfeed for both parents and students with a link to the information session, please note that you need to login in with an Academy account to view the recording so please ask your child to login with you. If you have any further questions please contact the relevant staff member at the college.

Year 7 and 9 NAPLAN Testing

NAPLAN testing has been moved to take place earlier in the year. We will be running NAPLAN testing online from 15 March to 27 March. There will also be a practice session on Thursday 2 March and there will be updates closer to the time.

Homework and Homework Club

Homework Club for Year 7 and 8 students begins on Monday 20th February. For details:

Read more Junior School page

Homework Guidelines

On the subject of homework, the following guidelines are published in the Student Planner and we encourage all families to support their child in setting up a good study routine. Please contact your child’s mentor teacher if you would like further support with this.

The following guidelines set out the approximate amount of time a student should be spending each night on their homework.  There will be certain times in the school year where a little more or a little less homework is appropriate.

If a student has no homework, they are encouraged to read for at least 30 minutes and/or complete revision work.

Year 7                  45min to 1 ¼ hours

Year 8                  1 hour to 1 ½ hours 

Year 9                  1 ½  hours to 2 hours 

Year 10               2 hours to 2.5 hours 

Year 11               2.5 to 3 hours  

Year 12               3 hours to 3.5 hours 

Of course, these guidelines are ‘approximates’ and students are encouraged to organise their time to best suit them, allowing for extra-curricular and family commitments.  Furthermore, if you are finding that your daughter is doing significantly more or less than these guidelines, we encourage you to make contact with her Mentor Group leader, to discuss further.

Compass 

Hopefully now all parents have received a login to Compass. You should now be able to view your child’s schedule and check their attendance, add attendance notes, email teachers, see previous year reports and receive news feed items. If using the App, you can turn on notifications to see current newsfeed items or items that require your attention. 

You may also start to see learning and assessment tasks for some subjects, we are still learning and refining our skills in this area so you may not see all tasks that are occurring and we appreciate your understanding and patience. If you do have any subject related questions, please contact your child’s subject teacher

Ms Lucy Neil

Deputy Principal, Learning & Teaching