Learning and Teaching 

Exam Dates

Exam Dates have been established and are outlined below. 

Year 12 (Unit 3) classes will be undertaking a classroom summative assessment as part of their coursework. They will mostly be undertaken in class time however may extend into lunch time or for a short period after school.

When finalised, all exam timetables will be published and distributed to students and families, with subject, time and location details.

Study Techniques

With Term 1 now behind us, many of us have found the readjustment to returning on site challenging. Mostly, it is about re-finding a routine and ensuring that we get back to ‘normal’ as soon as possible. The challenge for many students, and particularly in relation to school life, is that the progression through school means that no two school years are the same. As such, not only are we picking up where we left off, but also filling in the gaps. Our expectations are high, however we also understand that more support and direction may be required in the coming weeks and months to re-establish good habits.

In support of this, we have recently presented to Year 9 (at Mentone, with Bentleigh East to come), 10 (at both campuses) and 11 and provided some direction on effective study habits. We have also been doing the same with our Year 12 cohort since Flying Start last year. With the mid-year exams now around four weeks away, we have taken the time to ensure that students are starting to think about the necessary preparations as well as provide techniques to study. The hope is that students will adopt these techniques and modify them for their own individual needs into the future. 

Whilst there are some differences between the year levels in what has been presented, all have been shown some common basic techniques. These are;

• Highlighting, which involves identifying the necessary material for the upcoming exam in texts and workbooks/modules
• Cue Cards, whereby required information is summarised and transferred onto cue cards 
• Memorisation Techniques, such as chunking and mnemonics, and 
• Stacking, whereby cue cards are separated into two piles of what is known and what isn’t, with the study and memorisation focus on what isn’t known. This process is repeated over time- days and weeks, not hours- until all cue cards are known.

Parents and carers are encouraged to engage in conversation to both monitor and support all students in their endeavours regarding their study and preparation for the exams. Please encourage any student who is experiencing difficulty with any of the processes to speak to their teacher and seek assistance.

Habits Rubric

Term 1 Reports were released late last term to all families in order to keep you informed regarding the progress of each student. Whilst this information is provided in real time electronically, the collation of a PDF provides a summary document of both achievement (in the form of marks) and approaches to learning (in the form of the habits assessments). Our hope is that the time was taken with individual students to examine the outcomes and identify both areas of commendation and improvement.

The introduction of a habits rubric has provided greater consistency across both campuses regarding classroom expectations. Nonetheless, we recognise that this rubric is not as good as we believe it can be and will therefore be seeking your feedback. We are endeavouring to do this on site and in person, with details to be provided in a letter directly to you.

In addition to parent input, we’ll be seeking feedback from teachers and students to ensure that classroom expectations are known and shared and, most importantly, learning is maximised. 

Brenden Mair

Deputy Principal

Teaching and Learning