Taylors Lakes News

From the Principal Class

Term 3 

Term 3 has commenced extremely well and already we have seen how busy this term has been, both in terms of student learning and other student programs.

 

This term we welcome Lisa Marie Petitto who will be undertaking a 0.4 Humanities teaching position for Semester 2. Lisa- Marie was a ES Integration Aide at our college undertaking her Masters in Education. 

 

Welcome back to Diane Apap and Kathy Gioskos who both return from leave this term. Diane will be taking mainly Art classes and Kathy will continue with her English/EAL classes from earlier in the year. Vince Antonetti and Carlo Ripoli are continuing with their leave this term and Russell Blackie will continue to support the library this term as well.

End of Semester Reports

End of semester reports are now available to download from Compass for students and parents. 

  • Reports will include a list of major assessment tasks for each subject, a description of the task and grade awarded.
  • They will include a graph of student work habits in each class, and a teacher judgement rating for the student against the Victorian Curriculum state-wide five point scale for students in Years 7-10.
  • There will be no descriptive comments included as these have been previously recorded on learning tasks saved to Compass as each task was completed throughout the semester.

It is important to remember that student reports provide students, teachers and parents with a clear and concise picture of a student’s achievement and progress at a point in time. Teachers make informed and consistent decisions about student progress against the achievement standards using a variety of assessments and observations to inform their judgement. They map the student’s learning against the achievement standards, and place the student on the learning continuum, that best reflect the student’s level of performance and progress.

 

The Victorian Curriculum is structured as a single developmental learning continuum and is organised by levels not years of schooling. The curriculum consists of Towards Foundation Levels A to D and Levels Foundation to 10. All curriculum areas have achievement standards, describing what students are able to understand and do.

All students progress along the learning continuum at their own rate and from their own starting point. Teachers provide learning opportunities to support the learning for all students, including those students with additional learning needs or a disability. 

 

I encourage all parents and guardians to read through the reports, and discuss with your children how they have gone, and what they can do in Term 3 to improve. Regardless of how good the report is, there are always things which can be improved.

Progress Reports and Parent Teacher Interviews

Semester 2 Progress Reports – Round 1 will be pushed out on Friday 18 August 2023 and these can be viewed from both parents and students.  PT interviews will run on Monday 4 September 2023 (Week 9 of Term 3). This semester, PT Interviews will run face to face on campus from 1:00pm – 8:00pm. Teachers will have a dinner break from 4:00pm – 5:00pm and 2 additional 10 breaks across the day determined by the individual teacher. 

 

Like previous years, we will be using a booking system for this round of interviews through Compass. More information will be provided when the online booking system opens. 

Year 12 VTAC Information Evening

All parents of  Year 12 students are invited to the College on Monday 14 August 2023 from 7:00pm to 8:30pm. This evening is an opportunity to learn more about the VTAC process and new requirements for the 2024 tertiary selection entry.  After the information session there will be time to ask questions to help you further understand the process. We hope to see you all here! Please contact the Careers Leader if you have any questions. This will be followed up with individual student interviews later in the term.

NAPLAN Reporting Changes 2023

NAPLAN results have been provided to students and parents over the past few weeks; the results were mailed out individually. Parents/carers were also provided information about the new proficiency levels.

 

There are changes to this year’s reporting. These are changes being introduced nationally by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). NAPLAN will continue to measure student achievement in numeracy, reading, writing, spelling, and grammar and punctuation but the results will now be presented in 4 proficiency levels. These are:

  • exceeding
  • strong
  • developing
  • needs additional support.

This change will give schools, parents and carers clearer information that details student achievement against new proficiency levels. Students’ NAPLAN reports will continue to show how they are tracking against their peers and provide an indication of their skill levels against national averages and where we would expect them to be in order to get the most out of schooling. This provides valuable information to teachers about how we can continue to support our students. Each set of NAPLAN results is an important milestone but it’s also important that students know that one result does not define them – these results are about making sure every student gets the support they need so they can continue to get the best from their learning.

Legally Blonde 

We are very excited about this year's College Production 'Legally Blonde'. Students have been rehearsing endlessly in recent months to deliver a fantastic show.

 

Tickets for this year’s College Production, ‘Legally Blonde’ are set to go on sale on Thursday, 17th August at the General Office. Tickets are $20 for adults, and $16 for Concession (students, health care cards and seniors) There are four performance dates this year, with each show set to commence at 7.30pm: Tuesday 5 September, Wednesday 6 September, Thursday 7 September and Friday 8 September.  

 

Last year’s performances sold out in record time, so make sure you head down to the General Office to secure your tickets as soon as you can and support our wonderful performers.

What's coming up this term?

Lots of student activities are continually planned for the remainder of this term for our students but we have a few major events coming up in the next few weeks.

  • Student Cultural Day - August 14th 2023
  • Year 7 Cohort Day - August 18th 2023
  • Year 11 Structured Work Placement - August 21st - September 8th 2023
  • Year 8 Cohort Day - August 25th 2023
  • Year 12 VTAC Interviews - August 28th 2023
  • Parent Teacher Interviews - September 4th 2023
  • College Production - Week 9 (September 5th  - September 8th)
  • Year 10 Gold Coast Tour: September 8th-September 14th)
  • Italy Study Tour - September 17th - October 6th 2023 (3 Weeks)

Parent/Carers Opinion Survey

Our school is conducting a survey to find out what parents/carers think of our school. The Parent/Carer Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education that is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behavior, and student engagement. We encourage families to participate. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies.

 

A random sample of approximately 30 per cent of parents/carers has been selected to participate in this year’s survey. If you have been chosen at random to undertake this  you will receive information about this, we would like you to complete this as soon as possible. The survey will be conducted online by ORIMA Research Pty Ltd and only takes 15 minutes to complete. The survey can be accessed via desktop computer, laptop, tablet or mobile at any convenient time within the fieldwork period from Monday 7th August to Sunday 8th September 2023. All responses to the survey are anonymous. 

 

The survey results will be reported back to the College later in the year. Last year we used the survey results to plan school improvement initiatives, set goals and targets as part of the College’s Annual Implementation Plan. Please contact the general office if you would like more information.

Noone Imagewear On Campus Trading

A reminder that our Uniform Supplier, Noone Imagewear will now be trading at the ‘On Campus’ store in L4 every Wednesday from 3:30pm – 5:00pm. The uniform supplier has enough stock supply in both stores, including a range of the school pants. 

and finally...

Thank you to all of you, as parents, who ensure that your children follow the uniform requirements and arrive on time for school each day.  We expect students to be in class, ready to learn on the second bell.  A reminder to parents and students to notify the College for approval when going on a family holiday or when seeking approval for the student's absence from school for an extended period of time. Please note not all requests will be approved, especially for students in Years 11 and 12. Students will need to meet VCAA and College requirements to satisfactory meet the outcome of the study.

 

Danny Dedes

On Behalf of Assistant Principals - Rick Hudson, Sasha Mildenhall and Louisa Norwood.