Learning and Teaching News

Year 11 Unit 2 Optimus and Head of College’s Awards

Last week during the full school assembly we celebrated our Year 11 Unit 2 Optimus and Head of College’s Award recipients. These students are congratulated for their outstanding academic achievement (Optimus Awards) and their dedication to their learning behaviours (Head of College’s Awards).

A Head of College Award is awarded to students who receive all ‘As’ in the behaviour and application criteria on their end of Unit 2 report card.

Congratulations to the recipients of the following awards - 

To receive a Bronze Optimus Award, students must receive a minimum of 80% for General subjects and/or an A in Applied subjects across 4 courses of study.

To receive a Silver Optimus Award, students must receive a minimum of 80% for General subjects and/or an A in Applied subjects across at least 5 courses of study.

Well done to our Year 11 Unit 2 Award winners.

NAPLAN Results

Following on from the Head of College’s article, we have seen pleasing results from this year’s NAPLAN assessment. With the release of state and national means this week, the College has travelled against the decline in state and national means by increasing our mean scores across most domains. The College has now widened the gap further of our results sitting above national means, and is now preparing our boys for the 2023 assessments.  

Year 12 External Assessment 

The Year 12 External Exam Block commenced last Monday with eleven exams conducted across the first week. For many Year 12 students, these External Assessments are the culmination of 13 years of study. The exam schedule with the location of each exam and the start times for Marist students has been both sent to students and parents as well as published on the portal. Please also check the portal for the equipment required for each exam. It is essential that all students attend each exam with all required equipment.

Parents have been emailed processes to follow if their son is unwell on the day of one of their exams. Please ensure this process is followed so the school can lodge the necessary documentation with QCAA.

Good luck to all the students sitting their External Assessments.

Year 11 – Academic Care Interviews

Academic Care Interviews for all Year 11 students started last week. These interviews are an important part of the Marist College Ashgrove Academic Care Program and review each student’s progress from Units 1 and 2 then establish goals for Units 3 and 4. For ATAR-eligible students, these sessions also include a preliminary ATAR prediction based on Units 1 and 2 results. Please note that the official ATAR is calculated by QTAC on Units 3 and 4 (including external exams). Students and parents have received an email last week with booking instructions. Thank you to Mrs Adam Knight, Mrs Tara Franklin, Ms Ellie Kenny and Mr Bruce McPhee who are conducting these interviews.

Year 12 2023 Night Study Sessions

This year, the 2022 Academic Captains initiated the Night Study Sessions open to all Year 12s. As per feedback collected by the incoming Year 12s, the 2023 Academic Captains have arranged for these sessions to continue, commencing this Wednesday evening. The Night Study Sessions will be held once per week and aim to provide a space for small group collaborative or quiet individual revision and/or study.

When: Every Wednesday night from 5:00pm-8:00pm

Where: Library

Who: Year 12s of 2023 only

Requirements:

• Current ID card is to be presented on arrival
• All students must sign in and out of the library
• All normal library rules to be followed (including no eating)
• Normal student behaviour expectations apply; if these cannot be met boys will be prohibited from returning to future sessions
• Students are free to wear full College uniform or plain clothes
• Students are free to arrive and leave as they see fit. Supervision is only provided in the library between 5:00pm-8:00pm.

A librarian will be on duty from 5:00pm-8:00pm to assist if required, however, these are not tutoring sessions. Students are encouraged to work collaboratively.

Thank you to the 2023 Academic Captains for initiating this opportunity so soon into their leadership roles. In addition, thank you also to Mrs Mary Stirling and the wonderful librarians for staffing these valuable study opportunities for our 2023 Year 12 students.

Year 11 - Get ready for Year 12 with Atomi

Currently at Marist College Ashgrove students in Year 11 have access to Atomi as an online resource to support them in Maths and Science subjects. In the Get ready for Year 12 with Atomi webinar, they cover some of the Atomi essentials you need to start Year 12 right. Presenters will share practical tips to get set up for a successful year, including how to stay productive, manage your time effectively and take care of your well-being.

Agenda

1. Making the most of Atomi in Year 12
2. Helpful resources to support your study
3. Managing your time with planning tools
4. Prioritising your wellbeing
5. Q&A

When: Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 6:30 PM AEDT

Year 10 and 11 Exam Block 

Year 10 and 11 Exam Block will run from Tuesday 15 - Wednesday 23 November. The block provides students with the opportunity to study for their exams from home when they are not required on campus for exams. This exam block privilege is provided to students who are up to date with assessment for all subjects (including their VET courses and Workplace Skills modules). If your son has not submitted assessment or completed the tasks to a reasonable standard, he will be required to remain at school over this exam block in order to catch up on this work. You will be contacted before the commencement of exam block via email if this applies to your son. If you have any questions about this process, please do not hesitate to contact the Acting Secondary Learning Leader, Mrs Tara Franklin, at franklint@marash.qld.edu.au.

Parent Webinar with Elevate

How to Help Your Child Manage Their Stress & Wellbeing

We’re excited to announce that Elevate Education's next free webinar will be taking place on Wednesday 9th November.

Elevate Education works with our students, delivering high-impact workshops on study skills, motivation, well-being, and exam preparation. By tuning into their webinar series you will learn how you can help better support your children at home by reinforcing the skills they learn at school:   

In this webinar Elevate will be showing parents:

• ✅ How to spot your child's stress symptoms early
• ✅ How to start a conversation about emotional wellbeing
• ✅ Techniques your child can use to self-manage stress 

Click here to register for free

Study Hall – all year levels 

Every Tuesday and Thursday morning the teacher librarians in the senior library offer study hall sessions for Year 7-10 from 7:45 am to 8:30 am where we look at specific study skills and assessment relevant to the year levels. This term, the Year 9 and 10 students are invited on Tuesday mornings, and Year 7 and 8 students are invited on Thursday mornings. These are designed to build the student’s capacity to study independently by teaching them key skills for the first 15mins of the sessions and then offering independent supported study for the remainder of the time. 

If a student cannot make either session and still wishes to attend, they are to contact infoservices@marash.qld.edu.au or a teacher librarian directly to arrange a suitable time to meet.

Accessing LMS for Task-Specific Feedback 

At the completion of each drafting stage and final completion of the assessment (both written and exam), your son will receive task-specific feedback from his teachers. It is important that your son/s access this feedback, so they are aware of their strengths and limitations. Parents are also encouraged to access this information.

Please follow these steps to access task-specific feedback.

1 - Open the Parent Portal and click on “Parent Lounge”

2 - On the left-hand tab select “Curricular Activities Due” and select “view all activities” on the top right-hand side of the page. 

This will take you to a screen that lists of your son/s assessment to complete, or has been completed.

3 - Click on a subject to view feedback. 

4 - Once you click on the subject you will be able to find the following information:

1. Task sheet for assessment – this will outline what your son needs to do to complete the task successfully
2. Draft due dates and due dates
3. Criteria sheet
4. Feedback
5. Result

How to access Academic Reports – Parent Lounge

Please follow these steps to access academic reports

1 - Open Parent Portal and click on “Parent Lounge”

2 - Academic Reports are accessible via the link on the left-hand side of the page, or at the bottom of the main screen. Click on the academic report you would like to see.