Learning and Teaching

Ms Jodie Connell - Deputy Principal

Semester 1 Reports 

Your child’s first-semester report is now available in PAM for you to view and discuss with your child. Your child’s experience of education over this semester has been unique. As a school community, we have had to overcome significant challenges to try to reduce any disruption of learning for our students. The report is provided to you within a context where staff have not had the opportunity to work alongside your child for the full semester. To complete this report, our staff have used direct assessments from term one and two, alongside evidence of learning during the period of remote schooling. On behalf of the staff, I thank you for your support throughout remote learning and transition back to face to face teaching, and we look forward to continuing to work with you in the best interests of your child.

 

Subject Selection

Your child’s subject selection for the 2021 school year is of critical importance.  It is why we, invest so much time and energy into making this an engaging process for our students.  It is important because:

  • Students will get most success in a subject when they do something that they enjoy, are good at and/or need for their chosen course or occupation
  • Late changes to chosen subjects or courses cause significant disadvantage for students because they then miss crucial teaching and learning that they struggle to catch up on
  • We work out what subjects are timetabled next year by student choice.  If students don’t choose a subject, then it will not run.

Your role in this process as a parent or caregiver is important.  Firstly, I would like to encourage you to ensure that it is your child’s dreams and choices that you should foster, not your dreams or choice for your child.  You can do this by listening carefully to your child, asking probing but non-threatening, non-judgemental questions and challenging them to be open and inquiring about their future options.  Their goals can be achieved through many different pathways and so it is important that students choose courses and subjects realistically and base this upon their passions and strengths.

 

Over the coming weeks, you will be provided with information about our upcoming Virtual Subject Expo. The focus of the expo will be to assist students in completing their subject selections for 2021. From the 17th August to the 28th August there will be several virtual subject Q & A sessions on offer for each VCE subject.  The sessions will provide specific subject advice and the chance to ask questions of the subject teachers. Individual course advice sessions will be available from 25th August to the 27th August. These will be held via Google Meets, and bookings for these sessions will be done via PAM. More specific information will be sent out over the coming weeks. 

 

Studiosity – online study help in 2020

The first half of the year has been challenging to say the least, and more students than ever before are logging in to use our online, after-hours study help service Studiosity.

Compared to last year, in 2020 we’ve seen a large increase in minutes spent connecting with Subject Specialists for one-to-one help, with English and Maths remaining the most popular areas for our students to get help with. Years 11 and 12 students in particular have been taking advantage of this free support, getting over 1200 minutes of help already this year.

 

But the year is far from over. Your child still has 24/7 access to a huge network of expert teachers and subject specialists, online, on-demand. They can connect to an expert in minutes and ask a question one-to-one when they get stuck, or upload a draft essay or assignment for review anytime and get fast, helpful feedback on how to improve it.

Students can access Studiosity FREE all year, thanks to the school. Simply log in to the school’s Studiosity service via Simon, or find your school at studiosity.com/access for instructions. 

Practice Papers

The two most important words for Year 12. Research shows that practice papers are the single most significant thing a student can do to increase their performance in their final year. It is unequivocal. The top students do more practice papers than other students. Indeed, the number one variable for accurately forecasting a student’s performance in Year 12 is the number of practice exams they do.

 

It is never too early for Year 12 students to be putting revision notes together and starting to complete past exam papers. Speak to your teachers about how best to revise. This should be a slow and steady preparation for exams, not a sprint at the end to be exam ready.