DEPUTY PRINCIPAL - TEACHING & LEARNING REPORT 

Vision for Teaching and Learning at St Mary MacKillop College - a statement that drives the development of a high performance learning culture at SMMC. 

At St Mary MacKillop College we have high expectations of our students so we equip them with the knowledge, skills and dispositions for lifelong learning. We pursue excellence through a teaching and learning environment that is inclusive, engaging and encourages growth. We value collaboration, innovation and building strong relationships.

Welcome back to Term 3. I hope the holidays provided an opportunity for you to relax and unwind. Holidays are a great time to do things that we are unable to do in the busyness of the school term. I watched with great interest on the news the queues at the airports around the country over the break. I am sure there were members of our community who took the opportunity to travel during the break and catch up with family and friends they haven't been able to do so over the past few years.

This term we will see another range of activities organised for our students both within and outside their classes. Already we have had a busy first two weeks of the term. Our students enjoyed a concert performed by students from De La Salle College, girls football match, State Cross Country, LMR basketball, the first session of our Renewable Energy Futures enhancement program for Year 7 and 8 students, an afternoon rehearsal for this year's musical; School of Rock, Year 9 Reflection Day, Year 10 CHARTSEC camps, Tertiary Information Session and Resilience Builders. One of the many things that makes our school such a great learning environment is all the opportunities we provide our students.

Over the holidays I spent some time reviewing the Semester 1 reports. I congratulate our students for the results they achieved in Semester 1 and I wish them all the very best for their studies in Semester 2. I sent a survey to our students and asked them to reflect on their learning from Semester 1. I have included a summary of the responses received in this article. Many thanks to the students who completed the survey and for sharing insights into their learning.

Semester 2 is an exciting time with the opportunity for students to consolidate their learning from the first half of the year, and the opportunity to engage with new concepts, skills and knowledge. With access to their results from Semester 1, I encourage students to reflect on what they have achieved and to set new goals for their learning in Semester 2. During TA interviews throughout the semester, students will have an opportunity to discuss the progress they are making towards achieving their goals.

One question for students to think about is how they will overcome any challenges they experienced in their learning from last semester. We know throughout our learning journey, we are going to come across some challenges. The following questions might be useful for students to reflect on when they do come across challenges in their learning.

• What are you struggling with?
• Why is this one difficult?
• What have you already tried?
• Have you done anything like this before?
• What did you do last time?
• Is there anything you’ve not tried?
• Is there anyone else who could help? 

Our amazing teachers will support your child throughout their learning journey. We encourage students to speak to their teachers when they need support with their learning.

Home Study

It is timely at the start of a new semester to remind students of the expectations regarding home study. At St Mary MacKillop College we believe in developing and maintaining effective work habits from Year 7. Students from Years 7 to 12 will be given home study to complete. 

We believe that home study provides the opportunity for students to be responsible for their own learning. Home study complements and reinforces classroom learning; it fosters life-long learning, self-discipline, concentration and effective study habits and routines. Home study should require a reasonable commitment, but it should not be too onerous. Students should plan their home study to take into account their family, sporting and work commitments. Students should remember that home study does not only involve completing work from that day’s lesson, but also an opportunity for revision. In Years 7 -9, home study may include regular English and Mathematics homework tasks, revising for assessment tasks, reading of newspapers, watching the news, physical skills training or assignment and project completion. Home study also includes completion of formal reflection activities such as mind maps and a summary of the day’s learning. In Years 10 – 12 home study is determined more by the specific subject requirements. When students have not been assigned home study for a particular subject, they should still be revising and going over the content that has been presented to them during class. The time and frequency of home study is different for each year level. As a guide the following table outlines the suggested length of time for home study from Year 7 to 12.

A reminder that parents are advised to regularly log in to the Parent Access Module (PAM) and read the feedback provided on your child’s progress. Please be aware that at the start of the new semester there will not be much information uploaded within the first few weeks as teachers are currently in the process of organising and uploading content. Our staff use a variety of digital technologies to support the delivery of the curriculum. Students may be asked to access work or upload assessments to Google Classroom, the Learning Areas on Simon and so on. You may like to ask your son or daughter to show you the work they are doing in these learning platforms.

Reflections on Learning from Semester 1 

What is your favourite subject and why?

• Psychology because I enjoy learning about our brains and how they function.
• English and Art, I can be my creative self through words and colours.
• Business Management - I intend to become a sports manager after school.
• English because it lets me express the words I enjoy using.
• English, because I enjoy being able to write freely.
• My favourite subject is maths because I like to solve mathematical problems and work with different mathematical concepts.
• Woodwork because there were so many skills to learn.
• PE - I like learning about improving sports performance.
• PE because I love sport.

Explain the highlight from your learning in Semester 1.

• Food Tech because it was a different learning environment.
• Improving in most subjects.
• I enjoyed Textiles and Art.
• Wrote my first essay.
• My highlight would be writing so many stories.
• A highlight of my learning in Semester 1 would be exams, because it was something I did for the first time and I got really good results.
• Rehearsing for the School of Rock musical.

Explain the result you were most proud of achieving in Semester 1.

• Getting 100% in a Maths test and 95% in a Science test.
• I am most proud of achieving a higher result in my Maths exam than expected.
• The very high results I achieved in Geography.
• Top of class in my Maths exam.
• The result I am most proud of is my Japanese test because I got a very high.
• I am really proud of achieving very highs and highs, especially a very high in my Maths and English exams.
• High SAC results.

Outline the goals you have set for your learning in Semester 2.

• Do well in all tests and assessments.
• Get better at my hand writing.
• Improve study habits.
• To try and study at home more.
• A goal I have set for Semester 2 is to try my best in everything and achieve the best results I possibly can.
• Keeping up my grades.