Curriculum

Year 12 Semester One Academic Awards

In recognition of academic excellence over the last two terms of the HSC course, the following Year 12 students were presented at last Friday’s College Assembly with their First Place in Course certificate for Semester One.

2021 HSC Written Examination Timetable now available online

The 2021 HSC written examination timetable is now available for viewing online via the NESA website at:

2021 HSC Written Exam Timetable (educationstandards.nsw.edu.au)

Students can access their personalised written examination timetable from Students Online. 

Year 10 Examination Block

The Year 10 Examination Block commences Monday 10 May and concludes Thursday 13 May. The assessments are written examinations.

The Examination Block timetable is available from the Year 10 Canvas page and students are reminded to note dates and times of their examinations. Students are also reminded to thoroughly familiarise themselves with the College’s Assessment Policy and Examination Rules posted on Canvas at the beginning of the school year.

Ignorance of the College’s Assessment Policy or Examination Rules will not constitute a valid excuse and penalties will be incurred for breaches of policy or procedures.

In particular, in the event of absenteeism due to illness or misadventure during the Examination Block, parents and boys are reminded that a telephone call to the Year 10 Coordinator, Mrs Fisicaro, must be made prior to 9.00am on the day of the examination. Where possible, the missed examination or a substitute will be arranged within the Examination Block period. Immediately on the boy’s return to school, a medical certificate for the illness/misadventure must be given to the relevant Faculty Leader.

Year 11 Parent / Teacher Interviews and Student Academic Reports

The Year 11 Parent/Teacher interviews will be held on the afternoon and evening of Tuesday 25 May, commencing at 3.40pm. All interviews will be conducted on site at the College.

It is a College expectation that parents book interviews with all of their sons subject teachers. It is a College expectation that every student is represented by at least one parent or primary caregiver for the interviews and that their son is present for each interview.

Parents will be sent an email on Friday of this week with interview booking instructions. All booking instructions will be on this email. Parents/carers should check their emails on this day, including junk mail. Please note, that booking interviews online may not work on all mobile phones and hence, a computer may be required to book interviews. If parents/carers have not received their login webcode via email or have any problems logging in, please contact the Administration Coordinator, Mrs Rebecca Colak, on 

8705 9209.

Online bookings for interviews will open at 12 noon Friday 7 May and will close at 12.00 noon Thursday 20 May. Parents/Carers are to book interview time slots themselves. The College will not be allocating interview times.

The interviews are an opportunity for parents to meet their sons’ teachers and to discuss aspects of the Semester One Report with respect to their sons’ progress and adjustment to study routines, including strategies and recommendations for improvement in Semester Two.

The Year 11 Semester One Reports will be posted online via the Sentral Parent Portal by Friday 21 May.

Michael Cutrupi 

Director of Curriculum

Assessment and Reporting – Stages 3, 4 and 5

In 2021 we are continuing with our use of NESA’s Method 1 to determine grades for the semester report. This shift had many benefits including greater focus on the importance of ongoing learning and quality conversations amongst teachers and students to clarify understanding of standards as applied to grades. 

Semester grades will primarily be determined by a student’s formal assessment results in each subject. Teachers have also been using informal assessment activities to monitor student skills and progress in each course. A select few informal assessment activities will be used in consideration with the formal task results to either confirm the grade determined by formal task results or to shift a grade up or down when a student is on the cusp of two grades.

Formal tasks are the primary determinant of a semester or end of year grade because these tasks are cross-cohort, designed and checked by many teachers, pilot-marked for consistency and developed to reflect the core identified outcomes for a course.

The process of allocating grades is not solely determined by teacher professional judgement. Grades are allocated using evidence from formal and informal tasks, with reference to the Common Grade Scale. Where evidence from informal tasks supports a change in a student’s grade, the class teacher will discuss the student’s overall performance with the faculty leader prior to any change being made. Student behaviour will not impact a grade; indications of behaviour and work ethic are reflected in the learning characteristics portion of the semester report. Grades are derived from demonstrated performance against a set of curriculum standards.

We will continue to use Method 2 with Year 10.

Denise Lombardo

Director of Learning and Innovation