"May God in His mercy bless and protect you all." Catherine McAuley

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL LEARNING AND TEACHING

LEARNING AND TEACHING REPORT

Welcome to my first Newsletter report for 2020. I particularly would like to welcome all the new students at the college and the new families to our community. Learning and Teaching is at the heart of this community and we are always striving to improve the learning experience for the students and to maximise the learning outcomes of the students.

 

2019 VCE Results

It was very pleasing to see the continuing upward trend of our VCE data. Our trend line data has seen improvement over an extended period of time in all of the following categories:

  • Median ATAR Score
  • Median VCE Study Score
  • % of Study Scores over 40
  • ATAR Greater than 90
  • ATAR Greater than 80
  • ATAR Greater than 70

Study Scores; Students receive a score out of 50 for each VCE subject they complete in Year 12

The strong data can be attributed to a number of factors that have been part of a targeted program of continuous improvement prioritised in recent years.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank all the staff at St Joseph’s College, for the work they do every day and for continuing to strive to improve learning outcomes for the students of St Joseph’s College. 

 

Whole School Professional Learning Day - Tuesday March 10

We have been very fortunate to book Dr Jarryd Cooney Horvath for a whole staff Professional Learning day on Tuesday March 10.  Dr Jared Cooney Horvath (PhD, MEd) is an expert in the field of Educational Neuroscience with a focus on learning, memory, and attention. He has conducted research and lectured at Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, the University of Melbourne, and over 150 schools internationally. Jared has published 5 books, over 30 research articles, and his work has been featured in numerous popular publications, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Economist, and ABC’s Catalyst. He currently serves as Director of “The Science of Learning Group”: a team dedicated to bringing the latest brain and behavioural research to teachers, students, and parents.

 

PAM and Year 7 Introductory Report

Associated with the Year 7 Parent Teacher meetings on Wednesday March 19, an Introductory Report was completed by teachers for the Year 7 students. Just a reminder that Reports are only accessible via Parent Access Module, hence the need to be familiar with the Parent Access Module.

 

The Parent Access Module is also critical for a number of other communications between the school and families, for example updating medical information before students are permitted to attend overnight excursions. If you are uncertain on how to use the Parent Access Module you are more than welcome to contact reception and ask them to make a time for you to sit down with myself, or our Director of Learning and Teaching (Mr Emmet Brown), or even your child’s Homeroom Teacher to show you how to access and use the Parent Access Module effectively.  I will also endeavour to have a video explaining PAM up on the school website in the near future. 

 

Skoolbag

Another important communication tool that the school uses is Skoolbag, which is a phone app that enables the school to communicate with you in a timely and efficient manner, as well as keep parents up to date with important events, the school calendar and the school newsletter. I have included instructions below on how to access and install Skoolbag.

 

Mr Greg Kluske 

Deputy Principal, Learning and Teaching