From the Director of Studies

Introducing our Academic Coordinators

We would like to welcome our three new Academic Coordinators. Mrs Lee Ursino will be working with Year 7 and 8 students. Miss Loren Keir will work with Year 9 and 10 students. Mr Stephen Bullock will work with our Year 11 and 12 students.

Our Academic Coordinators will support students in their learning and work to help them achieve their academic goals. They will work with year groups on a range of academic programs including study skills, note-taking, planning, growth mindsets, literacy and numeracy, critical thinking, career planning, HSC Minimum Standards Testing and setting academic goals .  Our Academic Coordinators will also work with individuals and small groups of students on specific learning and skill-building activities. They will track student progress, engagement and work to bring out the academic best in all our students.

Your boys will have contact with their Academic Coordinators during Wednesday morning meetings and in Homeroom classes. Students can also meet with their Academic Coordinator in the Marian Centre and work with them during the Monday afternoon Homework Club.

Our Academic Coordinators are a valuable new part of our teaching team. If your son requires any support, the first contact is their subject teacher for academic issues and their Homeroom teacher for pastoral concerns. For specific subject issues, the next contact is with the KLA Coordinator. Students and parents can contact our Academic Coordinators for broader academic issues and Year Coordinators for pastoral issues. As always, the Leadership team is also available.

We all want the best academic outcomes for all boys at the College and this is another way we are working towards this.

Homework Club

The Marian Centre has been abuzz with energy on Monday afternoons as students gather in their dozens to seek support or to find a quiet space to complete their homework. With separate study areas for the Seniors, the Marian Centre has witnessed increased numbers in 2020 as students across all year groups start strong and work towards their academic goals.

Homework Club is well attended by a good cross-section of teaching and support staff and assistance is provided whenever required. Help has been given to support students with completing tasks, unpacking assessments, organising timetables and managing diaries.

It has been particularly encouraging to see small groups of boys urge each other to attend and to hear them engaging in mature and academically focused dialogue. It has been even more pleasing to witness the senior students providing their time and support to those students new to our College. They certainly emulate our College motto, Quae Seminaveris Metes, by demonstrating the significance of making time to commit to their studies, but by also making themselves available to the community.

Homework Club is open to all students Years 7-12 and runs every Monday from 3.15pm – 4.30 pm in the Marian Centre.

STUDY SKILLS TIPS FOR A NEW YEAR – by Prue Psalter

Prue Psalter will speak to our Year 7 students and parents next week. With the beginning of the new year, it’s always a great time for students to reassess their academic approach. The key to making the most of this opportunity is focusing on the things which will bring the biggest return.

1. Simplify Your Organisation System

Every student has an organization system. True, the definition of “organisation” may be looser for some students than others, but everyone has a way they stay organized (or attempt to).

Maybe you’re the “Type-A” student and you have a clearly defined system. You’ll know that you’re “Type-A” by the file folders you both own and use the folded socks in your drawer, and all the lists by which you keep track of important information. You probably have a calendar, a planner, and you know exactly which clothing is clean and which is dirty.

But not everyone fits in such a naturally organized world. These students can be called “Type-B.”

If you’re a “Type-B” student, you’re not alone, but organization probably requires more effort. “Type-B” students tend to prefer “piling systems” to filing cabinets. Calendars often seem like too much work, so they’d rather just put everything in their backpacks and find it later. Students on the far end of the “Type-B” universe may even find themselves sorting laundry via the “smell check” method.

Regardless of whether you are a Type A or B student, though, one of the biggest difference-makers this year is your organization system. Few things will save time and improve academic performance the way an effective organization system will.

A great organization system has at its centre one goal: replace your brain.

The more organized you are, the less you have to think. Your organization system should be simple enough that you don’t have to make any decisions about where you put new assignments, where to find completed assignments, or what to do with graded assignments. You shouldn’t have to go through a mental checklist every time you study because your organization system does it for you.

The fewer decisions you need to make, the more your thoughts and energy can focus on things that matter. Consider these four questions to determine how simple your organization system is right now:

• Do you have good systems in place to manage and organize both the paper and digital resources for school?
• Do you have a system to make sure that all assignments and due dates are marked on your calendar/planner?
• Do you have a system to focus on what needs to be done today and not just what’s due tomorrow?

When you can answer each of these four questions without thinking, you’ll know that your organization system is simple enough to be a major asset this year.

2. Break the “Cram Cycle” Before it Starts

By the end of the semester, students often find themselves overloaded and overwhelmed, having to rely on cramming for final exams to get through to the break. They are exhausted and in survival mode. Thriving academically no longer matters. All that matters is the break at the end.

If you’ve ever felt this way, you’ve experienced what we call the “Cram Cycle.” Students get busy during the semester, which leads to exhaustion. When you’re exhausted, the only thing you want to do is zone out for a bit. After an afternoon of zoning, students are forced to put all their effort into completing assignments that are due tomorrow. We call this “cramming.” As students work on only that which is due tomorrow, long-term assignments pile up and create even more busyness, which leads to exhaustion, and the “Cram Cycle” begins to accelerate.

Most students only get out of the “Cram Cycle” when the semester ends.

But this year can be different. If you want to stay out of this dreaded cycle, commit yourself to doing some independent learning at least five days a week, even when you don’t have anything due the next day. Use every day as a review day, spreading out your study sessions for big tests and projects across multiple days instead of letting them pile up. This approach takes more effort initially to create these habits, but you’ll reap the benefits when you’re free of the “Cram Cycle” and the stress that follows it come finals season.

3. Supercharge Retention with Scientifically-verified Study Strategies