Vice Principal – 23 August 2018

St Francis Xavier Day

Thank you to students for the way in which they participated in St Francis Xavier Day! We had a fantastic day of celebrations which begin with eucharist and then carnivals at each campus. Student attendance on the day was great which highlighted the value that is placed on the day. Well done to the Catholic Identity Team for their organisation of the day.

Differentiation

As you are aware the College has a significant focus on differentiation. We continue to focus on:

• students knowing themselves as learners
• teachers knowing the students they are teaching
• having clear achievement standards for students
• providing assessment tasks which provide opportunities for students to show their learning at different levels
• learning activities which provide students to be appropriately challenged to grow and develop

Staff have continued to work on differentiated assessment tasks. We have also been providing teachers with more data about the students they are teaching. We look forward to the outcomes of this work contributing to the outcomes we have already been experiencing:

• students being met at the level they are at and being challenged to progress to the next level
• more students achieving above standard

Subject Selection

The subject selection process is now complete. During the course of the last two weeks we have been checking preferences and we are soon to make decisions on the number of classes running in 2019.

Cycle 1 Reports and Student Progress Meetings
The Cycle 1 report for Years 10 – 12 students were published on 4 August. The Cycle 1 Report for Years 7 – 9 students were published on Tuesday.

Student progress meetings are taking place later on the following dates. I encourage all parents to make bookings. The benefits of this meetings can be significant.

• Years 10 and 11: today
• Years 7 – 9: 5 September and 20 September. The booking system will open on 23 August.
• Year 12: 20 September. The booking system opened last Friday.

Year 12 Student Progress Meetings – Thursday 20 September

Year 12 Student Progress Meetings – Purpose

I would like to emphasise the important of the Year 12 student progress meetings.
These meetings offer the opportunity to discuss ways students can enhance their progress and it will be a very timely opportunity to emphasise the importance of students attending the revision lectures and how it is best that they can prepare for the trial exams and then the VCAA exams.

VCAL teachers will have the opportunity to clarify expectations for the completion of VCAL units of competency.

Siobhan Thomas, Careers Team Leader, will be present to run a help desk relating to VTAC applications which will be due the week following the progress meetings.

We are looking for all Year 12 students to attend these progress meetings.

Curriculum Review implementation

Teachers continue to plan for the implementation of the Curriculum Review outcomes. We look forward to the implementation of the following in 2019:

• Introduction of media arts and dance to Years 8 and 9
• Introduction of VCAL to Year 10
• Introduction of VCE Environmental Science and English Language
• Introduction of VET subjects for VCAL students
• Introduction of Arabic and Spanish
• Combined classes of Year 8 and 9 students for some subjects
• Careers education curriculum enhancement
• Remodelled mathematics pathways
• Introduction of the Year 8 City experience
• Introduction of Year 8 and 9 Extension Academies
• Introduction of a Year 7 Instrumental Music program
• Introduction of an inquiry and project-based learning program across Years 7 to 10
• Introduction of a wellbeing lesson
• Restructured timetables including more tuition time and increased frequency of lessons for the Beaconsfield Campus
• More choice and flexibility for student learning programs
• More targeted learning enhancement programs
• More engaging Religious Education curriculum
• Introduction of Hands on Learning at Officer Campus

Staff Retreat Day

A reminder that a Catholic identity based professional learning day is calendared for Tuesday 28 August. This is a student free day.

Blessings for the fortnight ahead!

Timothy Newcomb
Vice Principal