November Curriculum Matters
Our IB examinations are well underway and will conclude this week and the slightly delayed VCE written examinations will be commencing this week and will conclude on 1 December. A number of VCE performance and oral exams already have taken place over the past few weeks. We acknowledge the significant disruptions all staff and students have experienced this year due to COVID-19. Our staff have worked tirelessly during the 6 months of remote learning to ensure that all of our students, but especially our Year 12 students have experienced the best tuition and educational experiences possible under the distance regime. We wish our Year 12 students all the best as they make the most of what has been a challenging year and demonstrate their skills and ability to apply their knowledge alongside all other IB and VCE students who have endured similar challenges in 2020. We will await the publication of their results on 30 December (VCE) and 2 January 2021 (IB). It could be said that, having survived (and in many cases, thrived) during the COVID-19 pandemic in their final year of schooling, these Year 12 students are more even more prepared and capable than they might have been of facing whatever life presents to them as they venture into the world beyond Tintern. I know the whole community joins me in congratulating them all on their persistence and resilience during 2020.
This also is a busy time for our Years 9 to 11 students, as they prepare for the upcoming brief examination period. We trust all students will do their best and take away as much learning as possible from the outcomes of this period.
Final projects are being submitted and assessments undertaken to allow our teachers across Years Prep to 8 to commence their end-of-semester reporting on the progress made by each student in their various classes. Our standard ongoing progressive reporting regime covers class results in Years 7 to 11 and we are beginning the process of expanding these in 2021. We will trial a change to our reporting system with Year 7 students next year, whereby they will receive Progressive Reporting Assessments through the school’s Portal interface which not only will provide a grade for a task, but include a formative comment giving feedback on the level of achievement, areas for improvement and strategies to achieve those improvements. These regular updates and more expansive feedback on individual assessments will keep parents better informed of their child’s progress and facilitate more timely and useful reflections, regular conversations and opportunities for goal setting between parents, students and staff. The Year 7 end-of-semester reports in 2021 will be a composite of these Progressive Reporting Assessment Tasks (PRATs), with the aforementioned gradings and comments, and an overall grade for each subject alongside gradings for behaviourals, as currently appear on reports.
We know that the skills and attributes our students have had to develop in this extraordinary school year will be consolidated and built upon as they move into their next year of schooling. To this end, and to encourage our students to look forward with anticipation to the year ahead, we will enact a transition phase into the 2021 timetable for students currently in Years 7 to 11, commencing Friday 27 November. Thursday 26 November is a non-school day for Years 7 to 11 students, allowing staff time to correct exams and tests and to write reports.
Students then will commence a unit of work in each of their 2021 subject areas on Friday 27 November, and there may be some assessments in some subjects. It is, therefore, imperative that students attend and continue to maintain their focus for this period immediately after the examination/testing sessions. Years 7 and 8 students will continue with their transition classes the following week and through to the last day of term, Tuesday 8 December. Year 9 students will be engaged in their Summer Expeditions from 30 November to 4 December, pending government regulations allowing these activities to proceed. Alternately, they may be involved in onsite and local life skills activities if a journey to various camp locations is not permitted. Either way, they will return to participate in a final two days of Transition classes on 7 and 8 December. Year 10s and 11s will have a full 8 days of transition classes from 27 November to 8 December.
I wish you all a happy and safe holiday break. I know we will all appreciate the opportunity to move about far more freely during the summer period than has been the case for much of this year.
