Mentor Group Leaders – Semester 1, 2017
Last Friday 10 March our next round of leadership positions were announced; these being our Semester 1 Mentor Group Leaders. I had the great pleasure of announcing the following Years 10 and 11 students have taken on the role of Mentor Group Leaders. Please note we do not have Mentor Group Leaders at Year 12 as our House Captains fulfil this role as Senior College Mentor Groups are also House groups.
10A (Butterss/Cross): Kim Maher and Vishnu Pillay
10B (Dann/Watt): Casey Anderson and Jemma Thornton
10C (Gordon/Grant): Sahan Kaluarachchi and Hannah Shakes
10D (Mansfield/McKie): Daniel Boss and Molly Fleming
10E (Somner/Stewart): Anh Lai and Alex Wilson
11A (Butterss/Cross): Stefan Bennett and Phoebe Bridgford
11B (Dann/Watt): Sharon Chen and Alex Eadie
11C (Gordon/Grant): Yasmin Lobo and Jack Read
11D (Mansfield/McKie): Miranda Molnar and Isabella Wright
11E (Somner/Stewart): Charlotte Menagh and Victor Tran
The Mentor Group Leaders play an important role on a daily basis in ensuring that the teacher Mentor and the students who belong to the Mentor group are aware of what activities are scheduled for the day. They are also the Mentor group’s representatives on the Senior College SRC and thus are charged with the responsibility of providing input on behalf of their group on issues that are being discussed; additionally, they are given the opportunity to bring new ideas which might improve the functioning of our Senior College community. The SRC is chaired by our two School Vice-Captains – Louise Smith and Mitchell Lacey – with staff input being provided by our Year 10 and 11 Co-ordinators, Mrs Heather Ruckert and Mr Nick Stefanac respectively.
The School Musical, ‘Hairspray’
Rehearsals for this year’s School Musical, ‘Hairspray’, are close to being completed and everyone in the community is looking forward to another outstanding production from our cast. A large number of Senior College students are involved as either cast or crew and they will be spending many hours next weekend as they “bump-in” at the Karralyka Theatre and fine tune their performances and “prop” management skills.
Performances are scheduled for Wednesday 22 March (preview night) and then from Thursday 23 to Saturday 25 March. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday night’s performances are sold out, however, you can purchase tickets for Thursday night through the Karralyka Theatre at this link.
DAV Debating
Tintern Grammar is again delighted to be a regional centre for the Debating Association of Victoria (DAV) inter-school debates. Our own debating teams consist of students representing the following year levels: Year 8, Year 9, Year 10, Year 11 and Year 12.
The first of the five provisional debating rounds occurs at Tintern this week on Wednesday 15 March. I wish all of our teams enjoyment, advancement of their debating skills and success, across the season. My thanks and best wishes go to our debating coaches and, in particular, to our new Debating Co-ordinator Mr Steven Lo.
Term 1 Interim Reports and Parent-Teacher Interviews
Late last week all parents/guardians of Year 7 to 12 students were sent an email outlining the upcoming Term 1 Interim Reports and Parent-Student-Teacher interviews. The details contained in the email are summarised below:
On Thursday 16 March at 10am, our Secondary Interim Reports will open to parents in the Parent Centre of myTintern Portal. A help sheet was attached to the original email to show parents and guardians how to access the reports and how to book parent-teacher interviews.
The Interim Reports indicate to Parents, Guardians and Students’ the progress made so far in each subject prior to parent-student-teacher interviews. The achievement levels indicated by teachers reflect a student’s performance in assessment tasks so far this term.
Bookings for interviews open in the portal on Thursday 16 March at 10am and close at 10am on the day of the interviews. Students are strongly encouraged if possible to come to the interviews to be part of a three-way conversation about their learning and growth as part of our commitment to the 3-way partnership between students, teachers and parents.
Our Secondary School Parent-Student-Teacher interviews are held over three nights, spread across two weeks: Tuesday 21 March, Tuesday 28 March and Wednesday 29 March, between 4 – 8pm on each of these nights. Interviews are of 10-minute duration.
Teachers are instructed to request an interview if a student’s progress is deemed ‘Low’ or ‘Very Low’, and they may also request interviews with other students. If a teacher does not request an interview, this will be designated as ‘Optional’. Parents, of course, may request interviews with any of their child’s subject or Mentor Group teachers, regardless of a request being made by the teacher.
As students complete more learning and assessment tasks over the course of the semester, a clearer picture of their progress will appear and this will be reflected in the end of semester reports.
The Interim Reporting process and Parent-Student-Teacher interviews are a valuable opportunity for you to meet your child’s teachers and discuss your child’s progress. I look forward to greeting all Senior College families at these evenings.
With kind regards to all,
