Issue 1 2024 - Teaching & Learning

Teaching & Learning

Jessica Lewis

A great start

My first 4 weeks at the College have flown by as I try to get to know student names and find my way around the College – luckily there are only 7 classrooms on my side of the school! It is lovely to see students looking their best in their uniforms and following the school’s values of pursuing personal excellence, building positive relationships, and demonstrating social responsibility.

Submitting student work

This week has seen the first assessments start with a mixture of nervousness and confidence being shown by students. All students and parents should have received a copy of our assessment outline by now. Please ensure you read this carefully as it is important that WACoA Denmark is setting a fair and equitable standard compared to other students across the state. If a student is unexpectedly away on the day of an assessment, a medical certificate may be required to allow that student to complete it on another day without any consequence. If an absence is planned, please let the classroom teacher know as soon as possible so other arrangements can be made. It is the student’s responsibility to ask their teacher what they missed and to catch up in their own time. I also want to stress the need for all submitted work to be solely that of the student handing it in. Any suspected plagiarism or artificial intelligence will be investigated and a mark of zero may be recorded.

Recent Job Interviews with an outside agency

Well done to all the Year 12 General English students that completed their mock job interviews this week; I hope you have gained some understanding of the process and are feeling more confident about approaching the real thing when it comes up.

Year 12 private study expectations

I want to let everyone know about the College expectations of students in their study time, whether it be at school or after hours. All Year 12 students get some study time during the school week, but some might not know what study looks like, so here are some suggestions which I have put up around the College:

·  Any normal schoolwork e.g. certificate LMS, reading over class notes (and then quizzing yourself or re-writing them on palm-cards), completing unfinished worksheets, making mind-maps (there are some cool aps for this), doing extra research (watching videos or reading from addition resources),

·  OLNA practise subscriptions (only for certain students, these have been emailed home so everyone should now know their login details.)

·  Update your C.V. or look for relevant job advertisements.

·  EST/exam practice – ask your teacher to help you find past papers from SCSA (School Curriculum and Standards Authority).

·  READ! A newspaper, novel, magazine, website or textbook. All of these can give you knowledge from a different perspective.

Support for students

In the next few weeks, we will begin the process of surveying students about their study skills and what we can do to strengthen and support them in this area. This will be particularly aimed at year 11 ATAR students, but all that are interested in attending will be welcome. Please watch out for more information on when and where we will be running these sessions.

We are currently finalising any individual or group education plans (IEPs and GEPs) for students that require additional support. If you think there is something we should know about a student that affects their learning, please get in touch!

I wish everyone a lovely long weekend filled with family and rest.

Jessica Lewis
Program Coordinator - Teaching and Learning
WACOA – Denmark