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High Notes, Vol 23 No 33, October 28 2022

From the Principal

World Teacher's Day

It is encouraging to participate in an international day that takes the time to recognise and honour the contribution that teachers make to the world. Its theme for 2022 is: The transformation of education begins with teachers.  It is an opportunity for everyone to thank any teacher / coach / instructor who has contributed to their lives. In honour of the occasion, the P & C have kindly funded additional recreational seating to be installed facing the tennis courts and have provided a morning tea for staff.

Interpreting Year 11 Reports-Semester 2

Year 11 students have discussed their results with me and been given their reports. Please discuss your son’s report with him so that you are aware of his eligibility for the HSC – 10 units and four subjects.

Teachers record individual marks for courses, and these are run against an ATAR predictor program.  All the raw marks are converted into scaled marks per unit.  In the iterative scaling process, students’ marks in one course are compared against all the other students who completed the same course and against their performances in their other courses. The data we use are last year’s HSC results for High.  The essential comparative assumption is that boys will perform at around the same standard this year as they did last year. Means and standard deviations are derived from our HSC results from the previous year and applied to our results in the current year. A scaled score out of 50 is calculated for each course on a one-unit basis.  Where candidatures are very small – eg visual arts and LOTE- we use historical results in that course in our school to calculate the mean and standard deviation to be applied to this year’s results.  We use all 12 Preliminary Units to calculate our ATAR estimate for two reasons. First, we would like students to receive a realistic appraisal of their progress in state terms as well as relative to their peers at High. Second, we want them to know their relative performance in each of their courses, to inform their subsequent choices. Third, it assists them to drop their weakest two units on the basis of scaled marks rather than raw marks. Next April, the estimate process will be moderated against the 2019 HSC results and calculated for the best ten units for each student.

At this stage of the year, every Year 11 student faces a choice, some have more choices to make than others. Will I do 12 units, 11 units, 10 units or less?  For those students who have a guaranteed entrance into Extension 2 Mathematics, they can drop two courses immediately (Extension English and a 2-unit course) and still have ten units to present at the HSC. Students who really want to exit a course and have made the rank cut – off for extension 1 Mathematics, can keep their Extension English and drop a course. Most accelerants remain doing ten units until their HSC results in the acceleration course are published.  Acceleration students have a choice to reduce their load to 8 units if they believe their HSC marks for their completed acceleration course are high enough. Students qualifying and choosing to do four units of English can drop one course. High performing students tend to use acceleration results as insurance and do ten units for the HSC anyway.

Others want to be rid of a weak course and explore choosing others – e.g. picking up one or two-unit studies of religion, or taking an extension unit in History, Music or LOTE.  Some love all their courses and want to carry 12 units to the HSC.  I have no problem with that choice provided that their tertiary course has a lower entrance requirement than their current ATAR prediction and that they are well organised enough to do well in twelve units.  Students I speak to when discussing their reports are thoughtful about their strengths and weaknesses and mindful of their preferred tertiary options.  Pragmatism often informs their decisions.  At this important time, future tertiary intentions are important considerations. Choices are made to maximise enjoyment, ATAR ranks or both.  I hope all Year 11 students choose sagely.

Summer Sport Co-payments  -  Term 4

The rolls for summer sports and activities have now been finalised.  In many activities co-payments are levied for the season – in this case Term 4 2022 and Term 1, 2023. Other sports have a policy of fixing co-payments on a term-by-term basis. In either case, invoices have now been posted.  For Years 7-10 this means that the summer invoice will be included on individual Clearance Forms. These forms will need to be cleared prior to boys receiving their reports. The base co-payment for sport for a season is $180 for 2022-23.  Higher charges are levied by individual sports as a result of resolutions passed by the Incorporated Associations or P & C Support Groups responsible for supporting particular sports. Year 11 boys have been invoiced for Term 4 or their full summer sport, too. Parents would not have had these charges on the Clearance Form for their sons prior to them receiving their reports.  It would help the MICs for these sports greatly if families could pay for their sports in the next ten days or so.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal