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High Notes, Vol 25 No 38, November 29 2024

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to Karan Dahiya on his award of a Sydney East Blue for outstanding achievement in the sport of Volleyball.

Interpreting Year 7 Reports - Semester 2

In Year 7, we do not provide ranks to students. We have an Academic Achievement List for high-performing students and a Student Monitoring Register for students performing below expected standards. We try to let students settle in and find their feet before making too many outcome comparisons. Our benchmark is 10 credits or thirty points. A student’s profile of learning behaviours is important to us. We collate teachers’ ratings. A high proportion of ‘consistently’ (c) ‘or ‘usually’ (u) ratings, indicates a student is adjusting well to the demands of multiple subjects (10 in Year 7).

We ask also, that you check your son’s progress in future-oriented earning skills – problem solving, evaluating, working with others, communicating ideas, creating and innovating (PEWCC). Some of these are reported each year in their own text box on the school reports. Faculties have an opportunity to report at least twice on one or more of the five ‘earning skills’ during the six reporting periods during Years 7-9. These skills will be needed in jobs of the future. You can understand more deeply about how your son is building his capacity in the discrete dispositions that we have targeted for development as a school. The idea is that you can track your son’s growth over his three years in the Junior School. These PEWCC skills are very contextual. Hypothetically, your son might be really good at ’working with others in English’ where he is confident and comfortable, but not so effective in mathematics where he is weaker, is reticent, or defers to the strongest mathematician in the work group. Consequently, skill growth might not be a simple progression from 1 in Year 7 to 3, 4 or 5 in Year 10 (depending on the scale in the rubric for each subject). Your son’s progress might be uniform neither across the subjects, nor across the dispositions. We are reporting on growth in individual dispositions by comparing where a student was on the scale in Year 7 and then again in Year 9 in the same subject context. A similar comparison may be made between measures reported in Year 8 and then again in Year 10.

I look forward to an informed dialogue between parents and teachers on the individual student’s development of these important life skills. Go to our website at: /curriculum/pewcc-reporting for a full list of skill descriptors. Our challenge is to develop effective assessment tasks at all levels, in order to describe more accurately where your son stands in his development of these important life skills.

In semester 2, some students choose not to put much effort into one of the languages they do not intend to pursue in Year 8. While this is regrettable, it is also understandable. As history and geography are delivered in semesters, a student might be stronger or weaker in either of these subjects in second semester. The consequence can be that overall achievement level, as measured by our points system, might decline or improve. Students have their second opportunity to choose a subject when they decide on their language/s for next year. Will they do one language or two? What are the commitments if they take offline classes? Will their other activities be affected? Please discuss language choices for Year 8 with your sons. They are perfectly free to choose just one language in Year 8 if they wish.

Outdoor Education Program

It is a strong expectation of our school that all students attend the outdoor education program in Years 7 - 9. We see the camps as important socialising and independence-building experiences in the personal enlargement of our students. I urge all boys to attend to learn life lessons and mature as persons by attending these camps.

December 3 2024 – International Day of People with Disability

Held on Tuesday 3 December,  aims to promote awareness, understanding and acceptance of people with disability. This year’s theme, ‘Amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future’, recognises the important role that people with disability play in creating a more inclusive and sustainable world for all. The Paralympic participation at the Paris Games raised the profile again of people with disability – their aspirations, goals and achievements. In our daily lives we need to be more inclusive of everyone, no matter what their point of difference may be. The focus this year is on the leadership abilities of people with disability. In our population more than 21% of people have a disability. We should be integrating them into all areas of our society where possible.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal