I had the pleasure of doing some planning with our VCAL class during Monday. They are preparing a landscape design brief for us. The students have been doing an integrated unit incorporating personal development skills, literacy and numeracy throughout this project. They will present their designs to us during their numeracy class in a few weeks. We will select the design we like best and then proceed through to the next phase, ordering, before we see the design become a reality, hopefully during term 3.
All classes began this year establishing classroom norms. We regularly monitor and evaluate progress in the classrooms and at times need to refine these norms. Can I take this opportunity to remind everyone of the expectations we have of our students. they are listed below.
Being on time
Being ready to learn
Being positive and helpful
Being Safe and orderly
Following instructions promptly
Being respectful of others rights
We work hard to ensure that all classes are focused on their learning and all students are doing their personal best.
As exams approach for our Years 10-12 students, and report writing begins for all staff, it also is timely to remind students that homework is a habit. It is established over a number of years. Our suggestion is that Year 7 students are doing 45 minutes every night, Year 8, 1 hour, Year 9, 1 -1/2 hours, Year 10, 1 & 1/2 hours, year 11 and 12, 2+ hours per night.
If students do not have scheduled homework, study, revision and consolidation of what they learnt in class is mandated. It is this habit we need to address most of all. The absence of scheduled homework does not mean that you do no study at home.
- Year 10 & 11 Exams begin on Monday 4 June and end on Friday 8 June
- VCAA Exams begin on Tuesday 12 and end on Wednesday 13 June and and the GAT takes place on Thursday 14 June
- Report Writing Day is Friday 15 June
On Monday evening our music students who have been collaborating with Vermont SC music students gave a wonderful performance at Vermont. The combination of both schools into one band was a great idea. The students have been rehearsing together and in isolation. On the night they came together and gave a wonderful performance.
The Basketball Marathon was our major focus for this week as you would expect.
It was a fantastic success and our thanks go to all staff and students who made this such a memorable event. The staff prevailed, as you would expect, in the staff student game, winning in a canter. The hard training and team meetings in preparation had clearly paid dividends. This continues the recent staff domination in these matches.
At first glance it looks like over $5000 has been raised. Thank you very much to everyone who contributed food to sell, made donations, provided/ collected sponsorship money or gave their time to assist with the canteen.
Despite the significance of this major event, classes still need to function and we did an exam preparation session on Monday for all students doing a Unit 3 subject this year. The GAT and mid year VCAA exams looms large, and our students need to be prepared as best they can for these events. All students doing a Unit 3 study this semester will do a practice GAT next week to aid their preparation.
On Thursday the Year 9 and 10 English classes had an incursion titled "Heroes." Dennis and Tony from the Young Australia Workshop Agency gave a performance to all of our Year 9 and 10 students about the importance of identifying with positive and appropriate role models.
Homework Club and Chess Club also occurred on Thursday. Many students are taking advantage of this time to work with staff and get their homework done in a supervised area after school.
On Thursday the party for the Home Group (9B) who won the naming competition for our new student lounge was held. They have called the room "The Shack." Pizza and Garlic Bread was the food of choice and a great time was had by all.
On Friday our Year 11 students had another exam preparation session to round out the week.
This weeks link is to an article in the Melbourne Weekly about Forest Hill College and the Basketball Marathon. Enjoy
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