As we come to the end of the term, it is again a good time for your son to review and evaluate his progress towards the achievement of his Learning and Wellbeing goals. Take time to speak to your son about his journey to date. The following questions may support you with this conversation:

• How much have you progressed towards your goals?
• What steps have you achieved and what steps have you had trouble with?
• Have you included all the necessary steps or do you need to revise your actions?
• Is there anything you can do to improve the execution of your plan?

Congratulations to all students on the manner in which they have worked throughout the term. Students have demonstrated a remarkable commitment to their studies, a willingness to learn and a determination to succeed. It has been wonderful to witness so many students who have experienced growth in learning throughout the term. I am confident that the setting of both learning and wellbeing goals is having a positive impact on the development of our students.

Thank you to staff members who have worked tirelessly throughout Term 1 in delivering quality learning experiences and providing effective feedback to support the growth in each of our students. As included in our Learning and Wellbeing Framework, as members of a Catholic School in the Edmund Rice tradition and in the spirit of Jesus as a liberating education, our staff respect the dignity of each young person entrusted in our care and commit ourselves to knowing their story as a person and learner.

In addition, thank you to all parents/carers for your work in partnering the College in developing the growth of your son(s). I wish all families a happy and Holy Easter and a relaxing break.

Improving Handwriting

Teachers will be participating in professional learning at the commencement of next term targeting Writing Across the Curriculum. This is a continuation of the professional learning delivered last year. Staff will be designing a series of learning experiences targeting improvement in writing across all subject areas.

The steps below can support your son to improve his handwriting technique:

• Find The Best Pen For You: Experiment with different pens to see which is the easiest to write with and which one gives you the neatest handwriting.
• Good Grip: Hold the pen/pencil gently and do not grip too tightly or push too hard on the paper.
• Use Arm Muscles: Always write with your forearm and shoulder NOT with your fingers or wrist.
• Posture: Ensure you practise your handwriting skills at a desk or table. Sit up straight using a good chair.
• Copy Style: Look for an example of a handwriting style that you like and can use to copy from. Keep this in front of you at all times to inspire you towards improving your style.
• Test Sentence: Choose a test sentence for yourself and write it at the top of your first practice page. Each week write this sentence at the top of a new page to check for improvement in your writing.
• Special Sentence: Frequently practise writing the sentence ‘the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’ in small and capital letters. This sentence contains all the letters in the alphabet and gives you good overall practice of each letter.
• Write Slowly To Start: Write slowly when practicing until you are happy with the quality of your handwriting. Then increase the speed.
• Look For Opportunities To Write: Try and handwrite whenever possible.

Once your handwriting style has improved, you can then focus on improving the speed of your handwriting. Every day, practise writing at speed. Choose a particular passage and write it out neatly. Time yourself. The next day write it out neatly again but try and speed up a bit and time yourself again.

You can also try writing with a pen that is weighted on the end to build up the muscles in your hand used for writing. When you get to the exams take the weight off the end and feel the benefits of a lighter pen.

Study Samurai Library

All families have access to the Study Samurai Library. The Study Samurai Library includes the Study Skills Module website which provides advice and resources on developing essential skills for academic success. To access the Study Samurai Library website, go to www.studysamurailibrary.com and login with these details:

Username: edmundrice
Password: 13achieve

With students having completed Assessment Tasks, the Study Skills: After tests and Exams module will provide some excellent strategies to support your son in learning from the assessment experiences. Click here to access the resources.

Dr Sozio
Director of Learning & Teaching