Congratulations to our Year 7 to 10 students who have completed their Semester 1 assessments. As students receive feedback from their teachers, this presents an excellent learning opportunity. When your sons bring their exam papers home, ask them the following reflective questions:

• What sections did you perform well in?
• What sections do you need to improve in and why?
• Are there particular types of questions (e.g. multiple choice) that you found difficult?
• Are there sections of the course that you need to review?
• What worked well in your preparation for this subject?
• Was the way you studied effective?
• What changes would you make in your preparation for the next assessment task?

It is also an opportune time for students to review their Semester 1 goals. At the beginning of next term, students will be setting their Semester 2 goals. Following is a list of habits of effective students. This list may support students develop strategies they will implement to support them in achieving their academic goals.

1. MAKE THE MOST OF CLASS TIME: To make the most of class time students need to stay on task and be as involved as much as they can during the lesson.
2. ASK QUESTIONS OFTEN: Students who are effective will ask questions when they don’t understand something.
3. COMPLETE ALL HOMEWORK: Teachers set the homework for a reason. It is all part of building student learning in the subject.
4. DO INDEPENDENT LEARNING: Students who do well academically do more than just the set homework. They learn as they go. This means the nights they don’t have much homework they step up and take responsibility for their learning and ask themselves ‘what else could I be doing to help me understand and learn my subjects?’.
5. ARE FOCUSED WHEN WORKING: Students who are effective usually work in blocks of time at home, anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, but in that time they focus on the task at hand. They remove all distractions and commit that when they are working on schoolwork, they are just working on schoolwork.
6. WORK SMART FOR ASSESSMENTS: Effective students ensure they understand the requirements and the marking criteria of an assessment. They work to the guidelines of the assessment and approach the task systematically, making a plan and setting targets for when they want to complete each step.
7. NEVER CONFUSE ‘READING’ WITH ‘STUDYING’: Effective learners know that just reading notes over and over is not an effective way to learn. Instead, they read a section then test themselves on it, seeing what they can say out loud or write down. They also do lots of revision questions or past exam papers so they can practise the skills of the subject and identify areas of weakness.

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

Take time as a family on the Study Skills: After Tests and Exams module. Click here to access the resources.

As we head towards the end of term, I want to acknowledge the outstanding work of our students. Their dedication, hard work and commitment to their studies have been truly remarkable – both curricular and extra-curricular. Their achievements are a testament to their perseverance and determination. I would also like to thank the work of our parent/carer community. The College looks forward to continue working in partnership with our parents/carers to ensure the possible outcomes for their sons, our students.

Dr Gerry Sozio
Director of Learning & Teaching