It is that wonderful part of the term when after settling into classes, most students will be undergoing or preparing for their first assessment tasks in many of their subjects.
- What strategies have they been using to revise their notes, connect the various themes, memorise their quotes or formulas and prepare themselves to perform at their best?
- Have they been spending time at home in well organised and quiet spaces working hard?
- Have they reached out to their teacher for clarification on something they have been confused about in their personal study?
- Have they utilised the maths tutoring available in J block on Tuesdays – Thursdays or visited the Study Centre one afternoon to get some help from some of our graduates who is a subject expert?
- What measures have you put in place to assist your child – perhaps ensuring a younger sibling is active in another part of the house or are you minding your child’s phone so it won’t distract them?
- Have you designated a few weeks each term where the Playstation or Xbox is placed in a cupboard?
- Do you test them on the facts they have to memorise?
I hear so many stories of supportive families from students I mentor or teach and it is wonderful for the staff team to know that so many families understand that the work outside of school hours is vitally important for the consolidation and conversion of school time learning into a deep understanding. Most Year 11 or 12 students around the state would be spending at least a couple of hours each night on their studies.
I was pleased to read of Mrs Easton’s encouragement around the perils of social media and I likewise would like to encourage families to have safeguards in place such as the charging of phones in a family space, restrictions on Wi-Fi after certain hours of each day and having trusted family members in all of the online groups your children are involved in. We use a cool auntie and some older cousins, and I am confident you will have similar measures in place. In the Senior School years, whilst we have guidelines in place and staff members who are vigilant, it is often the levels of personal responsibility a teenager has that will define their behaviours in regards to their phone use in more public settings. We will continue to partner with you in the education of your child on the responsible use of their smart phones through our wellbeing programs, special guest speakers and also through our regular use of police liaison officers to discuss the legalities in the space with each year group. It is certainly an area that we will continue to be looking at in regards to best practice. At present we are considering exactly when we will require students to place their phones in their pouches, as we are finding quite a few students are active on their phones prior to the school day beginning. I spend a lot of time each afternoon with students as we wait for the public buses to arrive and those down time discussions between students as they wait for their buses seems to have been replaced by entertainment-based phone use. Maybe further consideration should be given here also….
Happy studying to all students this weekend and in the recovery from the tug of war and many kilometres run at the Cross Country carnival!