3 Mar 2020

Upcoming School Matters – Year 12 Students

Dear Y12 Parents and Students,

I hope that this email finds you well under the current circumstances. I would like to thank all Y12 students for the resilience, optimism and engagement with their learning this term.

I wanted to take this opportunity to address some upcoming school matters that directly involve our Y12 students.

Higher Education Support

I would like to thank Mr Stott and his team for working on reorganizing the Y12 Higher Education meetings, and Higher Education evening. The one to one HE meetings are currently being scheduled to take place over google hangouts/meet, and the evening has been rescheduled to Tuesday, 21 April. I know the importance of one to one meetings with our Higher Education team, and being able to move forward with these online meetings is great news. Please ask your son/daughter to arrange a meeting with the relevant HE Counsellor if they haven’t already done so.

Year 12 Examinations

Y12 examinations will go ahead as scheduled, beginning Monday 25 May and finishing for most students on Friday 29 May. Visual Art students will be examined on Monday 1 June.

Predicted Grades

I realise that Y12 students will be thinking about their academic performance in relation to higher education applications. Part of the application process is the Predicted Grade (PG) that is used to indicate how a student might perform overall in each subject area. This grade is a combination of scores achieved in a variety of assessments leading up to and including the Y12 examinations. This PG1, as we call it, is very useful when narrowing down university choices, and higher education pathways. A second grade, PG2, will be released at the end of September. Rest assured that the PG1 is not based only on the Y12 examinations. In fact, students have been completing assessments throughout Y12 in all their subjects, and are already aware of their developing abilities, and areas that they need to target for improvement.

Extended Essay

By now you will be aware that Ms Hansen and I have launched the Extended Essay with all Y12 students. Engagement in this process is high, and we are getting a lot of thoughtful, considered questions about both the content and the process of the essay. All of this is a strong indicator of the students’ commitment to their studies and the core of the diploma.

Overall, we are working together to support both the academic goals of our students, and importantly their emotional wellbeing during this challenging time. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. As a teacher of Y12 History, I am quietly optimistic about this cohort’s ability to be agile and engage in learning in a new and dynamic way. I am equally looking forward to a return to school, and seeing my students face to face again.

Best regards,

Kellie Fagan
Vice Principal