From the Dean of Teaching and Learning
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
A warm welcome to Term 3! I trust that students have enjoyed a relaxing break and are now eager to embark on an engaging Semester 2. In the first few weeks of Term 3, there will be several events that will interest both parents and students.
Year 9 Subject Information Night – Thursday 18 July
Year 10 2025 (Current Year 9 students/families)
Next Thursday night we welcome Year 9 families to the Subject Information night. Families and students have been sent further information. The Subject Handbook will be shared with families digitally on Monday as well as in hard copy on the evening.
An outline of the night is below:
- 5:30pm-5:45pm – arrival at ERPAC
- 5:45pm-6:25pm – central presentation in ERPAC
- 6:30pm-7:45pm – 4 rotations of 15mins detailing subject information.
I ask parents to be mindful that subjects should not be chosen purely based upon subject scaling. We know that a student may achieve a higher scaled score (and eventually ATAR), if they are placed in subjects that they enjoy and where a high degree of success is possible. Subject choice should be based on:
- Interest in the subject content,
- Ability to achieve success,
- University pre-requisites.
The timeline for Year 9 subject selection can be found below.
Year 9 (Year 10 2025)
Year 7 Virtual Subject Information Night – Monday 5 August
Year 7 families will also have access to the virtual subject information night on the 5 August. This presentation will outline the subject selection process and detail the Lauries philosophy around subjects in the Middle School. Please keep an eye out for the launch through your emails.
Please see below the Year 7 subject selection timeline.
Year 7 (Year 8 2025)
Academic Excellence Awards – Wednesday 24 July
We will celebrate our Academic Excellence Gold, Black and Growth awards on Wednesday 24 July, during our regular assembly time. We will also welcome families of Academic Excellence Gold award winners for the Academic afternoon tea, later that afternoon. After looking at the preliminary data, it appears that we have seen another outstanding increase in both Gold and Black award winners. We will be releasing the awardee’s next week, via noticeboards and House assemblies.
I congratulate all students who achieved these awards for their work in Semester 1 this year.
Use of AI
AI is increasingly being used globally in the workplace, through art and unfortunately in social media. As a College we are conscious of the need to stay abreast of current ways of working while still ensuring that our students learn and produce authentic work. This semester, Heads of Learning will be looking at several processes that will allow our students to learn and develop skills in this ever-changing landscape while still being able to produce their own work. This will be supported by national and international research on best practices as well as examining what other schools and universities are currently using.
Our plagiarism software ‘Turn-It-In’ now has an application that can check if it appears that a student has used AI to complete their work. If AI is detected, it will be dealt with on an individual basis. This may have serious implications for Year 11 and 12 students, as we are only able to assess the student work that is verified to be their own.
NAPLAN certificates
The College has received the 2024 NAPLAN reports for years 5, 7 and 9. These will be mailed home to families next week. Please contact the College if you have any questions or concerns regarding the reports or the progress of you son based in the information provided.
MS KIRSTEN WARDROP
Dean of Teaching and Learning (Acting)