Newsletter

In the past fortnight, Senior Years students in Year 11 and 12 will have made it over the first academic hurdles in their various subjects for the year, having completed their initial summative assessments. These tasks are a reflection of learning and consolidation across the first term and are an important milestone. Another key checkpoint has been the Student Learning Conferences held on Wednesday 19 March. When combined together, student performance on summative tasks alongside guidance from teacher feedback, is an opportune time for students to reflect on the follow learning-centred questions:

• What’s going well so far in their learning?
• What is supporting their learning?
• What barriers to learning might need attention?
• What supports and resources do students have to overcome these challenges?

Having met with several Year 12 students in one-to-one meetings, a number of key themes have emerged from these conversations. Firstly, the strong relationships that students have with their teachers and the feeling of support that they have from these learning-centred relationships. Secondly, the need to refine and adjust time management both in preparation for summative assessment and managing timed conditions (an ongoing focus for the year for many students). Additionally, students recognised the importance of carving out time in their busy schedules to focus on pure consolidation tasks, namely practice examination questions – distinctly separate from comprehension preparation questions and pre-learning tasks.

Finally, many students spoke to value and need to engage in some forward planning and goal setting for possible future courses in university, TAFE or other tertiary providers for 2027. Echoing the themes from past student conversations at the Year 12 Retreat, students saw the value in establishing some loose goals in March as a key support for learning – a focus and something to aim for.

There have also been some notable individual student success stories in the past month at the College in a range of areas, including fine arts, dance and on the lacrosse field.

In the area of fine arts, Year 12 Art Making and Exhibiting student Rachel Kau was recently recognised for her artistic talent and her artwork Metamorphosis, winning the Highly Commended Executive Director’s Jubilee Year Award for artistic Excellence at the Catholic Education Week Creative Arts Exhibition. Ms Cunnington writes:

[Rachel] has been recognised in this year’s Catholic Education Week Creative Arts Exhibition. Her delicate coloured ink drawing was officially acknowledged by the Melbourne Archdiocese at an awards presentation on Sunday, March 23. Rachel (Year 11, 2024) was honoured with the Highly Commended Executive Director’s Jubilee Year Award for Excellence. Her achievement reflects her exceptional talent, dedication, and passion for the visual arts, and we congratulate her on this well-deserved recognition.

This is a fantastic result that we celebrate with Rachel and congratulate her achievement and recognition with this prestigious award. Reflecting on her achievement, Rachel writes:

I am very honoured to share my little success in this year’s Catholic Education Week Creative Arts Exhibition with my ink painting "Metamorphosis". Being awarded the Highly Commended Executive Director’s Jubilee Year Award for Excellence, I want to take this opportunity to thank all teachers and friends who have empowered me at school, creating this warm community for artists to explore their own way of artmaking. Especially our school’s art teachers, they have worked to organise [opportunities] for students to shine with their artworks through holding art exhibitions in the college and entering various art competitions. The continuous support I’ve received from all my teachers and friends has been a huge assistance in helping me achieve where I am now.

In the area of dance and performance, Year 12 student Isabella Macri-Mihai, competed in the Australia Dance Sports National Championship 16-21 year old division. A skilled dancer, Isabella completed in ballroom and Latin dance categories, placing third in Australia – this is an amazing achievement worth celebrating with Isabella. Reflecting on the competition, Isabella writes:

In December 2024, I competed in the Dance Sports Australian Championships where I competed nationally against the rest of Australia in ballroom and Latin dancing. Corey, my dance partner, and I [competed] against fifty other [dance partnerships]. We placed third out of these fifty pairs [which] essentially means we [placed] third in the country and earned the title of 'Third in Australia' for our category which is the age of 16 -21. Corey and I were training all of last year, and now our new goal is to try and win the next Australians at the end of this year.

Similarly, Year 12 student Rowena Duane represented Queensland in the Australian Box Lacrosse State Championships held in Melbourne in February.