Dean of Studies | Mr Mason Hellyer
At Tuesday’s College Assembly, we celebrated the Swimming team and wished them well for the GPS Championships at Chandler on Friday night. I used the swim team to highlight the following concept to students:
Success = consistent effort x time
The swimmers do not expect to turn up on Friday night, having done little to no preparation and expect to swim a personal best. They have been training consistently for months, working closely with their coaches, and have maintained focus and motivation. For our swimmers, because they are prepared, they can be confident that they will be able to produce their best performance at the championships.
Our Year 12 students are similarly placed. On Wednesday, they started their first exam block, with a number of Internal Assessment 1 (IA1) and diagnostic exams taking place over six days. This exam block examines work completed from Term 4 Year 11 up to this point. Our Senior students have also been preparing consistently for months and have been working closely with their teachers and are focused on the task ahead. They can be confident that they will be able to produce their best for each exam.
Academic Success = consistent effort x time
For our Years 5-11 students, there is still time for exam preparation. However, while exams are on the horizon, there are assignments due over the next two weeks. There must be a focus on both assignment completion and exam preparation. The best place to start exam preparation is via the checklist booklet to keep track of the consistent effort in the lead up to exams.
During this period of the term when assignments are submitted, it is timely to highlight the College processes for assignment submission and requests for assignment submissions. These processes can be found in the Student Diary (p129 for Years 5-9 and p131 for Years 10-12). The 10-12 policy can also be found on Parent Lounge.
Additionally, extensions for assignments can only be granted by the Dean of Studies, Head of Faculty or Subject Coordinator. If you have a concern regarding adherence to an assignment due date, please be in contact with your teacher initially. However, permission for an extension will need to be sought from a Subject Coordinator.
All the best for the week ahead.