Newman News Term 2 Week 4: From the Vice Principal

Andrew Oreb on 19/05/2023

Our Marist characteristics of Presence and Family Spirt connect directly to the Gospel this weekend, where Jesus prayed to his Father asking for his followers to remain connected and united in his absence. When we have a connection with someone, we typically make time to listen to and be with him or her; we think about one another and are driven to help during difficult situations. Connected people have a joint desire to want the best for the other person. They experience love for the other, to the extent that the person loves themselves. Jesus’s great hope for his disciples was that they would be united and experience the joy of each other’s presence, just like Jesus experienced the Father’s presence. In any community, no one is really separate. Each person impacts others through actions, words, and attitudes. We are blessed to have a vibrant and welcoming community here at Newman, for this Marist foundation built on Family Spirit, and Presence are necessary ingredients for learning and growth.

Newman Parents Forum

Our next Neman Parent Forum is on Monday 22 May at 6.00pm in the St John Henry Newman Learning Hub. It will be a great opportunity to meet the new Principal, Mr Andrew Watson, speak with Executive members and collaborate with other parents. Agenda items and a link to join online can be found in the Principal’s section of the newsletter. We encourage as many parents as possible to attend and look forward to seeing you there.

Zero to Hero Parent Information Series – Wed 7 June, 6.30pm Marist Auditorium

Zero to Hero and Newman College are proud to present a seminar not to be missed. This information session is designed for all parents of children in both Primary or Secondary, and we strongly encourage parents to attend. A leading panel of experts in youth mental health and behavioural/emotional coaching will provide you with information and tools to help your child navigate adolescence. This is a ticketed event – click HERE to purchase.

Uniform Review and Alignment Committee

Thank you to those parents and staff who have submitted their expression of interest to join this committee. We will contact individuals in the coming week with more details.

Examinations

Examinations begin next week, starting with Year 12 and then Year 11 the following week. Communications have been sent home via email from the Leaders of Wellbeing.   

Year 12 examinations commence in Week 5 – Monday 22 May (Timetable)

Year 11 examinations commence in week 6 – Monday 29 May (Timetable)

Examination Rules  

Study Techniques

For students to be best prepared for their exams, it is a timely reminder they are utilising the best study techniques and routines.  Regular reviewing and revising are extremely important parts of the process of knowledge consolidation. See the below post from Edutopia for study tips. 

Questions students should consider: 

Have you got a study routine in place that includes breaks and down time?

Have you asked someone to keep you accountable to your study routine?

Are you studying effectively?

Is your learning space conducive to study?

What does the research say about studying? Read the below excerpt from the article written in Edutopia ‘5 Research-Backed Studying Techniques’

FIVE HIGH-INTENSITY STUDY HABITS

Researchers have found that the following techniques increase sustainable learning and retention when incorporated into students’ daily study habits. These techniques are difficult and require effort, and they slow down learning. Initially, the learning gains seem to be smaller than with some ineffective practices. However, these techniques lead to long-term mastery. 

The book Make It Stick identifies several research-proven studying techniques. 

Pre-test: When students practice answering questions, even incorrectly, before learning the content, their future learning is enhanced. Research has shown that pre-testing improves post-test results more than spending the same amount of time studying.

Spaced practice: Spacing out study sessions—focusing on a topic for a short period on different days—has been shown to improve retention and recall more than massed practice. The book How We Learn explains that spaced practice can feel difficult due to an initial forgetting of knowledge—reacquiring that knowledge takes effort.

Creating flashcards that can be used for spaced practice and self-quizzing is effective. Students should create different piles when reviewing the flash cards. The cards they’re able to answer immediately should be placed in a pile to review three days later; those answered with some difficulty should be reviewed two days later; and those that they answered incorrectly should be reviewed the next day.

Self-quizzing: Testing has a negative connotation in this era of standardized testing, but it is a form of active retrieval practice. Encourage students to make test questions for themselves as they learn a new concept, thinking about the types of questions you might ask on a quiz or test. They should incorporate these quizzes into their study sessions, answering every question, even those they believe they know well.

Interleaving practice: Students may rely on blocked practice, studying a set of problems—such as multiplication problems—as a group until they feel mastery. A more effective method of studying is to work on a set of problems that are related but not all of the same kind—for example, a set of math word problems that call for addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. The consecutive problems cannot be solved with the same strategy. This is more effective than doing one multiplication problem after another.

Paraphrasing and reflecting: Many of us have read a few paragraphs in a textbook only to realize that we didn’t retain a single concept or key point presented in those paragraphs. To show your students how to combat this, have them utilize intentional learning strategies. These include relating what is being learned to prior knowledge, thinking about how they would explain the content to a 5-year-old, and reflecting on and asking questions about the content.

The Importance of Student Attendance

We would like to share some information regarding student attendance with our community. Schools are required to monitor attendance and intervene to support improved attendance for students at educational risk. Likewise, all parents are required to make their best efforts to ensure their children attend school. We ask all families to read the below document to understand how the College records attendance on a daily basis.