Middle Years Matters
ICAS Competitions
This year, the College would like to offer our students an opportunity to participate in a range of International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) competitions. ICAS is an independent, skills-based assessment program which recognises and rewards student achievement. It is unique, being the most comprehensive generally available suite of academic assessments for primary and secondary school students. These competitions provide a wonderful opportunity for students to test themselves on a national scale.
Participation in one or more of the completions is optional. Families can even choose which competitions they would like to register their child in. The competition dates vary, however, all will be completed in the month of August. Below is a guide as to date ranges for each test, along with pricing information.
Registrations
To register your (or your child’s) interest, please use the link below. If you have multiple children at the College, you will need to submit one form per child. School registration closes on Monday 19 June.
For more information regarding the ICAS competitions, please visit the website (https://www.icasassessments.com) or contact the College on 4672 4111.
Leadership Passport – Update
This term we saw our first student graduate from Level 1 of the Leadership Passport and begin her journey in Level 2.
Well done, Kaity Harms. You may recall Kaity organising a series of netball games at lunch times for students as part of a mental health awareness focus – the post below was uploaded towards the end of May.
Kaity may be the first student moving onto the next level, but I am pleased to report that she has some Middle Years students closely behind her and they are expected to graduate from Level 1 shortly.
In other good news, we now have 71 students from Year 3 through to Year 9 who have volunteered to begin their leadership development journey. Well done to those students!
The Leadership Passport is a voluntary process that aims to develop a series of specific skills commonly called upon for student leaders. For example, showing initiative, public speaking, and commitment to the College are just three areas that the passport model works on. We know that being a good leader takes time, effort, and lots of practice.
For students who have commenced Level 1, they will need to complete the following tasks:
|
Above and Beyond Tasks |
x 2 |
|
Public Speaking |
x 1 |
|
Commitment to College events |
Yes |
For each task, students will be evaluated so that they can target specific growth areas for their next task. Below is an example of an evaluation sheet for an Above and Beyond task.
If your child would like to have a chat about the Leadership Passports, please encourage them to touch base with me.
Responsible Use of ICT – A Reminder
Cybersafety is an important issue for all students. By the time students reach Middle and Senior years, most will already be regular and active users of digital technologies. Unfortunately, this also includes social media. There are many benefits to social media, especially around connectedness, however, we get reminded time and time again that our young people are not cognitively or emotionally intelligent enough to deal with the pressures of an online life and the negativity that lurks online. Many adults struggle in this space, so we cannot expect that our young people have well refined coping skills as if somehow by magic. It is important that students remain safe whilst navigating in the digital space. As they say, prevention is better than cure.
Below are some reminders of the Responsible Use of ICT agreement that student sand families sign prior to commencing in the one-to-one laptop program at the College. This is not just a list of random ‘do-nots’. The intent of this document is to outline the expectations of students using College owned devices, but also to help create safe online habits that students can take forth with them long after they leave the College. Please talk to your child about the table below, after all, it is what families and students have agreed to. It can also be found in full in the student diary form page 31 to 33.
Mr Craig Cullen
Assistant Principal – Middle Years