A New Era for Year 12

Today we saw the last formal day of education for the Senior students of 2020 at OLSCC.  While they still have many opportunities for learning around the exams for the next 3 weeks, their regular timetable has now concluded and they will start Monday with an English exam! This is a whole new way for our Seniors moving forward, and we are delighted with the positive mindset that our 2020 Seniors have adopted this period.  I look forward to seeing their success in the External Assessment period over the coming few weeks, and then coming together and celebrating their graduation in Week 7. All the best Year 12’s!

Visible Learning Open Day

On Wednesday we were fortunate to have 15 visitors from other catholic schools, as well as TCS staff, visit to gain insight into the Visible Learning Journey at OLSCC.  We shared the highlights, the challenges and our future trajectory in Visible Learning, as well as some considerable reflecting on the journey the College has undertaken in the last 3 years.  Our teachers were a shining example, as always, of what can be done when a faculty of teachers work together.  The evidence of visible learning high impact strategies were in every lesson by every teacher.  Most importantly, it’s the consistency of these strategies across classes, year levels, subjects and sectors that makes the learning visible to students.  This is where the magic happens in Visible Learning – its not about teachers teaching in the way most comfortable for them, its about teaching in ways that make the learning most visible, achievable and transparent as possible for the students. Thank you to all of staff who have jumped on the journey in faith and knowledge of visible learning over the past few years, and for many years to come.  The change over 3 years has been exemplary!

Digital Enhancement of the Curriculum

In 2021 we will be progressing our digital enhancement of the curriculum by moving to dedicated classroom laptops for students in Years 5 & 6,  along with charging stations in each classroom. We will also be updating and changing the structure of laptops trolleys for Years P-4 to make them more reliable, higher specification, and more readily available than they have been in the past.  In addition, we are investing in AB tutor which allows better monitoring of student devices at the College, though again must reinforce to parents that the laptop capabilities in your home are entirely up to the controls you have in place over your network.  If you are unsure of what these are, then it is likely that your child can access the majority of content on the internet.

Our work with STEMPunks and the Digital Technologies curriculum has enabled a wider perspective of how to use technology in the classroom, and the position of Middle Leader Digital Pedagogy will be an even greater asset in this element of the College. It is important to note that students in Years 5 and 6 will incur a $25 per term technology levy from the start of the 2021 school year, in exchange for a very high spec student specific laptop for their use at the College. 

Events Update

Peter Cuskelly

Principal