Educating Today, Shaping Tomorrow

Over the course of Term 3, there are a number of key events and processes which I draw to your attention:

Subject Selection

The subject selection process is moving along smoothly and the Senior Pathways Information Evening was an exciting and informative event. Thank you to parents, carers, students and staff for their part in the subject selection process. It is complex process and while every effort is made to ensure that girls’ preferences are met, this cannot be guaranteed. Planning of classes and subject allocations will be taking place over coming months and students will have subjects confirmed in due course.

The College offers support for students to assist them in the decision-making process. Opportunities for discussions with key staff members and subject teachers are readily available for students. The starting point for our students is to encourage them to focus on their passions, strengths and interests and use these as the basis for her decision-making.

In thinking about future careers and the world of work, the following extract from a recent report by Deloitte Australia (The path to prosperity: Why the future of work is human) provides an interesting view of the employment landscape into the future:

What does this mean for the actual work that Australians will be doing? By 2030, one quarter of Australia’s workforce will be professionals, driven by a continued shift towards non-routine, cognitive-based jobs. Most of these will be in business, health, education or engineering. This is a much larger share than any other major occupation group, and is larger than the combined shares of labourers, sales workers and machinery operators and drivers. Both within and outside the professional cohort, people who spend a large part of their role interacting with others will dominate the employment landscape. It is expected that by 2030, there will be more than 400,000 people employed in each of the following occupations: teaching, midwifery and nursing, personal care, administration and sales.

Australia’s affluence will also drive a massive (46 percent) increase in sports and fitness workers by 2030. A continued shift from hands to heads will put contract, program and project administrators in the top five fastest growing occupations along with leadership roles (CEOs and general managers), information and organisation professionals and health and welfare support workers. As the landscape of the work we do continues to evolve, leading firms will use technology to drive efficiency by reducing the time required for routine work. By providing the right training and opportunities, workers may be able to transition from roles that are susceptible to automation, into growing roles that are complemented by technology.

NAPLAN Reports

In mid-August, the VCAA will deliver hard copies of Years 7 and 9 NAPLAN reports to the College; these will be mailed to parents and carers in this week.

VCE Units 3/4

August continues to be a busy month for the Year 12 students and it is encouraging to see the level of support that the students are showing each other. For some of our students, the last two weeks have included a period of time where they sat multiple SACs in a space of a few days. Throughout this period, students have remained positive. The following arrangements have been made to support students enrolled in Units 3/4:

VCE Units 3/4 Trial Examinations

Year 12 students are fast approaching the end of the year. To assist our students achieving their potential, trial VCE Examinations are being held during the Term 3 break. All Year 12 students and Year 11 students studying a Unit 3/4 subject are expected to attend for their subject examinations.

Trial examinations give students the best opportunity to succeed in their final examinations at the end of the year. These examinations are compulsory and will be an opportunity to give students vital feedback on areas of strength and areas requiring improvement.

The supervisors are external supervisors employed by the College, and they will be the same supervisors you will have at the end of the year. These examinations will mirror the end of year VCAA examinations and, as such, students must adhere to all examinations rules and regulations.

The Trial Exam period is Wednesday, 25 September – Thursday 3 October.

Students need to arrive 30 minutes prior to the commencement of each examination. All trial examinations will be held in the Mary MacKillop Centre. The timetable will be distributed in the next few weeks.

Units 3/4 Connect Education Workshops

In partnership with Connect Education, the College will provide 3 hour Connect Education Workshops in Week 1 of Term 4. Students enrolled in Units 3/4 will participate in the workshops. Connect Education will provide revision and exam focus lectures for our students that are subject specific and provide resources to support our students. These will run during normal school hours so students are expected to attend. The timetable will be distributed by the end of the term.

St Ignatius Awards

At the beginning of Term 3, it was wonderful to celebrate the learning success of students in Semester 1. Congratulations to all students who received the St Ignatius Award in recognition of academic excellence.

Joanna De Bono, Deputy Principal - Learning and Staff

Pathways news

VTAC Webinar

Next Wednesday 14 August from 7pm-8pm, VTAC will run a free community webinar hosted by the CEAV. This webinar will cover the complete VTAC application process, including using CourseSearch, the preference system, SEAS, scholarships, and the ATAR and scaling.

Students and parents can register via EventBrite (Links to an external site.), and the link to join the webinar will be sent out 24 hours prior to the webinar.

Participants will be able to ask questions throughout the webinar.

VTAC Applications Open for Year 12 Students

All Year 12 students are able to begin their VTAC application for studies in 2020. All students have been enrolled in a comprehensive VTAC Canvas Course to help them navigate this process. Several information sessions have been held throughout the year and Mr McMillan is running VTAC Help Desk almost every day until October.
Parents and guardians of Year 12 students also have access to this Canvas course - please log into your account to access.
For more information about VTAC, please visit - www.vtac.edu.au