Years 7, 8 and 9 Program Leader | Mr Damien Coman

I hope the boys have a well deserved holiday.

Students will be completing their exams by the time this article goes online. Many boys have shared their thoughts on where they are currently at with their preparation for assignments and exams. Year 7 students have had a larger number of assignments and a smaller number of exams. This can be challenging as the work comes home rather than the exam being completed in one time slot at school. The fact that many boys have not had homework or assignments mean that it can be a massive shift quite suddenly. The Heads of Faculty, Program Leaders and Dean of Studies work together very closely and regularly monitor this. The shifting of the new senior school system (where information is being shared one stage at a time) will also have some implications down throughout the year levels for how to best prepare our students. This is looking like there may be some less numbers of assessment pieces in some subjects and public exams in some others. This may prove to be a very good change for our students.

On the other hand, Year 8s had their assignments completed in good time but have a large number of exams, so this final week has been a very big one for them. Regardless, it always comes down to two main points.

1. Preparation, revising consistently throughout the term.

2. Planning ahead, that is, using time in class very effectively for assignments and working on them as soon as they are distributed.

The Term 3 Formation Programs are finalised. Whilst we always have a solid core of studies topics such as memory, planning a weekly routine, planning the term’s assessment, Terrace strategies to revising effectively, we have also reviewed the pastoral topics. This is very valuable time once per week where we can equip Terrace students with practical examples, advice and information about how to navigate the difficult teenage years. Some of these areas across Years7-9 for Term 3 include:

Year 7 | Self-esteem, growth mindsets/positive thinking, concentration, organisation.

Year 8 | Working together/teamwork, making a difference (Orange Sky case study), screen time and issues with too much of this.

Year 9 | Sleep/an area with much more information relating to students and their performance at school, seven habits of effective teenagers, leadership.

I hope the boys have a well deserved holiday, reflect on results, listen to the feedback that is provided, plan their term well and then have another go at Term 3, giving their very best efforts.