Dean of Studies | Mrs Julie Quinn

Welcome back to Term 2 after what I hope has been a time for some relaxation and family activities.

With the Term 1 assessment and reports completed, an academic summary that tracks both individual and class results has been compiled. The follow up of the data in this academic summary will take place over the next few weeks with Parent/Teacher/Student interviews and conversations between Heads of Faculties, House Deans and students. I do encourage students to reflect on “what worked” and “what didn’t work" in Term 1. As outlined in the information emailed home with reports, bookings for the Parent/Teacher/Student interviews are to be done via the Parent Lounge. I would encourage boys to also attend these interviews as this is a time where strategies to move forward or to sustain strong outcomes can be offered by the classroom teacher.

All students have been issued with assessment calendars that outline the date of issue and due dates of assessment. This is a most important document in planning for the term ahead. Also on Moodle, there is the “checklist” which outlines all concepts, knowledge and skills required for comprehension and learning for this term. I encourage all students to have their study plan completed by the end of this week in preparation for the term ahead. 

Last evening, we had our Immersion and Senior schooling information evening for Year 10 students and families. My thanks to the Waterford staff who so generously give their time and expertise to allow such a program to run. These programs offer learning experiences beyond the classroom setting and hopefully provide our boys with life skills, opportunities for leadership and the ability to work in teams. 

At the end of Term 1 we had the privilege of hearing Cam Adair speak to us about the addiction of video gaming and technology. His presentation was well attended and indicates that this is certainly an issue that we all need to address as parents and teachers.  Cam has also presented on Ted Talks. The link is below.

Below is an extract from an article from the New York Times. It serves as a timely reminder as we commence Term 2 that whilst technology is a wonderful aid to learning, our focus is to continue to use hand written notes for our understanding and memory.

Students may object that a laptop ban prevents them from storing notes on their computers. But smartphones can snap pictures of handwritten pages and convert them to an electronic format. Even better, outside class, students can read their own handwritten notes and type them, if they like, a process that enhances learning. The best evidence available now suggests that students should avoid laptops during lectures and just pick up their pens. It’s not a leap to think that the same holds for middle and high school classrooms, as well as for workplace meetings.”

https://mobile.nytimes.com/201...
Another very interesting link on this topic is the below Ted Talk, which also looks at the amount of screen time and its effect. The link is below.
https://www.ted.com/talks/adam...