The end of the year is fast approaching with Term 4 being the shortest term, but as always, Term 4 is very busy. The Year 12 Graduation Ceremony will take place on Friday 24 November at the Adelaide Town Hall where we will celebrate the class of 2023 as well as acknowledge individual achievements through our Service, Leadership and Academic Awards. All Year 11 students will finish at the end of Week 6. Year 10 students finish at the end of Week 7. All other year levels finish school on Friday 15 December (Week 9).
Term 4 snapshots were completed last week and will be available at the end of this week (Week 3). Students, families and staff will be able to access the snapshot reports via Frog. The list of the Homework Centres and their opening times is below. I encourage all students to access the homework centres so they can receive additional support from teachers, SSO’s and tutors:
| Location | Information |
| Learning Hub | Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 3:15pm to 4:30pm for all students. The Hub will be open on Friday for Week 8 only from 3:15pm to 4:30pm |
| Lower Penny | Every recess and lunch time with a learning area leader rostered on to support |
| Irabinna Centre | Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 3:15pm to 4:15pm for ATSI students |
The 2023 Course Counselling Process is now complete, and the new timetable is in development for 2024. This week we will begin looking at our staffing to see if we need to employ additional teachers due to the subjects our students have selected. Once the timetable is ready and our staffing is confirmed, students will be able to access their 2024 Semester 1 timetable via email. This will occur towards the end of this term. An email will be sent to families once the timetables are ready.
This year we have continued our whole school curriculum review following the release of the Version 9 Australian Curriculum. Learning Area teams have met once a term to review their current curriculum, update their curriculum mapping, improve their task design and moderate samples of student work. This is improving curriculum coherence and continually improving the tasks that students complete to show what they know, understand and do. In 2024, the Chief Executive of the Department would like all public schools to begin implementing a South Australian version of the Australian Curriculum. Due to this commitment, we will continue to support curriculum review days throughout 2024 to ensure students are receiving their curriculum entitlement with the new curriculum.
The Assessment Committee and the Reporting Committee will continue to meet this term as they review, improve, and innovate the way in which we assess and report across the school. By the end of the year, the Assessment Committee will release guidelines for the effective us of Artificial Intelligence for assessment. The committee will also review the task template that was developed last year, review a continuous assessment trial that has been trialled throughout Term 3 and finally update the Assessment & Reporting Policy. The Reporting Committee will release a timeline for the new continuous reporting model for 2024 onwards, review the Parent/Student/Teacher Conference Day that was held in Term 3 and develop the new end of term report template for the whole school. These committees are making significant change and improvement across the school so I would like to acknowledge the students, staff and parents who are on each committee.
The end of Term 4 looks different this year for the Year 7, 8 and 9 students. Previously, the Term 4 assessment window closed at the end of Week 7, with Week 8 and 9 focused on activities for the students. This year, we have pushed the assessment window back one week, to the end of Week 8 to allow more time for students to complete their Term 4 learning. This means the Term 4 assessment window will close on Friday 8 December (Week 8). Week 9 will look very different for each year level. The Year 7 students will have their end of year camp as well as other activities. Year 8 students will engage in the Global Challenges and the Year 9 cohort will have a Career Impact Week, in preparation for their Senior Years.
There are lots of other exciting events, performances and activities left to look forward to this term including:
- The Student v Staff Soccer and Basketball competition (Week 3, 4)
- HPE Week (Week 5)
- Spirit Week (Week 5)
- The launch of the new House System trial from Week 5
- Year 7-10 Swimming Carnival (Week 6)
- Year 12 Orientation for 2024 (Week 6)
- Year 12 Graduation Ceremony (Week 6)
- Opening of the New Buildings (Week 9)
If you have any questions about the report and would like to speak with me about any else, please send me an email: luke.smith563@schools.sa.edu.au
Luke Smith
Deputy Principal
Term 4, 2023
