Term 3 is drawing to a close after a busy term of co-curricular activities and school events. Here are some of the key information for the end of Term 3 and start of Term 4:

The Term 3 assessment window closed on Friday 6 September (Week 8) with the Term 4 assessment window beginning on Monday 19 September (Week 9). The Term 3 reports have now been written and will be proof-read this week before the final printing can occur. Students will be given their report on the last day of term when the day formally ends at 2:15pm. Reports will also be uploaded to Daymap electronically. If a student is absent from the last day of term, the reports can be collected in the school holidays from the front office.

The course counselling process for 2023 has now concluded with the subject selections for students being entered into our timetable system. The timetable is currently under construction and will be finalised midway through Term 4. Students will be able to access their timetable for next year via Daymap towards the end of Term 4. If students have not made their subject selections yet, they are encouraged to contact their year level manager so that they don’t miss out on any subjects. Students will have the opportunity to make subject changes at the end of Term 4 so that there are minimal changes at the beginning of next year. The 2023 Course Handbook and subject videos are still available of the school website for students and families to access.

The Term 3 Student Free Day which was on Friday 2 September (Week 6) was an opportunity for staff to begin the development of our new ‘Frog’ system, which is our new Learner Management System for the start of next year. The Department for Education are currently developing a new Education Management System (EMS), which enables all systems within the school and across schools to compute with each other. Frog is a part of the EMS and will replace Daymap from the beginning of 2023. Staff are currently being trained by a Frog expert to make sure all curriculum documentation is developed and ready to support a seamless transition from Daymap to Frog. Students will be trained at the beginning of next year throughout Week 1, Term 1 to ensure each student knows how to access the curriculum, the unit overviews and know how to submit their work and communicate with their teachers. Parents/Caregivers will also have access to all relevant information about their child and will be able to access training throughout Term 1.

The Year 12 Graduation Ceremony is scheduled for Thursday 24 November at the Adelaide Town Hall. This is a significant school event where we celebrate the success of our graduating Year 12 students. There will be several special guests invited to the evening to present the awards and the Music Ensembles will perform five pieces throughout the night. For the first time in the school’s history, there will be a Middle Years Graduation Ceremony to celebrate our Year 9 students graduating into the Senior Years. The Middle Years Graduation Ceremony will be held on Thursday 8 December at the Woodville Town Hall.  

It has now been over 18 months since our combined 2020 Council of International Schools (CIS) reaccreditation and External School Review (ESR). We have made substantial progress towards our CIS Recommendations and ESR Directives, which is being documented term by term to ensure we have evidence of our progress for our next review. Notable improvements across the school include:

  • differentiation professional learning for all teachers, including the development of a ‘Differentiation Model’ to support staff to differentiate their teaching and learning; to support and stretch student learning
  • an intercultural understanding student free day in Term 2 last year, focused on the beliefs and values of students and staff and how we can be culturally and religiously inclusive in our school community. This informed our school Braiding Project in 2021 and will help shape the focus for this year. This work will be continued with our partnership with UniSA with a focus on Culturally Responsive Schooling that we run from 2022-2024
  • a review of our assessment and reporting processes, including a consistent approach to task design to ensure all students have the opportunity to achieve at the highest level. The Assessment Committee and Reporting Committee have led a lot of this work over the last two years and will begin shaping a ‘continuous reporting model’ for the start of 2023. These committees are comprised of students, teachers and SSO’s. The recommendations will also be shared with the Governing Council in preparation for 2023
  • the consistent implementation of the Site Improvement Plan challenges of practice by scaffolding all line managers to develop the strategies required to effectively lead systems that build teachers’ capacity to improve practice. This improvement has been led by Brett Hains with support from Principal’s Advisor Daniel Balacco from the Inner West Partnership.

For more curriculum matters, please contact me via email luke.smith563@schools.sa.edu.au