The Term 3 assessment window is now coming to a close. The final day of the Term 3 assessment period is Friday 10th September (Week 8). I encourage all students to make sure they are utilising their time and accessing support in the Study Centre to make sure their work is completed and submitted prior to this date. Last week, we posted home Snapshot Reports to families. These reports indicate if a student is at risk of not achieving a ‘C’ grade or better for the term. Students should use this information to communicate with their teachers to ensure they know what tasks need to be completed, and then access the Study Centre for additional support if required. The Study Centre includes the homework club in the Learning Hub after school on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and the STEM Learning Centre during lunch time. Senior years students can also access the Lower Penny Study Centre. Teachers are available to offer one-to-one support in all of these locations.

In line with the department’s initiative to review the Australian Curriculum by releasing the ‘Department for Education Scope & Sequence’ and ‘Units of work’, Woodville High School is continuing its own curriculum review. The curriculum has been mapped for every subject area from Year 8 to Year 10, with Year 11 and Year 12 occurring early next year. The aim is to review and improve all units of work and tasks across the school to provide consistency in how the curriculum is delivered, and to ensure the quality of the units and tasks to be engaging, accessible to students and provide opportunity to support and stretch every student to be successful. Learning Area teams are meeting for their second day this term to map, review and improve their program.

Course Counselling

Term 3 has also brought the 2021 Course Counselling process to support students with their subject selections for next year. Throughout the term, Home Group teachers have been working with their students to discuss career options and looking at the subjects on offer that fit their interests, talents and future pathway. During Week 5, the Year 10 and Year 11 cohorts met with our Course Counsellors to shape their subject selections and to check their South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) pattern to ensure the students are on track to achieve their SACE. The course counselling days were very positive and it was fantastic to see the support by families over the two days. Subject selections must be completed by Thursday 2nd September (Week 7) so that we can build the new timetable for 2022. Students will be able to access their Semester 1, 2022 timetable towards the end of Term 4.

Studiosity

Studiosity is an online learning platform, connecting students in real-time with live experts to get writing feedback and 24/7 support with subject specific questions. The school has invested in a pilot program with Studiosity for all Year 10-12 students to support them with their study. Year 12 students will be able to access Studiosity from Monday 30th August, with all Year 10 and 11 students having access from the first day of Term 4. Students will be able to submit their written work into Studiosity for feedback, which is sent back to them within 24 hours. Students can also log into their account and ask an expert how to solve a problem or answer a question specific to the subject they are learning. The Studiosity expert will provide support until the query has been resolved. Over the next 12-months, we will track the usage of the learning platform and decide if it is worth pursuing in future years to support our students with their learning.

Year 7 to High School

The school is continuing to plan for the new Year 7 cohort who will be welcomed to the school at the beginning of next year. The Year 7 transition to high school is being led by Sam Tuffnell (Yr7 to high school Assistant Principal), Alice Forster (Middle Years Assistant Principal) and Sandro Bracci (Student Services Assistant Principal). We are in regular communication with the teachers in our partnership primary schools to make sure we have everything in place to support the two cohorts of students moving across to our school. If you have any questions regarding the Year 7 or Year 8 transition or the structures and processes in place to support the students, please contact Alice or Sam.

School Closure Days

A reminder the school will be closed for students on Friday 3rd September (Week 7) for staff training and on Monday 6th September (Week 8) for the planned school closure for the Adelaide Show. Students and staff will return to school on Tuesday 7th September (Week 8). On this day, the timetable will be changed to run Monday’s lessons on the Tuesday. This is due to the large number of Monday’s we have missed throughout the year because of public holidays and school events. If you require further information regarding the school closure days, please contact the school on (08) 8445 9833.

Luke Smith
Deputy Principal