Teaching and Learning Report – November 5, 2015
November 4, 2015
October 27 College Assembly:
We were joined at last week’s assembly by members of the Ballarat Woodworkers Guild, Guild President Kerry Pask and Show Convener George Davis, to present awards to a number of boys who were successful at the 2015 Ballarat Wood and Craft Show.
The Ballarat Woodworkers Guild is a non-profit organisation established to foster an appreciation of wood and all aspects of working with wood. The Wood and Craft Show is held annually and includes demonstrations of woodturning, scroll sawing, furniture and instrument making.
The following boys were acknowledged for their overall placement in the 2015 Wood and Craft Show Awards:
1st place- – – – – – – – Cormac Prendergast (Year 11. Hall table)
3rd place- – – – – – – – – Liam Williamson (Year 11. Hall table)
4th place- – – – – – – – Paul Brown (Year 9. Dart board Cabinet)
5th place- – – – – – – – Tom Conroy (Year 7. Crane)
In addition, the following boys were recognised with Certificates of Merit for the quality of work submitted to the Wood and Craft Show:
- Luke Prendergast -“ Year 11. Red gum table
- Nick Canny – Year 10. Bedside table
- Ethan Turley -“ Year 10. Occasional table
- Jordan Grant – Year 10. Slab end coffee table
- Jake Cassels – Year 10. Coffee table
- James Crilly -“ Year 9. Dart board cabinet
- Justin Fillisch -“ Year 7. Crane
Congratulations to each of these boys!
2015 Mathematic Competition:
This year 267 of our top maths students were selected by their Mathematics teachers to enter the 2015 Australian Mathematics Competition.
From this large group of entrants, we had one student receive a Prize Award, one a High Distinction, 26 Distinctions, 190 Credits and 61 Proficiency Certificates.
The Prize Award, which is of significant merit, was won by Matthew Duffy of Year 8. Matthew completed preparation for the competition as his extension activity in his Year 8 Mathematics classes. He worked closely with his Mathematics teacher, Mrs Klopak, to prepare himself for the competition. His hard work was rewarded with a result which placed him in the top 0.3% of all students who sat the competition. A truly outstanding result!
Matthew is one of only eight other Prize Winners in the state of Victoria and he will travel to Government House in Perth this week to receive his Prize Certificate from the Governor of Western Australia.
Matthew also received the Prudence Award Certificate for the most consecutive correct responses for the school. Matthew got every question on the paper correct, ensuring he received this further award. In addition, Matthew also received a $200 book voucher from AMC and a Prize Lapel pin. Congratulations, Matthew on an exceptional result!
Our next Highest Achiever was Year 12, Patrick Collier. Patrick always worked diligently in his Mathematics classes during his time at St Patrick’s, getting the most out of his outstanding talent in mathematics. Patrick’s excellent work ethic earnt him a High Distinction in this year’s competition, ranking him in the top 5% of senior students in the state. Congratulations, Patrick!
We also congratulate the 26 students who achieved a Distinction in the competition, which ranks them in the top 15 to 25% of the all entrants:
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–
|
Name |
Year |
|
Darcy Cosgriff |
7 |
|
Joel Harbour |
7 |
|
Ethan Henderson |
7 |
|
Hamish Irvin |
7 |
|
Kai O’Keeffe |
7 |
|
Owen Pearse |
7 |
|
Kyle Smith |
7 |
|
Cooper Gillett |
8 |
|
Seamus Murphy-McKay |
8 |
|
Callum Shaw |
8 |
|
Marcus Tilley |
8 |
|
Luke Castleman |
9 |
|
Quinten Henderson |
9 |
|
Damian Johnson |
9 |
|
Jesse Jury |
9 |
|
Blake Lim |
9 |
|
Lachlan Owens |
9 |
|
Dil Shah |
9 |
|
Mitchell Tuddenham |
10 |
|
Henry Ward |
10 |
|
Jarrod Illig |
11 |
|
Glyn Kendall |
11 |
|
Tom Evans |
12 |
|
William Jury |
12 |
|
Jarrod Kemp |
12 |
–
Congratulations to each of these boys.
The first of the Headmaster’s Excellence Awards was presented to Year 8 boys Xavier Brodie and Jesmar Harris. Both were recognised for their outstanding work in completing the Monologue assessment task in Year 8 Drama.
Both boys engaged fully in all the preparation sessions leading up to the recording of the monologue. Xavier and Jesmar presentations show that each has a thorough understanding of all of the elements of the monologue -“ enthusiastic delivery, creativity and clever use of voice to engage the audience. Movements and gestures were used effectively which added to both boys performance. Congratulations, Xavier and Jesmar on all your efforts.
Year 10 student Joshua de Vogel was our next recipient of a Headmaster’s Excellence award in recognition of his outstanding analysis task based on the Year 10 Literature novel, The Longest Memory. Josh’s written response was both comprehensive and insightful, showing a significant capacity to search for deeper meaning within the novel and relate this to both himself and to the current day.- Well done, Joshua!
Jonny Hall was the first of our Year 11 recipients.- Jonny’s Academic Endeavour Award recognises his work at Ballarat Art Gallery as a trainee to support the Archibald Prize Exhibition. Jonny saw this as an ideal opportunity to get a behind the scenes view of the art world. Jonny’s example should encourage all boys to explore and take-up the many learning opportunities that exist in the wider Ballarat community.
Samuel Taranto has been producing excellent work in VCE Text and Traditions this semester and received a Headmaster’s Excellence award in recognition of his efforts in achieving 100% on the recent assignment, Social Justice Issue using Sacred Text. Sam’s produced a remarkable piece of work which showed an extremely high level of interpretative and language skills. Congratulations, Sam!
Lawrence McCrabb and Daniel Hillman have both been doing particularly good work in their study VCE Media. Lawrence’s Headmaster’s Excellence award recognises his consistently outstanding quality of work in Media this semester. Daniel’s Headmaster’s Excellence award recognises the outstanding quality of his recent analysis of the Tarantino film, Inglourious Basterds. Following explicit direction given by the teacher, doing addition or expanded research and consciously planning and responding to each aspects of the task as to not be distracted by the totality of the assessment are all hallmarks of the work of these boys.- Congratulations to both Lawrence and Daniel on your efforts.
Our final awards were Headmaster’s Excellence awards presented to James Parini and Nathaniel Corboy for their ongoing excellence in all aspects Literature. The key to both boys success lies in the depth of their knowledge and understanding of the text being examined. For James and Nathaniel, this depth of knowledge and understanding comes about through reading for purpose. Be it to identify key characters or sections of the novel, to consolidate knowledge, or to further their own interpretation of the novel, reading for purpose made the reading more rewarding because each had a clear understanding of why they are doing the reading. This is an example that each boy can be following and putting into action to further their own academic success.-
Congratulations to James and Nathaniel and to all the other boys we have recognised at last week’s assembly.
1:1 Program -“ update on 2016 devices
The introduction of iPads into Years 7-9 in 2014 has proven to be an important element in the implementation of the initial phase of the College’s eLearning strategic plan. 2016 will see the next phase of the eLearning plan affected through an expansion of the 1:1 program into the Senior School. From 2016, each Year 10 boy will be required to have his own next generation notebook and to bring this device to classes each day.
The decision to move from the iPad in Years 7-9 to a Windows-based notebook in the Senior School reflects the different learning needs of boys during their senior years. The convertible touchscreen notebook selected will support and further each boy’s learning throughout his three years in the Senior School.
After extensive device review and evaluation, the College has selected the Hewlett-Packard Spectre x360 Pro as the Senior School device. The Spectre x360 Pro is a convertible touchscreen notebook which includes features such as:
- A 13.3-inch diagonal touchscreen
- A unique, durable 360-° hinge
- HP’s thinnest convertible notebook with 15.9 mm thin design
- Up to 12.5 hours of battery life
- A weight of just 1.44 kg
- A powerful i5 Intel VPro processor
- Quick and efficient HP solid-state drives
- Multitouch enabled and Active Stylus writing support.
To make this device as affordable as possible for parents, the College will administer a three-year lease (which will include the device, an appropriate bag and all required software pre-installed). Based on current calculations, the annual lease cost is expected to be $485.00.
The costs associated with this lease will be directed to parents annually and will appear on the tuition fee account.- The device will be owned by the parents/student once all lease payments have been made by the end of the student’s Year 12 (or earlier by negotiation should a student leave St Patrick’s before Year 12).
An option will be available for those families that require an extended finance plan to conclude beyond the third-year of the lease i.e. after the boy completes Year 12. This may be negotiated or added to any existing Business Manager’s payment plan.
The 2016 1:1 program will operate as follows for the other year levels:
- 2016 Year 7- – (parent purchased, school supported iPad)
- 2016 Year 8- – (parent purchased, school supported iPad)
- 2016 Year 9- – (retain school owned and supported iPad)
- 2016 Year 11- (retain school owned and supported iPad)
- 2016 Year 12- (given a school owned and supported iPad that will come from the return of devices from current Year 9)
As part of the transition to the Spectre x360 Pro, current Year 9 students will be required to return their school owned and supported iPad. This will take place at an appropriate time in December after the Year 9 exams. As part of the preparation for the return of this device, Year 9 parents are asked to ensure that their son still has the iPad charger and cord, the protective case and the neoprene sleeve provided to him at the time the device was issued. Any iPad returned without these peripherals will see the replacement cost added to the tuition fee account.
In recent years, Years 7-10 have been using LearningField to access subject specific electronic text resources. This arrangement will continue in 2016. While the College continues to work with LearningField regarding its pricing structure for VCE and VET text resources, it is anticipated that students will continue using printed texts for Years 11 and 12.
To support parents in the implementation of this next phase of the College’s 1:1 program, information on the program will be presented at the 2016 Parent/Student Information Night which will be held early in Term One of 2016. This evening will provide parents with information about the notebook and its use as a learning tool. Strategies for effective use and management of the notebook at home will also be discussed.
For further information on the St Patrick’s College 1:1 program, please contact Mr Mark Holland, Director of ICT, or myself.
2016 Booklist information
The first of the 2016 booklists, the 2016 VCE English studies novel list, has been distributed to current Years 10 and 11 boys. An electronic copy of this booklist has been placed on the College website – https://www.stpats.vic.edu.au/en/students-parents-staff/curriculum/booklists/
Please note the return date of Friday, November 6. Boys not submitting the novel list via the online option are asked to return the paper version of the booklist to the ERC by this date.
Purchased novels will be available for collection from the ERC on Monday, November 23.