Notice to parents regarding your information.
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) collects data from schools to determine the Index of Community Socio-educational Advantage (ICSEA). CEDP is currently working to provide relevant details to the Catholic Education Commission of NSW. Data collected is de-identified of personal information.
Parents and caregivers must advise their school by Wednesday 14 July 2021 if they do not want their child's data included in this report.
Safe Times for Picking Up Students from College Reception
We have recently experienced a number of parents arriving to pick up students from College Reception for sickness and other reasons after 2.00pm on a College Day.
The concreted area immediately in front of the College Reception is a Bus Only Zone from 2.00pm to 3.15pm each day.
With the time it can take to organise the appropriate sign-out this can mean parents are blocking buses as they arrive to pick up students, causing delays for the buses, putting students at risk who are trying to get to their bus, and potentially blocking traffic on The Lakes Drive.
GENERALLY, NO PARENT OR STUDENT VEHICLES ARE TO ENTER THE SCHOOL GROUNDS BETWEEN 2.00PM and 3.15PM
If a student who is unwell needs to be picked up after 2.00 pm, parents could temporarily use one of the three visitor parking spaces outside the internal gate on the eastern side of the property, if they are available.
Year 10 - HSC Minimum Standard Literacy and Numeracy
From 2020 all students are required to demonstrate a minimum standard of literacy and numeracy to be eligible for the award of the HSC. All students must complete online reading, writing and numeracy tests to demonstrate that they have met the HSC minimum standards. Students can sit these tests in Year 10, 11 or 12 and even after the HSC.
Minimum Standard Reading Test – 45 multiple choice questions
Minimum Standard Numeracy Test – 45 multiple choice questions
Minimum Standard Writing Test – one question based on a visual or text prompt with up to a 500 word-response
Current Year 10 students will complete the online Minimum Standards tests on Tuesday and Wednesday of week 10 this term. Students will have an opportunity to complete practice online tests in the lead up to the online testing. Sometimes students do not meet the minimum standard in their first attempt at the tests - this is not a cause for concern as students will be given further opportunities to meet these standards later this year and in years 11 and 12. Please be assured that the teachers are working with your daughter to ensure she is developing the necessary skills to meet the minimum standard of literacy and numeracy. If you have any questions about the minimum standard requirements, please contact Mrs Smith or Ms Scollard at the College.
Annual Tell Them From Me survey
As has been mentioned in communications to parents earlier, we would like to invite you to complete the Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Partners in Learning survey. As we value the role of parents and carers within our school community we would greatly appreciate your feedback. The information you provide will be used to maintain our commitment to working together in partnership to further improve student learning and wellbeing at Caroline Chisholm College.
The survey is anonymous and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. You are able to access the parent survey on your computer or mobile device by using the following URL:
https://www.tellthemfromme.com/carolinechisholmcollege
You will be able to access the survey until Friday 25 June.
STUDY SKILLS TIP FOR JUNE: Multi-tasking - myth or reality?
Ask any student and they will tell you they can multi-task with ease. Do homework, watch TV, listen to music and check their phone all at the same time, no problem. Ask the academic researchers though and a different story emerges.
Dr Larry Rosen, Professor of Psychology at California State University, explains that what is actually occurring in this ‘multi-tasking’ is ‘task switching’. Instead of doing two things at once, students are actually switching their focus from one task to another and back again, in a parallel fashion, at high speed, resulting in them staying on task for an average of only 65% of the time period and for a maximum of only 3-5 minutes at a time. Constant task-switching results in it taking much longer to complete the individual tasks not just due to the interruptions, but also because there are delays as the brain switches between tasks and refocuses. This brief bottleneck in the prefrontal cortex delays the start of the next task and the more intense the distraction, the longer it will take the brain to react.
A study conducted by Dr Rosen’s team sent varying numbers of text messages to students in a lecture then tested the students on the content of the lecture. The results were surprising, it was not the number of interruptions that negatively impacted results, it was the time taken by the students to react to the interruptions. Students who responded immediately performed worst on the tests. Those who considered when to check the message and respond (ie in a part of a lecture they deemed less relevant) performed significantly better.
What we can learn from this is that students need to become more aware of their ‘task-switching’ and make conscious decisions as to when they choose to shift their focus – instead of being enslaved by their technology and at its constant beck and call. We need to teach students that this constant mental task shifting (even thinking about the technology has the same effect as actually checking the technology) takes oxygen and brain activity away from what they are learning. We need to convince our students that it is ok and even necessary to wait, that they don’t have to respond immediately and do have the ability to delay their check-in with the cyber world. It is all about learning that we can control our selective attention and choose to ignore distractions.
We need to train the brain to stop thinking constantly about technology. However, resistance for too long can create anxiety and a fear of missing out, creating ‘continuous partial attention’ in students as oxygen is diverted to activate and maintain thoughts about social media at the expense of classroom material.
Dr Rosen’s team has determined the best approach for students who find it difficult to pull back from their technology devices is to set an alarm on their phone for short regular ‘tech breaks’. They may start with 15 minutes and gradually increase this amount over time to around 30 minutes. The phone will be face down on their desk on silent mode or off, and when the alarm rings they let themselves check messages and status updates for a minute or two, then set the alarm again. Dr Rosen’s studies found that knowing they can check in 15 minutes creates less anxiety, whereas depriving them of the phone completely did not stop them thinking or obsessing about possible e-communications which took away from their ability to focus fully on their homework. It all comes back to teaching the concept of focus.
Finally, Dr Rosen argues that we cannot simply remove technology and other distractions; they are too intricately woven into students' daily lives. Instead students should learn metacognitive skills to help them understand when and how to switch their attention between multiple tasks or technologies.
Visit the Dealing with Distractions unit at www.studyskillshandbook.com.au to learn more about managing your distractions and tools and Apps that can help.
Learn more this year about how to improve your results and be more efficient and effective with your schoolwork by working through the units on www.studyskillshandbook.com.au - our school’s access details are:
USERNAME: forccconly
PASSWORD: 55results
ENTRY TO SCHOOL GROUNDS VIA EAST GATE ONLY (near roundabout)
For safety reasons, and to avoid traffic congestion all staff, students and visitors entering the College grounds in a motor vehicle must do so by using the East gate, which is the gate closest to the roundabout.
No vehicles are to enter the College Grounds via the West Gate, which is at the top of the hill on The Lakes Drive. To do so causes potential collisions with buses and vehicles properly using the East Gate, and a danger to students who are catching buses for excursions or journeying home, and to visitors/couriers/parents.
