Issue 2 2024 - Teaching & Learning
Teaching & Learning
Jessica Lewis
Upcoming Exams
It is a nervous time of the year for many of our ATAR students with Semester 1 exams just around the corner. Year 12 ATAR exams start this Monday the 20th of May and Year 11s will be the following week starting Monday the 27th of May. During this time there are a number of important considerations. All exams will be held in Transportable 3 as the floors aren’t too creaky and the heavy machinery doesn’t drive too close by. Students are not required to wear the day uniform for exams, but they should be neatly presented with enclosed shoes. There are also special requirements in regard to water bottles, these must be transparent with no labels, as must their pencil case if they choose to bring one, otherwise a ziplock bag or something similar is fine.
Please be aware of the rules regarding calculators! There are 2 types: CASIO (programmable) and scientific (non-programmable). The CASIO’s will only be permitted in the Math Application exam, so students must ensure they have a scientific calculator for their Plants and Animal Production exams or go without. It is also the students’ responsibility to ensure they are not bringing any unauthorised materials such as notes into their exam.
All students not completing exams are asked to stay away from this area during break times and there will be a number of room changes to accommodate. There will be signs and barriers around the area and we ask all students, staff and visitors to be respectful during these couple of weeks. Students that have 3 or less ATAR subjects are expected to go to normal classes on the days they don’t have exams, but they can head home or back to dorm on days when they do. I have asked for feedback on previous exams and the students have told me how hard it is to go 3 hours without any food – so I expect lots of tummy’s to be rumbling! The kitchen staff have kindly agreed to put some morning tea aside so they can feast as soon as it is over, thank you to Ash and the kitchen team.
SIDE visits
At WACoA Denmark, we are currently running 3 courses through SIDE – the School of Isolated and Distance Education. In week 4, we had our new English teachers, (year 11s Ms Italiano and year 12s Ms Clare) come down to visit, which was great for building relationships and having some individual feedback time. As students enrolled in these courses have less face-to-face time with their teacher every week, they need to be working hard in their study time to complete all the set tasks to the best of their ability. It is even more important to engage in regular communication with the teacher – we encourage students to not be afraid to ask questions either during the lesson or via email. The teachers have also indicated they are available for one-on-one WebEx calls with students when required. The year 12s are also lucky enough to have their RLS (Regional Learning Specialist) tutor Ms Burkardt come down to visit this week. She spent 4 hours working with students on exam preparation, but also runs weekly online seminars for revision and extra support. The year 11s should be getting a visit from their tutor as soon as a spot becomes available, watch this space, and are also able to join in on weekly seminars.
We also have a couple of dedicated Year 12 students studying Chemistry via SIDE. Their teacher is coming down to visit in term 3, but they have already seen their tutor Mr Miles twice this year. We are also very grateful to Mr Bergmann for running regular tutoring sessions for Chemistry. It is a lot of effort to organise visitors for the College, especially when they fly down from Perth, so I hope the students are finding this useful.
Open day is on Saturday 3rd August
Please put our Open Day in your calendar! This once-a-year event is an opportunity for students to showcase to their families, community, and prospective students all the amazing things we plant, grow and harvest at WACoA Denmark. There will be wine, seedlings, metalwork projects, veggies, honey and wax products for sale. Students will be demonstrating equine jumping, cattle parades, shearing and wool handling, beekeeping, chainsaw and fencing skills as well as metalwork and engineering live demos.
The gym will have displays relating to what happens at the College from classrooms to residential to farm and trades. Take a tour of the diary, vineyard, horticulture, abattoir (be early for the sausage tastings), workshop, residential facilities and classrooms to get a feel of what our students experience. All of these activities will be centred around and run by our students finishing off with the Grand Finale Parade.
Lunch will be available for a small fee, as well as coffee, tea, flavoured milk and other snacks. A trailer of firewood and a gourmet hamper will be raffled off on the day so make sure you grab a copy of our Open Day booklet with the entry form to be in the running to win one of these hampers. The entry form box will be located at the Old Collegians table in the gymnasium. We hope to see you there!
Jessica Lewis
Program Coordinator - Teaching and Learning
WACOA – Denmark