Once again, I write to you while we commence another period of Learning@Home for all of our students. To say that the ongoing impact of this pandemic has been tumultuous would be an understatement. However, we have much to be positive about. Last term, when we were quite uncertain about where the year was heading, the School made the decision to carry on as normally as possible. With regard to the VCE, we conducted all SAC assessments albeit under modified supervision arrangements, to ensure authenticity of student work. Our students and teachers responded exceptionally well and it would be fair to say, the learning for all of our girls and not just the VCE students, barely skipped a beat.

We find ourselves in the strong position where VCE subjects are going full steam ahead with most SAC assessments and course work completed. It is sobering to consider, that some schools took the view we would all be back to normal in Term 3, and delayed SACs and other vital assessments until this term. Of course, the ground has shifted again and many schools are now scrambling to complete SACs when attention by teachers and students should be towards reviewing the years’ work in preparation for the exams. At St Catherine’s this is exactly where we are. VCE teachers are in the process of finishing coursework and commencing the revision and preparation work for the exams. Our VCE students will be well prepared.

Another fortuitous decision has been to conduct a practice GAT exam on the first day of this term. It has become very clear the GAT exam is going to play a significant role in the moderation of VCE SACs and exams to aid in the calculation of ATAR rankings. We have already engaged in a forensic analysis of the practice GAT exam results of our students and conducted feedback sessions with all of them as well. While students cannot actually study for the GAT, there are most definitely strategies which can assist in achieving the highest GAT score possible. Our girls will undertake the GAT exam in September confident they have been well prepared. Despite the ongoing disruption to school life this year and the acute impact on all of us, especially our Year 12 girls, we are confident that through our dedicated and talented staff, our school continues to run in a relatively normal way, albeit with some changes in mode of delivery!

It is not only the VCE students we have been thinking about most earnestly tin 2020. Students in Years 8 to 11 are currently considering their subject selections for 2021. Students and parents will have observed there has been a major change to some of the subject offerings available for next year. This is most noticeable for students about to enter Year 10. We have made a change so that the only mandated subjects are English and Mathematics. All other subjects are classified as electives. This follows the move of Science subjects into the elective stream in 2019. Our purpose in doing this is to enable students to have choice and to provide opportunity for students to study subjects for more time and at greater depth. This move has been very successful and both teachers and students have responded favourably to this change. Consequently, we have now moved to include other disciplines as electives and thereby enabling students to select a more tailored program which suits their skills and interests.

There is a weight of evidence to support this change. Most recently the NSW Government conducted a major review of their curriculum led by Professor Geoff Masters from the Australian Council for Educational Research. Key points identified in the report made the following statements;

• The report, was highly critical of the current syllabus, particularly what it described as its “crowded nature”.
• “[This] is not conducive to teaching in-depth or helping students see the relevance of what they are learning,” the report said.
• It said the curriculum was, “insufficiently focused on equipping every student with the knowledge, skills and attributes they will require for further learning, life and work”.
• Significant changes to the curriculum are proposed to decrease the amount of content and reduce the number of subjects offered in senior years.
• “The review envisages syllabuses that are leaner in content and more focused on developing deep understandings of disciplinary concepts and principles,” the report said.
• “A curriculum structure that better recognises and accommodates the wide variability in students’ levels of attainment.”

Professor Masters also commented that “the school curriculum is often overcrowded and as a result many students lack the depth of understanding required to apply subject learning in new and unfamiliar contexts – as evidenced by declining performances in PISA.”

By introducing more choice for students and thereby enabling them to focus on subject disciplines they have most interest and capability in, we believe this will lead to students developing far deeper conceptual understandings within their chosen disciplines. We have now linked Year 10 closer to the VCE. Most of the Semester based electives available at Year 10 next year, by due nature of the number of classes available each week being increased, aspects of Unit 1 & 2 studies are now embedded in these Year 10 subjects.

While we continue to adapt to the current restrictions of this pandemic in 2020, we are firmly focussed on delivery of the highest quality teaching and learning for our students. As a School, we are aware that we need to prepare our girls for a different and more complex world, one that is globalised and amplified by technology. We have a clear vision for next year and look forward to that with great optimism.