The superb ‘spelling lesson’ on Thursday night during the wonderful performance of Mary Poppins Jnr was a wonderful treat for all audience members. With 19 unfolding scenes throughout the show, the ‘practically perfect’ Mary Poppins performed by our ever enthusiastic Year 5 and 6 girls revealed the hidden talents of many of our Barbreck girls. Portia Gowrie as Bert, Mia Upton as Mary Poppins, and Kristin Dodd and Rachel Carton as the Banks children, Jane and Michael, were outstanding in their portrayal of Walt Disney’s lead characters, perfectly capturing the essence of this classic story made famous by the 1964 film of the same name. Mrs Lyn Henshall assisted the girls with their wonderful solo performances who sang with confidence and plenty of charisma.

Congratulations to the entire cast, backstage team, sound and lighting crews, production teams, choreographers, stage designers, costume and prop creators, hair and makeup team of the Mary Poppins Jnr performance. The girls’ joy and pride was clearly visible throughout the show as they expertly managed an unaccountable number of costume changes, skilled choreography and beautifully performed scripts and chorus lines. The musical theatre featured catchy songs, familiar to many in the audience. The talent our girls brought to the acting, singing and dancing made for a truly entertaining experience.

I also acknowledge the expert duo of co-directors, Melissa Dods and Kirrilly Wootton, the Lighting team led by Mr Andrew Gold and the set design and creation of backdrops, led by Senior School Art teacher, Ms Kimba Mannix and Senior Arts students: Scarlett Davis, Bronte Cullen, Lucy Bainbridge and Adelaide Mitchell.

It has been a hectic two weeks for the Performing Arts staff with two outstanding performances of the Senior Play, The Crucible and Mary Poppins Jnr this week. Next week, the Music Department continue the exposé of the talents of our students with the Year 7 and 8 Concert on Tuesday evening and the Senior School Jazz Night at The Fyrefly in St Kilda.

New Academic Model Helps Students Become VCE Ready

The redevelopment of our Senior School academic model implemented this year has incorporated significant thinking about the transition from Year 10 to VCE study undertaken in Year 11. Over many years, I have observed this specific step into Senior subjects to be the most challenging for students as they adjust to the change in quantity and quality of academic work required to complete the heavily prescribed VCE syllabus across all subjects.

Ensuring students are ‘VCE ready’ requires a graduated approach to increasing the volume of work along with ensuring a comprehensive grasp of the growing complexity of the curriculum. This is most noticeable in the tasks that demand higher order thinking skills, requiring not just a memorisation of content material but students essentially being able to explore, to question, to probe new areas, to seek clarity, to think critically, to predict, and to consider different perspectives.

In our Year 10 classes this year, the new academic model has notably improved the ‘time on task’ by increasing the fortnightly allocation of lessons in Maths, English, History and all electives selected by the girls, subsequently increasing instructional teacher time by an additional 24 hours per year. In addition to this, the most significant change in Science provides early entry into Science pathways, allowing our girls greater time for coverage of course content, thus enabling more opportunity to fully grasp the higher order thinking skills required for VCE.

Our Year 10 Science program now provides students wishing to study Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Psychology the opportunity to select semester long courses in each of the Science domains, thus more than doubling their time in these specific subjects. With almost one semester complete, the outcomes of this change to the academic model are certainly being recognised. Head of Science, Mrs Vanessa Jackson-McRae, has observed that the Year 10 students’ desire to succeed has increased this year. I am pleased to advise that the lesson content in the Year 10 Science courses are now firmly pitched at the VCE 1&2 level, with an ability to incorporate the VCE syllabus material into the Year 10 program.

The new academic model this year has also enabled exploration of new instructional methods to be explored with the introduction of a Collegial Practice teaching approach to be adopted in some subjects. This model enables two teachers to be working in the classroom at the same time, thereby improving the personalised feedback that girls can receive whilst undertaking learning activities. The purpose of introducing Collegial Practice is to create time and opportunity for teachers to be in a colleague’s classroom, enabling a space to share, support, collaborate, learn and observe a professional colleague at their craft. It is intended to improve the quality of the teaching within the classroom which in turn supports the students.

Our Year 10 Physics students have provided this week their first-hand reflections on their experience of the Collegial Practice approach this semester.

I find it very helpful with another teacher in the classroom as we can ask for help more easily and multiple students can have assistance at the same time. Both teachers are Physics teachers so both can answer our questions and understand the topic. It is helpful for our learning and the pace at which we learn. – Emily.

Collegial teaching is a good opportunity for teachers to extend their teaching practice and improve relationships with students outside of their own classes. Within the Science department, I have found that having a second teacher in Physics is worthwhile and very beneficial to students. When Mr Barry attends class, there is more help available to us and work is completed more efficiently. Especially in Physics, the extra help enhances learning skills and offers different perspectives on topics. – Ruby.

I think that team teaching is a more efficient way to teach a class as it enables more focus to be put on what is being taught and the material to be taught with two (possibly) different teaching styles. This gives students who learn a different way from their current teacher an opportunity to understand it from a different perspective. It also encourages students to ask for more help with the content as they are able to receive more thorough help from either teacher. Overall, I believe the team teaching method helps me become more invested in class as I have more reassurance about my work. – Emily.

I think Collegial Practice is an amazing opportunity for teachers to extend their teaching skills. I have not had a bad experience in the Science Faculty as the Physics teachers are impeccable. On the student learning side, I think that all the girls in Physics have used Mr Barry as an extra helper and it is very productive and helps our class stay focused as you do not have to run around as much as there is more help provided. Honestly, I think it is a beneficial program for both students and teachers to enhance their learning skills, learn from others and have a more productive learning time. – Sara.

In the coming week, students and parents will receive communication from their daughter’s Head of Year outlining the assessment and reporting procedures for Semester 1. Specifically, I ask parents to please note that the examination schedule for students in Years 9 to 11 is from Thursday 13 to Wednesday 19 June. This will be followed by an assessment reflection and handback day on Thursday 20 June. Semester 1 finishes for all girls at 3.20pm on Thursday 20 June with Friday 21 June a Student Free Day.

Snowsports Swap

I encourage our community members to share the benefits of the annual Snowsport Swap this Sunday. This wonderful initiative led by the Snowsports Auxiliary culminating significant work in tagging each item for sale. For families with growing children, this is an excellent opportunity to ‘pick up a bargain’ of snowsports clothing and equipment. The sale starts on Sunday at 10.00am.