Senior School Update

From the Head of Senior School, Tristan Bevan

The term has started well with our ANZAC assembly, and it was great to see the Pipe Band and so many students representing the College at the ANZAC Day March in Bowral.

In line with the ‘S’ for Service in the Round Square Ideals, I am happy to credit those who attended two hours of service hours towards their House Colours application.

Foundation Night & Reunions

We are very much looking forward to the first round of the ISA sporting competition this weekend and Foundation Night in Week 4. I am excited to inform that Zac Moran, College Captain and Oxley Award winner from 2015 will be back to speak as an alumnus who left 10 years ago. We also have College re-unions occurring on Saturday 24 May, so if you know anyone from 1985,1995, 2005, 2015 or 2020 make sure they contact the college to let us know they are coming. I look forward to seeing a number of Alumni return that I have taught over the years.

Academics Update

I thoroughly enjoyed reading and commenting on Year 12 Half Yearly Reports. There are some exceptional reports. All reports identify areas of strength and provide feedback for next steps for students. It is very important for this cohort to continue to work together to improve over the next two terms and into the study camp and study leave. A growth mindset throughout the rest of the course is essential as, irrespective of the outcome of Early Entry applications, the better each individual does in the external HSC examinations, the better our school moderated marks will be which benefits everyone. It should also be highlighted that Oxley is a small player in a much bigger pond, and while students may be busy competing against each other, they are really in a competition against approximately 70,000 students across the state.

Students often focus too much on their rank, when the distance from the top is a better indicator for success. Higher achieving students want to get as close to the top as they can and avoid the downward pull of the average. Average students (for the cohort) want everyone to do as well as possible so that average is as high as possible. For students in the lower half of the cohort, they want to be as close to average as possible and as far from the bottom as they can.

For example, in this set of data, assuming that the subjects moderate and scale equally: Julian ranking last in Subject B would be a better outcome than Chester ranking third in Subject A.

Year 11 will receive their Half Yearly Reports later this term and we have feedback in the form of Student/Parent/Teacher nights for Year 8 and 9 and Half Yearly Reports for Year 7-10.

Year 7-10 will have Half Yearly Examinations later this term and the focus for Learning to Learn and Study Skills will be in preparing for examinations. The final assessment for students finishing Year 12 in NSW is still a written HSC, so these examinations should not be a cause for stress and anxiety but an opportunity for practising skills and learning from mistakes.

The pace of life at Oxley is always fast, with plenty going on and it is wonderful to see so many students making the most of the opportunities available.