Year 12

By the end of this week, we will be halfway through the Yr 12 journey! We know that students have a lot on their mind – exams, future study, careers – but we would like to remind them that while keeping focused on these goals and aspirations, it’s also important not to forget your own health and wellbeing. Losing motivation and having trouble staying focused are natural feelings and will most likely happen to all Yr 12 students at some point. Students are encouraged to recognise these signs: low tolerance to stress or stressful situations, inattentiveness, insensitivity and physical fatigue. Students have been reminded to keep an eye on each other, openly share how they are feeling and seek help through their teachers, Tutors, friends and families.    

Student Achievements

Congratulations to Cameron Pascoe and Thomas Vekas who were successfully selected for the ISA Rugby team. Well done, boys!

HSC Workshop Series 1 by Mr Simon Colyer 

In Term 2 there will be a series of workshops organised for HSC students during Tutor Time, which is similar to the IB Core Session. A number of Redlands staff have kindly volunteered their time to design and deliver the workshops focusing on different subjects. They all have extensive HSC marking experience which will help to enhance students’ learning and an achievement of outcomes. Our first workshop was led by Mr Simon Colyer, a highly accomplished member of the teaching and Pastoral team at Redlands. Below is a student reflection:

 “Today Mr Colyer spoke in front of the Yr 12 HSC students to give us his top tips for approaching exams. He opened with a simple but extremely effective tip that was: Always write something, as long as it is legible. I think he shocked a lot of students when he said that just by writing something down, you will have a 25% chance at getting a mark for it. I think this tip also got students thinking about how legibly they are writing in exams – I know I certainly don’t usually think about how easy my writing is for markers to read.

Another tip he shared with us was that you need to Know Your Key Terms. He told us that no matter how much we know, if we don’t specifically answer the key term in the question, it is impossible for us to get above a 12/20 – just by answering the key term you have almost automatically boosted yourself up into the top 5 or 6 band. The last one that I think was the most useful was to Know and Name Drop Your Syllabus (essentially, make it easy for the marker to give you ticks!!). Markers look for syllabus words to make sure that you know what you’re talking about, it’s a really easy way to show the marker that you deserve those top marks.

Overall, Mr Colyer’s talk was extremely beneficial for the HSC students as it mainly got us thinking about the types of things we can be studying to give the markers what they are after. For me, it made exams seem a lot less scary and stressful because as long as you write something, know your key terms and know your syllabus, you are in a good position to be able to do well in any exam.” Yr 12 Luci Roe   

The Great Debate by Debating Captain, Ela Kos

Something I never expected to hear in my high school career was Mr Corcoran chanting “exams! (huh!) what are they good for (absolutely nothing!)” to a crowd of over a hundred students. It was one of the many hilarious highlights of the Great Debate that took place last Friday lunch in which a formidable team of Mr Corcoran, Mr Skinner and Dr Regis faced off against three student debaters – Aleisha Lawrence, Mackenzie Lofts, and me. Inspired by Careers Week, the topic was “that formal examinations do not prepare us for real world careers” with teachers affirming and students negating. As normal debating rules were continually thrown by the wayside, it was a ferocious debate that ended in the students narrowly taking the trophy. I would like to thank Ms Bryant, Ms Salier, teachers and all others who helped to make this fantastic event happen. Until next year’s Great Debate!

Careers and Universities 

There is important information coming up for Careers and Universities. Please check the Careers page in Note Day.  

Ms Vanessa Wang
Yr 12 Advisor
vwang@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9813