SENIOR SCHOOL

Stage 4 Study Skills Evening

Mrs Lee Ursino - Academic Care Leader – Stage 4 (Years 7 & 8)

As with all parent engagement opportunities, it is vital that we, as an organisation, garner feedback to ensure the quality of our events is maintained and suitable.

St Gregory’s College has a long benefited from a strong professional relationship with Dr Prue Salter and her company, Enhanced Learning Educational Services. Following the introduction of Stage Academic Care Leader roles, a systematic approach to study skills was designed and the College sought to secure Dr Salter’s services for our Stage 4 cohort. Dr Salter is invited into the College for two evening sessions with both students and their parents expected to be in attendance, catering for our Year 7 and Year 8 students respectively.

The Year 7 evening is scheduled early in Term One, to accommodate for the specific needs of our youngest Senior school students. We find that this transitional stage is very challenging, and we look to Dr Salter and her presentation to bridge the gap from Junior school practices to Senior ones. As such, Dr Salter focuses on organisation, managing workload and homework and how to avoid the ever-present distractions. Students sit with their parents and whilst being engaged by Dr Salter’s impressive slides and advice, complete a workbook and volunteer truths and goals to their parents. It can often be an entertaining evening as Prue insists parents share their insights with their sons, often eliciting embarrassed chuckles from the students.

The Year 8 event occurs a week later and is considered the second in a two-part series. The Year 8 session is much more practical and is scheduled to take place just before the first round of assessments are due for submission. Dr Salter allows students to engage in the process of note taking and making, and she drills down into the research behind the practice of studying and revising. A very important distinction between the Year 7 and 8 presentations is that Dr Salter addresses the difference between mandated learning (homework and assessment work) and independent learning (preparing study notes, revisiting content etc). This vital discussion is often met with feigned looks of horror as the

students realise that their parents have just heard that they may have to do “even more work”!

The most wonderful aspect of our relationship with Prue is that she is able to tailor the presentations to our specific needs and requirements. In establishing a great partnership with her, we have been allowed the opportunity to deliver key strategic goals to our community in meaningful and accessible ways. For example, Prue has included our Agile Graduate model into her presentations and speaks to its value. Furthermore, she references our Academic Handbooks and personalises our learning spaces to make them tangible to our community.

As with all parent engagement opportunities, it is vital that we, as an organisation, garner feedback to ensure the quality of our events is maintained and suitable. Without fail, the feedback we receive following Dr Prue’s events is overwhelmingly positive. We have included one of the responses from our parent community below.

My wife and I both attended The Year 7 event along with Dan. He found it very useful, as well as motivating. He was encouraged by elements he recognized he was already putting in place, such as using his diary for homework etc., but was also inspired by new ideas such as making his workspace conducive to study AND understanding how much time to allocate each day and each week to different components of study. It was particularly good for us, as parents, to understand the time commitments of a Year 7 St Greg’s student and discuss and negotiate these with Dan. We were pleased with the emphasis on balance and how not to set up unrealistic expectations.

Thanks for providing this opportunity for us. We are looking forward to the Year 8 event and any other school initiatives coming up!

“Students sit with their parents and whilst being engaged by Dr Salter’s impressive slides and advice, complete a workbook and volunteer truths and goals to their parents.”