Director of Curriculum

From the Director of Curriculum, Mr Damian Kinnersly

2022 End of Semester 1 Statement of Attainment Reports

Semester One Statement of Attainment reports will be available from 4:00pm (Friday, July 15) via PAM. An explanation of the terms used for the report work habits and practices can be found on the home page in PAM in Knowledge Banks/Parent Information.

The teachers of St Patrick’s are committed to real-time, continuous reporting. As a parent, this means that you have access to your son’s performance on all assessment tasks via PAM within two weeks of the assessment being submitted. Feedback for each assessment task has been provided in a number of forms including assessment rubrics, criterion sheets, annotated assessment tasks, or direct use of the written feedback section within PAM. I encourage each parent to make direct contact with your son’s subject teachers if they wish to discuss elements of the report and in regards to ongoing progress and results throughout Semester 2.

 

2023 External VET Applications

The VET offerings that are accessible to students as an additional study option are open for applications on Monday, 1 August. First round applications close on Friday, 12 August and any applications after this date are subject to spaces being available. These VET programs are suited for students who are seeking vocational training and qualifications to complement their senior studies and are two-year programs.

Positions in these programs are not guaranteed and an application must be submitted for consideration through the Highlands LLEN website and the College’s subject selection process. Students seeking to enrol in these external courses must undertake an interview with the Director of Curriculum, Mr Kinnersly, as part of this process to help determine suitability with a student’s learning program.

External VET courses incur additional fees as they are conducted by external TAFE providers and will be added to the College school fees. Typically, a course may cost between $1000 and $4000 per year. The cost varies upon which course the student wishes to undertake and numbers of enrolments in the program from all schools in the Ballarat region. Final costings cannot be confirmed until early 2023. Parents are asked to contact the Finance department in regards to payment plans if required.

An information session for students will be held in the week prior to applications opening during a lunchtime. Parents can also contact the Director of Curriculum directly for further advice via email dkinnersly@stpats.vic.edu.au

Prior to this, I encourage families to visit the following websites for further information regarding VET in the VCE and VET offerings within the Highlands cluster.

VCAA Get VET – https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/studentguides/getvet/Pages/Index.aspx

Highlands LLEN VET – https://www.highlandsllen.org/page/vet-cluster/

 

VCE Certificate changes – Introduction of the Vocational Major

In 2023 the State Government is introducing the first stage of changes to the VCE. The most significant of these is the creation of the Vocational Major stream within the VCE. This program has replaced VCAL and is now fully incorporated within the attainment of the VCE. This program is still based on applied learning principles but follow the same rules for attaining a satisfactory completion as other VCE subjects. The Vocational Major will be introduced at Year 11 in 2023 at St Patrick’s College and Year 12 subjects offered in 2024. This stream is non-scored and students undertaking this course of study are not intending to attain study scores or an ATAR.

For families and students interested in this stream of the VCE please refer to the subject information that will be available to students shortly. I also encourage investigating the Vocational Major through the following websites.

Many Talents, One VCE

https://www.vic.gov.au/many-talents-one-vce

 

VCAA – About the VCE Vocational Major https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/Pages/AboutVCEVocationalMajor.aspx