SECONDARY (YEARS 7 - 10)
SUBJECTS OFFERED
- English
- Mathematics
- Science
- Selective School/Scholarship Training
- NAPLAN Training
OUR ENGLISH PROGRAM
We recognise the importance of speaking, listening, reading and writing in English and have incorporated these aspects into our lessons.
LESSON STRUCTURE
1. First Half of Lesson
Alternating each week, students will be engaged in:
- Whole class discussion and essay planning or
- Essay feedback
Whole Class Discussion and Planning Session
Students will participate in a whole class discussion about an issue and are encouraged to share their opinions in class. After the discussion, students will complete a plan for a writing task based on the topic discussed. Tutors will provide one-on-one feedback to each student during this planning session. Students will complete the essay as part of their homework.
Essay Feedback Session
In this session students will edit an essay that has been marked by their tutor. Tutors will review the feedback with students individually so that students can improve on their written expression and coherency.
2. Second Half of Lesson
Tutors will review a lesson from their English Resource Handbook which covers reading comprehension, grammar and spelling. In addition, students will have the opportunity to work on their corrections or on school tasks if required. Students will also have the opportunity for one-on-one feedback after the lessons have been explained to the class.
SCHOOL WORK
Students are also encouraged to bring in their school work. We can assist in the texts that students are studying in school, whether it be writing text responses, oral presentations or persuasive language analysis. We also conduct timed practice tasks so that students have practice in writing under timed conditions.
FEEDBACK AND ASSESSMENT
- In-class timed assessments in reading, writing and comprehension
- We conduct fortnightly feedback sessions whereby students edit sections from their work so that they can see that writing is a process of continuous improvement
- Our tutors bring home English corrections to ensure that comprehensive feedback is given on a weekly basis
- Weekly grading of lesson work from the English Resource Handbook
- Termly reports are distributed to parents to relay student progress
OUR MATHEMATICS PROGRAM
We offer a flexible mathematics program that can be tailored to each student. Depending on the learning needs of the students, tutors will either cover the content as a whole class or work with students individually with their problems.
LESSON STRUCTURE
- Tutors will review questions from student homework
- Tutors teach new content as a class or individually to student
- Tutors will review a range of questions in each worksheet, including worked examples and difficult application questions so that they are able to attempt challenging questions independently at home
- Students work independently on assigned worksheets (minimum of two worksheets per week)
EMPHASIS ON SHOWING WORKING OUT
A strong emphasis is placed on showing neat and logical working out. Developing these good habits will benefit students in the long term and is particularly relevant for junior secondary students where showing working out is often a new process.
SCHOOL WORK
Students are also permitted to bring their school work. Our tutors will teach the students at least two exercises in advance so that they remain ahead of what they are learning at school. This will help to prepare students for the upcoming exercises and gain confidence in their school work.
We can also help students prepare for their upcoming school assessments and examinations by providing extra material required or supporting them in their school-based revision tasks.
FEEDBACK AND ASSESSMENT
- Diagnostic testing is conducted to determine student level
- Weekly submission of workbooks whereby tutors check the quality of working out and if there are any persistent errors. Tutors will work with students individually if any gaps are identified in their learning
- Topic tests will be conducted at the completion of each topic
- Review of test results on a one-on-one basis to identify any gaps in learning and correction of mistakes
- Re-testing of topic tests for students to showcase their improvement and grasp of concepts
- Termly reports are distributed to parents to relay student progress
OUR SCIENCE PROGRAM
Developing strong foundations in science is critical when students select their science specialisations in VCE. As such, we have a strong focus in teaching the theory and applying them to application based problems in years 7-10.
Science lessons are primarily taught as a class and students learn from our centre's Science Resource Handbook. We incorporate a range of hands-on activities, experiments and research tasks to consolidate these concepts.
LESSON STRUCTURE
- Tutors teach new content as a class or in small groups
- Tutors facilitate discussion of concepts covered and will review questions as a class
- Whole class experiments and discussion of results will be conducted depending on the topic taught
- Tutors will review a range of questions and assign homework from the Science Resource Handbook to consolidate and apply theory learnt in the lesson
- Students work independently on assigned questions
EMPHASIS ON APPLICATION
In addition to completing review questions in class and for homework, students are engaged in a range of hands-on science activities. These include:
- In-class experiments, discussion of results and completion of science reports for homework
- Research tasks including the completion of posters and presentations to showcase learning
- Completion of experiments at home to apply learning and observe results
SCHOOL WORK
Students are also permitted to bring their school work. Our tutors will help students through any tasks that they find challenging and can provide additional material to help supplement their learning in school based assessment tasks. We will also teach two exercises ahead of the school so that students will gain confidence in their school work.
FEEDBACK AND ASSESSMENT
- Our tutors take home students' homework to correct and provide comprehensive feedback on a weekly basis
- In-class quizzes and assessment to showcase learning
- One-on-one feedback on research tasks, presentations, posters and science reports
- Termly reports are distributed to parents to relay student progress