Dear Parents and Carers,
We have reached the halfway point in your sons’ final academic year before he undertakes his HSC. By now all boys should have received their results from the Half Yearly Examinations. I encourage all families to discuss with their sons’ these results and reflect on their strengths and areas of improvement. With respect to areas of improvement, effective and realistic strategies will need to be incorporated in order for progress to be made. A good starting point would an effective study program. I informed the students last week that there would be an expectation that they complete a minimum of two hours of study a day over the holiday period. Study needs to be doing more than reading and developing notes, it is vital that they are completing past papers and questions. The Board of Studies website has all the past HSC papers and also interactive multiple choice programs that allow students to complete HSC multiple choice questions and have them marked online. Past paper textbooks for mathematics and sciences have also arrived and been issued to students so therefore there is no excuse for students not having past papers to complete. By the end of the break, the boys will have had limited face-to-face teaching for over seven weeks. If students are not revising consistently over this holiday period, then they are limiting their achievement in the HSC. It is also important for students to have a balance between their social, sporting and academic life. I encourage all boys to do their study early in the morning so that they have the whole day to enjoy their break.
Congratulations must go to Ben Watson and Jack Breislin for recipient of the 2010 Defence Technical Scholarship, a fantastic achievement. I hope that all families had a holy, safe and enjoyable Easter.