01 April 2019 Dear Parents and Guardians,

RE: Year 9 Study Skills Pastoral Care Lesson and Year 9 Information Evening Study Skills Presentation

On Wednesday 27 March your son participated in a Study Skills pastoral care lesson designed to support his home study routine and organisational skills. This pastoral care lesson coincides with the Goal Setting Day on Wednesday 20 February as it is aimed to facilitate practical advice and strategies to help your son achieve his academic goals. Teachers facilitated the Study Skills lesson and your son worked through a Study Skills Booklet with topics and activities including:

● Growth Mindset Strategies ● Revising Goals and Strategies for 2019 ● Organisation Strategies ● School Diary Organisation Strategies ● Managing School Work, Assignments, Tests and Examinations ● Where Help Available At School ● SWOT Analysis

I have included a copy of the Study Skills Booklet with this letter to help support your son at home. To foster strong home school partnerships please go through your son’s Study Skills Booklet which he completed on Wednesday. To help students and families, the Academic Resource Centre is open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons from 3.15 - 4.30pm to help develop students’ work habits and offer a quiet space for homework and assignment work. I have also attached a copy of the Study Skills slides from the Year 9 Information Evening on Wednesday 27 March to help you support your son to achieve his goals. Please don’t hesitate to contact me at school if you have any enquiries: carolyn.obrien@syd.catholic.edu.au Yours sincerely,

Carolyn O’Brien Tony Duncan Director of Diverse Learning Principal

2019 Year 9 Information Evening Study Skills Support

Growth Mindset = Goal Setting Integrating a Growth Mindset is the key for achieving academic goals  

 A student’s ability and talent can improve with  

effort and dedication  

Goal Setting 20 February 2019 - Learn from mistakes and make changes - Implement effective strategies = study skills 

Effective Study Skills Effective study skills are crucial for achieving academic goals through:  

● Establishing strong work habits ● Implementing a study timetable - and sticking to it ● Making study notes early and ongoing throughout the course  ● Designing an effective study environment at home 

- Remove distractions - Assessment calendar - Understanding assessment task requirements and marking criteria - Being organised with assessment tasks - completing early to allow time 

for proofing and refining ● Seeking feedback from teachers before tasks are due 

- Working collaboratively with peers - Learning from other students - Teaching/Sharing - Moving from memorising concepts to applying concepts 

    

Characteristics for Academic Success ● Organised ● Collaborative and ask questions ● Recognise areas of strength and weakness ● Self discipline to resist procrastination ● Realise effort is a path to understanding and improving ● Persistence and resilience to overcome obstacles ● Being open to constructive criticism  ● Embrace challenges set by teachers ● Positive mindset - support from peers & teachers 

 

MCNS Supporting Study Skills

● Academic Resource Centre  Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday 3.15 - 4.30pm 

- Develop strong study habits - Note taking advice - Collaborative space for group work tasks  - Resources  

 ● Study Skills Lesson 27 March 2019 & another Study Skills Lesson in Term 4 

StudySkills

Year9

OnWednesday20Februaryyou,yourparent/sandhomeroomtutormetandtogethersetgoalsfor2019.

ListyourGoalsandStrategiesyouagreeduponattheGoalSettingDay:

Goal1:

Strategies:

Goal2:

Strategies:

Goal3:

Strategies

GoalSetting Activity1

Toachieveyouracademicgoalsfor2019youneedtointegrateaGrowthMindsetattitudeandreflectonyourcurrenthomeworkandstudyskillsstrategies.

GrowthMindset

Thesestrategiescouldinclude:1. Organisationskills2. Usingyourschooldiary

effectively3. Managingyourworkload4. Recognisingandmanaging

distractions5. Usingthesupportofferedat

school6. Organisinganeffectivehome

studyenvironment7. ImplementingyourGoal

SettingStrategies

MaristCollegeNorthShore

Name:

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“Foreveryminutespentorganising,is

anhourearned”

Activity2OrgansiationStrategies

Organsiationisthekeytoachievingyouracademicgoalsfor2019.Ticktheorgansiationstrategiesyoualwaysdo:

Recordallhomeworkandassessmenttasksinyourschooldiary

Useyourschooldiarytoorgansiethetimingandplanningforyourassignments

Crossoutortickeachhomeworktaskorassignmentwhenitiscompleted

Yourparent/sgothroughyourschool diarywithyou&theyareawareofyourhomeworkandassignments

Youhaveastudytimetable

Yousticktoyourstudytimetable

Youhaveatermcalendartohelporganiseyourplanningforassignments

Youhavesubjectfoldersathomeforyoursummarynotesandstudynotes

Youhaveorgansiedaneffectivestudyenvironmentathomewhereyouhaveremovedalldistractions

Yourschoollockerisorgansiedwithsubjectfoldersforhandoutsandimportantinformation

WhencreatinganewGoogledocumentyoucreateitinyoursubjectfolder

YouclearlytitleyourGoogledocumentsandfolders

YoucolourcodeyourGooglefolders

Howmanyorganisationstrategiesdidyoutick?/13

Listtheorganisationstrategiesyoushouldusetohelpyouachieveyouracademicgoals:

“Alltimemanagementbeginswithplanning”

“Thinkingtoolongaboutdoing

somethingisoftenthereasonwhyitnevergetsdone”

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Activity3

LookthroughyourschooldiaryfromTerm1Week1toWeek10.

Areyourecordingallofyourhomeworktasks?

Yes/No

HaveyoulookedthroughyourAssessmentScheduleandaddedtheduedatesforyourTerm1assignments?

Yes/No

Areduedatesclearlywritteninandhighlighted?

Yes/No

Areyoucrossingoutcompletedtasks?

Yes/No

Whenyoudon’tcompleteworkdoyourescheduleadateinyourschooldiary?

Yes/No

Whenyouhave“nohomework”areyoudoingrevisionormakingstudynotes?

Yes/No

Lookatpage10inyourschooldiary.

Listthe4importantreasonsfordoinghomework?

1.

2.

3.

4.

Listsomestrategiesyoucoulddowhenyouhave“no

homework”,seepage13inyourschooldiary

YourSchoolDiary

Activity4

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ManagingyourSchoolWork,Assignments,TestsandExaminations

Strategiestohelpyousucceedwithassignments,testsandexams:Assignments:

1. Startyourassignmentsearly2. Breakdown(Chunk)assignmentstobedoneinsmaller

sectionsoveraperiodoftime3. Understandwhattheassignmentrequiresyoutodo4. Askyourteacherforclarificationifyoudon’tunderstand

whatisrequiredfortheassignment5. Researchinformation6. Collectmaterialsorresources7. Organisetheinformationinascaffold8. Completesectionsorquestionsoneatatime9. Askyourteacherforfeedbacktocheckinhowyouare

progressingwithyourassignment10. Completetheassignmentearlytoproof11. Usetheassignmentmarkingcriteriatocheckyouhave

completedallsections12. Printyourassignmentbeforethedayitisdue

TestsandExaminations:

1. Completeallclassworkfortheunit/topic2. Ifabsentfromclasscatchuponmissingcontent3. Makestudynotesasyougothroughthetopic/unit4. Memorisefacts5. Supportandapplyfactswithexamples6. Practisenewformulasandskills7. Revisetopics/units.Refertotextbook&classwork8. Studymoredifficultsections,skillsorcontent9. Createrevisionnotesforstudy10. Usemindmapstoorganiseinformationforstudy11. Collaborativestudy–withpeersorparent/s12. Teachanotherpersonthecontentorskills13. Haveanongoingstudyschedule.Don’tjuststudythe

nightbeforeatestorexamination14. Removedistractionswhenyoustudy15. Askforhelpwithcreatingstudynotes16. Organsieallequipmentrequiredforthetestorexamat

leastthedaybefore

Assignments:

TestsandExaminations:

Listthreeassignmentandtest/examinationstrategiesyouwillusetohelpyousucceedwithyouracademicgoals:

Activity5

Askingforhelpisthefirststeptoachieve

yourgoals

AtMaristCollegeNorthShorehelpisavailabletoassistyoutoachieveyouracademicgoals.

1. AskyourHomeroomTutorifyouneedhelpwithstrategiestohelpyoumanageyourworkload

2. AskayourHomeroomTutororaseniorstudentinyourHomeroomtohelpyouorgansieyourschooldiary

3. Askyourteacherforhelporfeedbackonyourprogress

4. SeekassistancefromtheteachersandstudentsinOpenClassroom

5. UsetheAcademicResourceCentre(ARC)atlunchtimeandafterschool

6. Attendsubjecthomeworkclubs(Englishand

Mathematics)onWednesdayafternoon3.20–

4.20pmintheARC

LocationsandTimes

HelpisAvailableatSchool

AcademicResourceCentreTuesday–Friday8.00–8.35am

Lunchtime–exceptThursday

Afterschool3.15–4.30pm

MostMondays,TuesdayandWednesday

Helpwith:Studyskills,studynotes,collaborativetasks,developingstudyhabits

OpenClassroomMonday–Friday8.00–8.35am

Secondhalfoflunch(ExceptforThursday)

Helpwith:Organisingandmanaginghomework,assignments,andstudyskills.

Have you established a home study timetable?

If not ask your Homeroom Tutor for help or create one at home this afternoon.Organise using 4 x 30 minutes homework/study blocks.Block out times for dinner, exercise, outside of school commitments eg. sport training or tutor (Music or other)

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Strengths(eg.MotivationtoimprovethroughGoalSettingandStrategies)

Assignments,TestsandExaminations

HomeworkandStudySWOTAnalysis

Opportunities(eg.Committedtoimproveagrade/rank&askingforteacherfeedback)

Work,Assignments,Testsand

Threats(eg.Balancingpriorities&notstickingtoastudy/homeworkschedule)

Work,Assignments,Testsand

ASWOTAnalysisisaframeworkforidentifyingandanalysinginternalandexternalfactorsthatcanhaveanimpactonthesuccessofagoalorastrategy.CompletetheSWOTtableanalysingyourgoal/sforimprovingyourhomeworkandstudyskills.IdentifytheareasofStrengths,Weakness,OpportunitiesandThreats.

Weakness(eg.Distractionsanddifficulttostudyathome)

Assignments,TestsandExaminations