Dear Parents/ Guardians. We hope that you all enjoyed the break last weekend. We now have 3 weeks to mid -term break which will commence on Friday October 23rd.
1) 6th & 3rd Year October (November) Assessments
In normal circumstances, 6th and 3rd year students would have October Assessments, that are usually scheduled for the week leading up to Mid Term. This year, we have had to take into account the time that both 3rd and 6th year students have lost, particularly during March, April and May. Therefore, having spoken to our colleagues and the students, we have decided to delay the timetabling of this year’s October Assessments by 4 weeks.
This change of date to November 20th will allow additional time for our teachers of 3rd & 6th Year State Exam students to cover a larger volume of new material as well as an opportunity to revise some older material from last year.
We are unaware as to what may happen going forward with Leaving Cert and Junior Cycle examinations, scheduled for next June. Therefore, it is important that both students and parents are conscious of the importance of all in house exams that students will sit this year and have sat last year. Such assessments include, Christmas Tests, Summer Tests, November Assessments and Pre Exams. Students should also be very aware of the fact that their completion of homework and assignments are all an integral part of overall assessments should we be faced with having to complete Calculated Grades once again this year.
The new dates scheduled are as follows:
3rd Year November Assessments : Friday 20th to Tuesday 24th November inclusive- 9 exams of 1 hour duration to take place in the College Sport’s Hall (3 exams each day)
6th Year November Assessments : Wednesday 25th to Friday 27th November inclusive- 7 exams of 1 hour duration to take place in the College Sport’s Hall (2 /3/2 exams on Wed/Thurs/Fri )respectively)
Results of the above Assessments will be available to view and print from VS ware on Monday 7th December.
2) Christmas Exams for 1st Years, 2nd Years and 5th Years
We have also made some minor adjustments to the Christmas Exam Timetables as follows:
1st Year Christmas Exams : Monday 14th to Wednesday 16th December inclusive- 7 exams of 1 hour 10minutes duration to take place in the College Sport’s Hall
2nd & 5th Year Christmas Exams : Thursday 17th to Tuesday 22nd December inclusive- 9 & 7 exams respectively of 1 hour 10 minutes and 1.5 hours duration to take place in the College Sport’s Hall, the Assembly Hall & College Canteen.
3) 1st Year, TY, 3rd & 6th Year Finishing Dates for Christmas Holidays
Due to difficulties around supervision requirements and social distancing restrictions, all 1st, TY’s, 3rd & 6th Years will finish up school for the Christmas break on the afternoon of Wednesday 16th December. Teachers will issue appropriate assignments and material for 3rd & 6th Years to revise and study over the Christmas break. All 3rd and 6th year students will be expected to study at home from Thursday 17th December to Tuesday 22nd December. Please note taht the school will once again organise Christmas Study week for our exam students (3rd &6th years) on the days either side of New Year’s Day. Application forms for study will be available in the coming weeks.
4) Academic Updates for 1st, 2nd & 5th Year Parents
The information above covers a number of assessments that the students in particular year groups will be completing between now and the Christmas holidays. As Parent Teacher meetings are cancelled, for now, we will as always provide parents with as much information as is possible in relation to their son’s academic progression. In relation to 1st, 2nd and 5th year students, parents will receive a Formative Assessment comment on their son’s academic progress from each teacher in each of their subjects.
The Formative Assessment for 1st, 2nd & 5th year students will be available for parents to view and print from VS ware on Monday 9th November.
The information below on Formative Assessment and Assessment for Learning (AFL)is primarily targeted at 1st year parents who may be unfamiliar with the concept of Formative Assessments.
How is this Report Different to Others?
This report has no numeric result and no grade. It has the level at which your child is sitting the subject, it has a teacher AfL comment for each subject and it has the level of effort your child is investing in that particular subject.
Why is there no Result or Grade?
In AfL the focus is on providing the student with feedback on their learning. This feedback should help to inform, guide and shape future learning experiences. Effective formative feedback is given without results as research has shown that students who were presented with grades and comments felt that the grade cancelled out the beneficial effects of the comments. The comments in this report are intended to help the student with the direction they need to move in to improve their learning and ultimately their results. Teachers have based their comments on various AfL assessment techniques which have been carried out in their classrooms since our return in August/September.
5) 1st Year Vaccination Forms
The vaccination forms for all 1st years have been distributed. The forms need to be submitted to your son’s class tutor by Monday, October 5th. This year the HSE will not be visiting schools to administer vaccinations. Once the forms are returned, the HSE will contact parents individually and advise a date, time and clinic that you can take your son to, in order for him to receive his vaccination.
6) Amended School Calendar
An amended school calendar for the academic year 2020-21 can be found here http://stmunchinscollege.com/parents-students/school-calendar/
Have a lovely weekend,
Kind regards,
David Quilter Lorraine Shiels