Student Services - Everything you need to know!
Student Services comprises Student Advisers, a Careers Adviser and College Psychologist.
- Role of Student Services
- Support Systems
- Inclusive Education
- Transition Issues for Yr 10s
- Understanding Your Report
- Careers Information
- 80% Rule
Role of Student Advisers at Narrabundah College
Some of the issues we cover are:
- Course monitoring - Advisers constantly liaise with students about their study package, checking they will meet the requirements for an ACT year 12 Certificate or Tertiary Entrance Statement.
- Contact point for parents - Parents can ring the advisers to discuss any issues they may have regarding their child.
- College Psychologist - Our College Psychologist is a registered psychologist. Students can make an appointment to discuss a range of personal issues in a confidential setting. Parents are also welcome to ring or to visit.
- Attendance monitoring - Advisers regularly monitor student attendance and advise parents of concerns.
- Careers advice - The Careers Adviser organises career talks and visits, administers programs such as Work Experience and Australian School-based Apprenticeship programs. During the two years at college, through career discussions and various programs, students are supported to determine their post college options.
- 'N' Groups - Student Services facilitate N Groups. They run on Mondays from 12.05 to 12.30. N groups provide important information, pastoral care and support programs to support the work done through normal classes. N Group teachers are another point of contact for students seeking advice or support during their years at college.
- Transition issues - Advisers liaise with high schools to help with the transition to college as well as transition into work or further study.
- Enrolment - After an interview, advisers enrol all new students into courses.
Support Systems offered by Student Services
Library Study Hub - After hours 3.00 - 5.30pm Monday and Wednesday.
Inclusive Education
Narrabundah College is an inclusive college and is committed to providing for students with disabilities equitable and non-discriminatory access to the college program. Advice and assistance can be obtained from the College Psychologist, Student Advisers and Learning Support Teacher.
Transition issues for students coming from Year 10 into college
Subject choice
Students' main advice comes from their high school teachers, then parents, siblings and friends.
Our advice is to pick subjects that you are good at, as you can gain high scores from all subject areas. Generally, the better you are at, and the more you like a subject, the more motivated you will be to put in a strong effort. However, all students must have an English or ESL course and are encouraged to have a course in Mathematics.
Course Types
A courses are accredited by the ACT BSSS as educationally sound and appropriate for students studying in years 11 and 12
T courses are accredited by the ACT BSSS as providing appropriate preparation for higher education.
M courses are accredited by the ACT BSSS as providing appropriate educational experiences for students who satisfy specific disability criteria.
V courses are industry approved education and training programs and are combined with an A, T, or M course. Successful completion may lead to the award of a nationally recognised certificate or statement of attainment.
E courses are the study of nationally recognised vocational qualifications delivered by an external RTO or through an Australian School Based Apprenticeship (ASBA).
H courses are designed and accredited by an Australian higher education provider and successful completion of the course will be recognised towards an undergraduate degree with that provider and the ACT SSC. H courses may contribute to the student's ATAR calculation.
R Registered classification is given to units or courses designed to provide personal development, recreational or community service activities.
Choosing a college that is right for the student
Go to the information sessions, as all colleges vary in the courses that they offer, as well as varying in their culture and college climate.
Assessment (norm and criteria referenced)
Assessment in T courses is norm referenced. Students that have coasted before now find they have to work and study to achieve the same results as they did in high school.
Issues about transition
- Working to strict deadlines can be difficult for some students. Late penalties apply at college.
- Time off - Students will have timetabled lines off. You must use your time efficiently to keep up-to-date.
- Travel to get to college on time.
- Work consistently throughout the units.
- Have clear expectations for yourself.
Generally, your Year 10 work habits follow you on to college!
Understanding Your Report
Grades
A - E: Your performance against the standards for the course.
V: You have not:
- Attended regularly enough
- Completed enough work to be assessed in the unit.
Unit does not count.
S: You have missed too much work through illness / misadventure to be accurately assessed.
Unit counts towards your package.
No score attached.
Z: You have completed some assessment, but for reasons of illness or misadventure you have missed other assessments.
Scores
- Your performance compared with other students in the course.
- Standardised to help you compare your results across subjects.
- Only a guide to final results.
How are scores derived
- Moderation and meshing of raw scores to produce a comparative rank order list.
- Standardising of raw scores (open ended scale).
- Standardising to a new mean and standard deviation. This creates a STANDARDISED SCORE.
Standardising
- In the case of year 11 historical data is used
- Then OUS (other unit scores) checks the historical data.
Ultimately the Board of Secondary Studies will scale the courses based on the ability of the group in the AST and other courses.
Backscaling
- Used each session after session 1, year 11.
- Uses a common pool of marks. Standardises raw scores to the mean and standard deviation of common group of students in the previous unit.
- Ensures all units in a course are equally weighted in the standardising process.
Standardising can only be an estimate of final scores because:
- Based on previous students' achievements.
- Don't know how students will organise units into courses at end of Yr 12.
- Don't know how many students will complete courses in subject until end of Yr 12.
- Top 80% scores count.
Scores
Assessment item scores --> Unit scores --> Course scores --> Aggregate score --> ATAR
Careers Information
In the student services area we have course, degree and institution information about most universities in Australia.
Students are welcome to come and browse the material at any time.
University applications take place towards the end of September. Students apply through the admission centres. All states have their own admission centre to cater for the universities of that state. For example, UAC (University Admission Centre) caters for all ACT and NSW universities. All ACT year 12 students will be issued with a UAC guide. Victoria utilises VTAC; South Australia uses SATAC and so forth. Each state is independent so a student can apply at a NSW university as well as a Victorian one and be offered two places, one for each state.
Students should check out the web sites before they apply to see what courses are offered and by which universities.
Websites are:-
NSW & ACT - www.uac.edu.au
Victoria - www.vtac.edu.au
South Australia - www.satac.edu.au
Western Australia - www.tisc.edu.au
Queensland - www.qtac.edu.au
Northern Territory - www.ntu.edu.au
Tasmania direct to University of Tasmania - www.utas.edu.au
CIT Canberra Institute of Technology - www.cit.act.edu.au
A very useful website for career information is www.myfuture.edu.au
Course score calculations (80% Rule)
- Students are awarded a course score for each T Course completed. These scores indicate the relative ranking of students within a group and are not designed to show a level of achievement in that course.
- Course scores are not reported on the ACT Year 12 Certificate. Scaled scores for T Courses are reported on the Tertiary Entrance Statement.
- The distribution shape and the rank order of the group given by the college are maintained.
The premises for calculating and reporting course scores are:
- course scores should be based on unit scores reported over the duration of the student's program of study
- at the Moderation Scaling Group level all units are to be of equal weight
- at the individual student level there should be discounting of lower unit scores
- the same method of calculation should be used by all colleges
- the final course ranking and spacing reflected in the course scores should be validated by professional judgement
- principals are responsible for ensuring that the course scores reflect the relative achievement of students in the course.
For all course types (minor, major, minor/major, double major), the top 80% of available unit scores are to be used to calculate the course score. Once a course type is met, any additional units may contribute to course score calculation. Therefore, course scores will be based on the highest calculation determined from the following methods:
- Top 80% of the number units for minimum course requirements in the college
- Top 80% of all units completed by the student within that course
80% rule for students GAINING an ATAR – Narrabundah College specific information
A student's course score cannot drop by completing more than the minimum requirements for a course, provided they do not raise the course type to the next level (i.e. from a minor to a major, or a major to a major-minor, etc). For example, if a student completes a major comprising 3.5 standard units by the end of session 2 in Year 12, they could complete an extra unit in Session 3 Year 12 to give 4.0 standard units. A course score calculation will be made based on the best 80% of the first 3.5 standard units (the minimum course requirement) and a second calculation will be made on the best 80% of the whole 4.0 standard units and whichever course score is better will count. This will be extended to all additional units over the minimum course requirement provided the next course type is not reached.
| To complete | Minimum standard units | Extra Units | Extra Units | Extra Units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minor | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 | |
| Major | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 5.0 |
| Major-minor | 5.5 | 6.0 | 6.5 | |
| Major-minor | 7.0 | 7.5 | 8.0 |
Best 80% of units calculated
Whichever is the best 80% calculation is the final course score.
For Year 12 students enrolling in the final session this means under the conditions above your course score cannot drop by completing an extra unit(s). We encourage you to complete the full two years of study as any of the final units contain very useful material and are often some of the more interesting in the course.