Our Senior School students have now completed their first wave of assessment for the year, with Years 10 and 12 recently successfully finishing their shutdown exams and Year 11 navigating their first assessment period under the new SATE system.

Congratulations to all of our hard working students for their application to assessment during this period and their efforts across all subjects. Of particular mention should be the application of our Year 12 QCS students who have recently finished 2 intense days of QCS Master Classes and practice exams in preparation for QCS later in the year.

Please be aware that all student reports will be sent to parents in week 10. These reports will include information on Parent Teacher Conferences which will be held from Tuesday to Thursday, 7 - 8 May.

Winter Uniform

As Term 2 and winter approaches, please be reminded of our full-school winter uniform expectations.

• Only the PBC navy blue/knit jumper or the blue or red PBC jacket with school logo is to be worn.
• Year 12 Senior Jerseys will be distributed early Term 2. These need to be worn with full school uniform underneath.
• PBC navy blue track pants with the white stripe and logo can be worn.
• Undershirts/singlets can be worn as long as they are not visible. All are to be short-sleeved and tucked in.

The above uniforms are available for purchase from the uniform shop now. No non-school jumpers are to be worn.

End of term

Parents and students are reminded that Term 2 work is being completed in classes and that students should be attending all classes up to and including Friday 5 April 2019.

Performance Monitoring

Student results will be analysed and reviewed at the end of term. All students need to demonstrate that they are actively involved in the learning process by passing at least 5 of their 6 classes. This is a basic requirement for continued enrolment in Year 11 and 12. Students with poor academic performance will enter the performance monitoring process.

This may mean a change of pathway for Year 12 students to ensure that they are eligible to receive the Queensland Certificate of Education at the end of Year 12.

Year 11 students need to complete Unit 1 before subject changes can be made (subject to timetable availability). There may be limited changes for some student mid Unit however this may require the student to do extra assessment in their new class.

Assessment dates

Year 11 students will have their end of Unit 1 assessment completed during Weeks 4 and 5 of next term (all finalised by 21 May). Once again students will need to prioritise and plan accordingly as they will have numerous assessment items due at the same time. Year 10 and 12 students will have exam shutdown at the end of week 8 and start of week 9 of next term 13-19 June.

Assessment schedules for each year level have been published on the school website and exam timetables will be published closer to the dates of assessment.
https://pbc-shs.eq.edu.au/Curriculum/Testingandassessment/Pages/Testingandassessment.aspx

Other senior schooling information

Mighty Minds is conducting a series of holiday workshops for Year 11 students in the new ATAR system.

Courses are offered for the following subjects:

• General Mathematics
• Mathematical Methods
• Specialist Mathematics
• Physics
• Chemistry
• How to Succeed in Senior and Writing Skills

Follow this link to read more about the courses: http://mightyminds.com.au/workshops/holidaycourses/ Sign up today through the Mighty Minds website: https://portal.mightyminds.com.au/holiday-course-signup

Gold Coast Trades College has the following courses available for students in Year 11 that have not accessed their VETis funding:

Term 2

Automotive -Wednesday – start date 24 April 2019

Horticulture – Friday – start date 26 April 2019

Semester 2 / Term 3

Civil Construction – Wednesday – start date 17 July 2019

Surfboard Construction – Friday – start date 19 July 2019

Construction (General) – Friday – start date 19 July 2019

Electrotechnology – Friday – start date 19 July 2019

Please see attached flyers for more information.

Gold Coast TAFE also has a variety of courses in music, digital technologies and trades for senior students to enrol in. Please see attached flyer for more information.

Aurora Training Institute is currently conducting a rolling intake of the Diploma of Business course.

This course is conducted on a Wednesday afternoon at their Robina campus from 1:30pm-4:30pm. The course will take approximately 12 months to complete at a cost of $1800 and provide a variety of tertiary options to students. Currently the Diploma course is equivalent to an OP of 9.

This may be useful for our current Year 12 students who do not have a viable tertiary pathway for 2020. The course is significantly cheaper if students commence it while they are still at school. By completing this course students may be able to apply for mid-year intake to University in 2020. Please contact Mr McDougall or Ms McQueen for more details.

Pathways Centre

Year 10s and 11s are again encouraged to register for School based traineeships and apprenticeships (SAT) in Y block. A SAT will give students paid employment, work experience and a Certificate 3 qualification which gains extra QCE credits, but also opens up a tertiary pathway.

The Pathways Centre is open before school and first break every day. Drop into Y Block and apply now for a wide variety of Traineeships and/or Job opportunities. The job boards are regularly updated, or speak with our Industry Liaison Officer about turning your current job into a traineeship. Please contact Ms Shreeve in Y block for more information.