How student led conferences work
Current Families
Each year level and sub-school supports their students through Student-led conferences differently. Below are the specific approach for each sub-school and year level within that sub-school.
Da Vinci Years – Years 7 and 8
Student-led conferences in the Da Vinci years are an opportunity for families to see and celebrate the growth their child has achieved in their first term of this new year.
Your child works with their mentor teacher over several weeks to lead a conversation with yourself and their mentor teacher about their growth. They reflect on their learning in each subject and come up with goals to work towards.
Your role, as family, is to celebrate their growth, and support them to set goals for the new term, and ways to achieve them. This is especially important as when looking at actions within families’ control, high parental expectations have the greatest positive effect on student achievement.
Student-led conferences in the Da Vinci years occur in terms 1 and 3, on a day with no scheduled learning sessions. Parents can book a 15-minute slot with the mentor teacher who acts as a facilitator for the conference. The conference consists of three sections; the student reflection, the group discussion, and a goal-setting stage.
Bandler Parks Program – Year 9
The Bandler Parks program sees students learn to use evidence and data to determine the next steps in their learning. Facilitated using a Data Dashboard, see below, students are supported to interact with personal learning data and lead a conversation with their parents and a teacher to establish SMART Goals for their personal and academic growth throughout the year. The data dashboard contains information on the students:
- Growth Habits
- Learning Task achievement
- Attendance and Lateness
- Learning Task Submission rates
The goal-setting part of the conferences also requires Bandler Parks students to consider the rigours and expectations of various pathways including VCE, VET and alternate settings like NCAT, as well as achieving their goals through subject selection for the Ada years.
As with the Da Vinci years, Bandler Parks Student-led conferences occur in terms 1 and 3, on a day with no scheduled learning sessions. Parents can book a 15-minute slot with the mentor teacher who acts as a facilitator for the conference. The conference consists of three sections; the student reflection, the group discussion, and a goal-setting stage
The Ada Years – Year 10
As students move into the Ada years, they are supported to take ownership of their learning in school and their life outside. In addition to Students-led conferences, in Year 10 students are given an opportunity to gain career counselling and subject selection counselling, two important conversations where we’ll work together to support your child in considering the pathways options and the possible VCE/VCE VM subjects that will help them get there. These conferences, occurring in Term 2 and early Term 3, will be run on a Y10 digital delivery day, utilising Year 10 teachers during regular work hours. There will be a Conference Team to facilitate the conferences
- Careers Counselling Conference: Students complete a Career Action Plan to frame a conversation around the subjects they should choose for VCE and VET and might be interested in for tertiary education or training.
- Subject Selection Counselling Conference: Students select their VCE subject preferences for Y11
The Ada Years – VCE and VCE VM
To support the important pathways decisions being made by our VCE and VCE VM students, families of Unit 1-4 students can chose to conference with their child’s individual teachers rather than meet with a singular teacher. The VCE and VCE VM Student Led Conferences are an opportunity for reflection and goal setting regarding student progress both academically and personally within their VCE studies.
Occurring in Terms 1 and 3, families can book 8 minute slots with each VCE teacher. During these conferences, the students self-reflect and receive teacher judgements on VCE growth habits. Together, they will reflect upon progress so far and establish goals for the future.
