Homework Support Group

Last week we began our Homework Support Group! Thank you to all that attended and our wonderful staff for volunteering their time to support our students strive for success. 

At Ripley Valley, our students own their learning and strive for excellence. We hold high expectations for all our students and encourage them to hold high expectations for themselves. We know that Secondary schooling is a big jump from Primary school and the demand of homework and assessment increases. To support our students with this journey, we have created the Homework Support Group. 

Teachers volunteer their time to dedicate an afternoon in supporting students to: 

• Build confidence in students to ask questions about their homework or assessment tasks 
• Support students to schedule their homework tasks and assessments 

• Develop good study habits for Senior schooling 

This is an invaluable opportunity for students to drop-in and seek guidance and support from Ripley Valley staff. If you notice your child struggling to organise their time, needing further help with Homework, or just needs a quiet space to study, encourage them to attend the Homework Support Group! 

Targeted Intervention trial

In addition to the Homework Support Group, we also have the Homework Club. The name will be changing based on student feedback. Access to this group is by referral only and is run by our Speech and Language Pathologist, Teacher Aides and Head of Inclusion. This program is specifically tailored to support students with Learning Disabilities' or Specific Learning Disorders. Students work with support staff to master skills in studying, reading and comprehension. As it is a trial, admission is limited and we will be evaluating its potential to run multiple groups in the future.

End of Semester Support Plan Meetings

I am conducting meetings with families to review students' Support Plans and Support Needs as identified by their teachers. This meeting will also allow you and your child to have input into their Support Plans. If you would like to book in a meeting, see the details on Daymap.

Over Semester 1, we have been gathering data around your child’s strengths and support needs. They have completed their transition in Ripley and our staff have:

• got to know your child,
• collected data on their engagement with school and academic achievement,
• observed their behaviour at school,
• observed their support needs.

In Secondary, our students are making their journey to becoming their own advocate for their learning so we believe it is very important for the student to have a say on what supports they want. 

(Illustration by Chris Vallo: CAST; 2013)

Our staff have been working with students to help them develop ways to communicate when they need help. We are also targeting this through our Weekly Expectations in Access class. 

It is so important that students learn how to ask for help when they need it. We remind the students that:

These are all important skills we are teaching our students to develop in order to seek support and feel success. Sometimes, your child will need you to model this for them and support them with asking for help. If you notice they are struggling, one way you can help is to support your child to email their teacher about what they need help with.

One graphic we often show the students is the Iceberg. We often do not see all the effort and persistance that goes with achieving something. The Iceberg Illusion is a great visual to chat to your child around their effort and their goals for their education.