The year ahead is an exciting one for literacy at Corpus Christi, including the return of The Vocab Lab and the introduction of a new approach to sentence structure. It’s also not long until NAPLAN. This article will also detail the school’s plan for HSC Minimum Standard testing in Term Two. 

The Vocab Lab

Our Learning Circle literacy program, The Vocab Lab, returns in Week 3 after a successful year in 2024. The data shows an improvement in spelling across the year groups involved, and feedback from students suggests they are becoming familiar with core terms for subjects before they encounter them for the first time in the classroom, which is great to hear.

Working with KLAs across the school, we have collated lists of key terms that students need to know - and need to know how to spell! Each word will be defined, or used in a sentence, and the following week students will be quizzed on their spelling. In this way, The Vocab Lab doubles as a vocabulary exercise and spelling test. The aim is to provide cognitive pre-loading of these terms before students encounter them in the classroom.

NAPLAN 2025

Year 7 and Year 9 students at Corpus Christi will be sitting NAPLAN tests online in Week 6 and 7 of this term. The test window runs from Wednesday, March 12 to Monday, March 24. 

NAPLAN testing will take place at Corpus Christi as follows:

• Wednesday, March 12 - Writing 
• Thursday, March 13 - Reading
• Friday, March 14 - Conventions of Language
• Monday, March 17 - Numeracy

Catch-up tests will take place throughout the remainder of Week 7.

Students will have an information session before the tests and they can also access the NAPLAN Public Demonstration Site to familiarise themselves with the online format.

Please note that all students are required to bring their own earphones for NAPLAN testing.

Stay tuned to the Compass newsfeed for updates. If you have any questions about NAPLAN, feel free to email me at dysonc01@dow.catholic.edu.au

Grammar and Thongs

All students (and parents) have access to the school’s Grammar and Thongs channel on YouTube. The channel features more than 60 flipped learning video lessons. Topics covered include spelling, grammar, punctuation and the origin of words.

The videos can be found on the school’s Literacy Website - https://sites.google.com/dow.catholic.edu.au/literacy/home - and they can also be found on YouTube by searching for “Grammar and Thongs” (feel free to subscribe to my channel).

Students (and parents) are welcome to access these videos whenever they feel the need to brush up on anything to do with grammar!

Students in Year 8, meanwhile, will have a focus on reading comprehension through their English classes, while Year 10 students will complete a program called “Bard Talk”, which tackles the specific literacy demands of studying Shakespeare.

HSC Minumum Standards - Year 10 2025

New minimum standards in literacy and numeracy were introduced in 2018 in NSW for the HSC 2020 and beyond. All students in NSW need to meet this minimum standard by sitting short online tests in reading, writing and numeracy.

 The HSC Minimum Standard has been introduced to help ensure students leave school with basic literacy and numeracy skills for success in life, and that students will be able to communicate their ideas effectively in the HSC exams. Regardless of students’ plans beyond school, they will need adequate reading, writing and numeracy skills.

 All students will all have the opportunity to sit their HSC exams; however, they will need to demonstrate the new minimum standard in reading, writing and numeracy in order to be awarded their HSC certificate.

For students starting Year 10 in 2025, there will be multiple opportunities to demonstrate the standard between now and when they complete the HSC, starting early in Term 2. The short online tests will take place at school and students will have multiple opportunities a year (if needed) to pass them in Years 10, 11, and 12. Students will also be able to take them for up to five years after starting their first HSC course.

Any students in Year 11 or 12 who are yet to meet the standard will also have an opportunity to sit the tests in Term 2.

For more information, you can visit https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/hsc-minimum-standard

 There is no specific study required for the tests but if students would like to prepare, they can do the following:

1. Go to the Literacy website at https://sites.google.com/dow.catholic.edu.au/literacy/home and search for the videos that address an area they would like to work on.
2. Google: “HSC minimum standards sample test questions” or visit: https://www.educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/hsc-minimum-standard/online-tests/what-to-expect-in-the-tests/sample-test-questions

Students should stay tuned to Compass towards the end of this term for more information on the HSC Minimum Standards tests.

If you have any questions about anything to do with literacy at Corpus Christi, please feel free to contact me at any time at dysonc01@dow.catholic.edu.au.

Mr Chris Dyson
Leader of Literacy and Literacy Instructional Coach