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Term 2 is a very busy period of assessment for students in all year levels. Despite the fact that assessment dates and timelines are published well beforehand, this can be a stressful time for students, parents and teachers alike. Most OLMC students take great pride in their work and obviously hope to do well. Parents and teachers also invest a great deal in students’ academic progress and hope to see consistent work rewarded.

Despite these shared good intentions on the part of everyone, as deadlines loom things can unexpectedly go wrong. It is during times such as this that it may be necessary for parents to contact a subject teacher, perhaps to clarify expectations about a task or to confirm dates for a test. When it comes to questions about coursework and assessment, the subject teacher is always the most appropriate person to contact, rather than the Pastoral Leader or Year Level/House Coordinator. The subject teacher will understand the nature of the task in question and obviously knows the student.

Timely communication between parents and teachers is welcomed by OLMC staff as a message received from a parent or guardian may alert a teacher to a student of concern when they are unaware. Examples of such concerns may be lack of clarity about the nature of a task, confusion as to materials that may be used in an assessment, especially one completed under test conditions, or confusion as to how the assessment task is to be submitted for grading.

When faced with concerns such as these, which left unaddressed can grow into daunting problems for students, timely contact with the subject teacher is essential. At OLMC we encourage students to approach their teachers when seeking clarification, however; at times the parent or guardian may themselves wish to make contact. It is strongly recommended that parents and guardians ‘cc’ the relevant Learning Area Leader into the email as it is likely that they will be able to contribute to discussions about the inquiry, or provide direction if the teacher is unable to address the question.

A list of Learning Area Leaders and their email addresses is provided below.