When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.” Alexander Den Heijer

As the above quote suggests, here at Marian, we endeavour to continually improve our practice and pedagogy in order to create the best possible learning environment for our students. In order to do this, on Monday, we held our first Marian Catholic College ‘Gr8 Walk’. The premise of an Educational ‘Walk’ is for teachers to move around the School in small groups of 4-5 and visit a range of different classrooms. The purpose of this is not to check on student behaviour or to judge the teacher, but rather to create a collaborative culture, where teachers can observe and collect informal data on the ways that students learn and engage with their lesson goal.

During this first ‘Gr8 Walk’, five teachers visited a multitude of Key Learning Areas such as Visual Arts, English, Studies of Religion and Mathematics. In doing this, we witnessed a wide range of learning styles, lesson structures, ability levels; visiting classes ranging from Year 8 to Year 12. Despite the difference in Key Learning Areas and timing of the visits, we were pleased to note consistency of explicit teaching and student engagement.

This consistent evidence of quality practice here at Marian affirms much of our Professional Learning from 2018 which resulted in the establishment of the ‘MCC Gr8 Teaching and Learning Model’. The model, pictured below, demonstrates the key elements of a successful lesson, that when utilised optimises student learning, focuses on improvement and encourages engagement.

In the coming weeks we look forward to continuing more ‘Gr8 Walks’ giving more teachers an opportunity to observe student learning and quality teaching.

In order to provide a positive and inclusive learning environment Marian has joined the national BEYOU movement funded by the Australian Government and developed by Beyond Blue. Their vision is to ensure that every child, young person, educator and family can achieve their best possible mental health. This program supports Marian’s strong pastoral focus by providing resources, access to free events/webinars and online professional development opportunities for educators. This program operates as a part of the Australian student WellBeing Framework, which champions strong leadership, inclusion, a strong student voice, community partnerships and support. A letter from the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been added below to provide relevant links to sites connected to this program.

To further enhance the College environment, our School Police Liaison Officer Senior Constable Alex Davies will be visiting Marian over the coming few months to speak to the different year groups about relevant issues including bullying, Cybersafety and legalities surrounding sexting and the distribution of inappropriate material. At Marian we are acutely aware of the link between irresponsible use of social media platforms and the mental health of young people. Understanding where they stand with regards to the law, as well as what actions to take when confronted with a unwanted ‘cyber’ situation, should allow students to further develop their resilience.

Furthermore, the launch of the Marian Student Learning/Wellbeing goals will take place during our next Academic Pastoral Care session. This program endeavours to encourage our students to become more self directed in their goal setting and to identify the independent steps they need to take to achieve their aim. Students will be guided through the process which will result in students being able to identify a learning/wellbeing area of focus, create a plan to achieve their goal and develop confidence to discuss ways to further improve. The overarching desire is for students to improve their resilience through the process of directed goal setting with the support of their educators.

Through all of these wonderful College initiatives, it is clear that through both our commitment to improve teacher practice and the learning environment, as well as the wellbeing and confidence of our students, we aim to encourage students to thrive and grow to reach their full potential.

Marian’s historic first ‘Gr8 Walk’

Yours in learning,

Lora Segrave and Damien Herb

Co Assistant Principals

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