Principals Report

A Great First Semester

As we come to the end of the first half of the year, I’d like to thank the staff and students for their commitment to the ongoing improvement and growth of our college. There has been remarkable energy and enthusiasm as we’ve started to explore all range of possibilities to take our college from good to great.

Attendance Success

Earlier this year I wrote to families about the importance of students attending every day, and the strong link between high attendance and student achievement. Indeed, we need to maintain our efforts into the second half of the year, but I am really pleased to report we have achieved a best half-year attendance in many years – specifically, we have reduced our mid-year average days-absent figure by 15%. Congratulations to staff and students for their efforts, and families for your ongoing support – this will no doubt have an appreciable impact on the learning outcomes later this year, and in years to come.

Although I’ve often talked with families about operational matters such as attendance and uniform so far this year, internally we have been working on a number of significant improvement strategies which we believe will drive strong student learning outcomes, and I am pleased to share our progress with you.

Our Vision

Our work has been underpinned by our vision, which talks of the notion of Excellence, and our endeavour to achieve this through high expectations, backed by high support. Our intent is to bring excellence to all areas of our work, in regards to what we expect of each other, and what we expect of ourselves. To this end, there are three key areas of focus:

The teaching and learning practices in our classrooms;
The way staff collaborate to plan and evaluate their impact on student learning, and;
The strengthening of our climate through student voice.

Teaching and Learning

Adopting best-practice, our teachers have been exploring a teaching model that brings consistency around high-impact teaching practices that generate the highest levels of learning. We have spent considerable time building our understanding of the latest evidence and research and refining our model. The model has a strong student focus, ensuring we don’t just ‘deliver’ teaching, but we meet the needs of our students, and indeed, students have an equal responsibility in the learning process. Equally important, the model respects the professionalism of our teachers, as we know teaching is as much an ‘art’ as it is a ‘science’, and there needs to be flexibility for professional judgement within an evidence-based approach. I look forward to sharing this in more detail with our students and community early next term.

Collaboration & Impact

As is the case with many high performing schools (locally and internationally), our teachers have adopted the approach of working in Professional Learning Teams, or PLTs. Teachers come together on a weekly basis and work through a six-step inquiry cycle. This process links the curriculum (what we believe it is essential for all students to learn), with assessment (how we know if they’ve learned it), and teaching strategies that will have the highest impact. Further, the cycle ensures student learning is at the centre, and evaluates impact as we move through our teaching practices.

Student Expectations and Voice

This semester we reviewed our classroom expectations and management processes, with the aim to increase clarity and consistency across our college. We also worked to give students a greater voice in how they feel we might improve our school, and I’ve been impressed with their ideas and feedback. We’re pleased to be able to act on much of the feedback, with many items arriving in Term 3, including new bins (with recycling options in the yard), new basketball backboards with nets, additional toasters for breakfast club, more colour around the school, and many more.

Adjustment to Bell Times

We have been seeking feedback from students on our new scheduling this year, with the shift to a one-week (rather than three-week) timetable, and five periods per day (instead of four). The feedback has been very positive from students on both fronts and as such, this will remain our timetabling structure.

One key piece of feedback, however, has been that recess is too short. We put several options to students in order to find ways to address this, and there was a clear majority towards one option. As such, from next term recess will be extended by 5 minutes (from 20 to 25 minutes), and lunchtime will be shortened by 5 minutes (from 40 to 35 minutes). The start and end of the day remain unaffected.

Staffing

At the start of next term Mr. Michael Santo (Juinor School Leader) will have two weeks of family leave, and Mr. Justin Rea (Senior School Leader) will take three weeks of well earned Long Service Leave.

Ms. Nicole Taylor (Learning Specialist) and Ms. Kristy Bannister (VCAL Coordinator) will fill the respective Junior and Senior school roles while Michael and Justin are away, and I'm sure will be able to support you with any enquiries.

Safe Holidays

Finally, thank you again for all your support over the past six months. Have a great break; we look forward to seeing everyone refreshed and ready to go for Term 3 in two weeks.

Regards,

Adam Hogan