Teaching and Learning  

Adam Rompel

Innovation and Improvement in Teaching and Learning

At Kensington Community High School, innovation and continuous improvement in teaching and learning remain at the heart of our practice. This term, staff have been engaging in collaborative planning sessions and targeted professional learning focused on explicit instruction and data-informed practice. Our teaching teams are exploring new ways to personalise learning, integrate wellbeing through Respectful Relationships content, and use real-world projects to deepen student engagement. These efforts are already translating into improved classroom consistency, stronger student-teacher relationships, and greater clarity in learning goals across all subjects. As always, our goal is to create meaningful, supportive, and effective learning experiences for every student.

Staff Professional Learning: Focus on Explicit Teaching

Staff have been deeply engaged in professional learning centred around explicit teaching — a research-based approach that provides students with clear, structured instruction. Through regular workshops teachers have focused on refining their use of learning intentions, success criteria, and worked examples to support student understanding. The professional learning has also emphasised the importance of modelling, guided practice, and regular checks for understanding to ensure no student is left behind. By aligning our teaching strategies across the school, we are working to create more predictable, purposeful, and effective learning environments that empower all students to succeed.

Student Feedback Highlights Growth

In term two, our students completed the Attitudes to School Survey. The results affirm that our focus on quality learning and engagement is having a real impact. Overall, the data from our students is positive, I would like to highlight key positives from the results:

1. Effective Teaching Time - The Effective Teaching Time category has an overall positive response of 86%, with particularly strong results from Year 9 (85.7%) and Year 12 (81.8%). This suggests students feel their time in class is well-used and purposeful.
2. The statement “My teacher explains difficult things clearly” received very high positive ratings, including 85.2% overall and 87.5% in Year 9 and 12, indicating students appreciate clarity in instruction — a key element of explicit teaching.
3. Senior Years Confidence – Among Year 11 students, over 76% positively rated their teachers' preparation and clarity, showing growing confidence in our VCE-VM and VCE pathways.

We’re pleased to share that this year’s data shows improvement across all areas of the ‘Effective Teaching Practice for Cognitive Engagement’ domain. Compared to last year, we saw higher positive responses in Effective Teaching Time, Differentiated Learning Challenge, Stimulated Learning, and Effective Classroom Behaviour.

As we head into Term 3, we remain focused on embedding our responsive instructional model, which supports all students in achieving personal and academic success. Thank you to our dedicated staff and engaged families for your continued partnership.