From the Head of Junior School

On Monday, I was fortunate to be part of a study group invited to visit Haileybury, a co-educational independent school in Keysborough, Melbourne. Haileybury uses an explicit teaching model to deliver the curriculum that includes direct instruction and well-developed learning routines. It was a privilege to get the opportunity to see their teachers in action and to see the students engaged in their learning. Haileybury has been developing its curriculum and pedagogy for 20 years and this has certainly been reflected in its results. 

Our visit was part of our partnership with La Trobe University as a Momentum School. In 2023, we started investigating how we could adjust our curriculum, teaching, assessment and feedback methods, with the aim of improving the academic outcomes for our students. 

As I have outlined in previous issues of the Girton eLink, this was driven not by poor results, but by a desire to move from having good results to excellent results. Last year, Dr O’Rielly launched Girton’s new assessment standards. These standards were developed recognising that the average performance of our students is usually 60-65%. This is higher than the average national performance figures, so our assessment expectations of our students were also set slightly higher under the new assessments.

Over the last 18 months, several of our year levels have been trialling explicit teaching methods aimed at improving outcomes in reading, writing, spelling and numeracy. Our Year Two to Six students have implemented Spelling Mastery this year, which is an explicit, direct instruction program. Next year, all our classes will be using explicit teaching methods, and we will be implementing standard learning routines from Prep to Year Six. Visits to schools like Haileybury help us to see how schools with a great deal of experience in explicit teaching bring all the elements together to create a cohesive, high-performing school. The next few years will be exciting for us as a school as we develop and refine our model.

The coming set of holidays mark the halfway point of the year for us, and it has been a very busy and productive first semester. In addition to completing their lessons and assessments, our students have also competed at the Swimming, Athletics and Cross Country Carnivals.

We have had some disruptions with the completion of the Angus MacKay Pavilion build and the Higgs Hall refurbishment, but our students have taken it all in their stride. We are hopeful that we will be able to move classes back into Thomas Building as the work on Higgs Hall progresses next term. Unfortunately, it is taking longer than we anticipated. Our architects and builders are working with structural engineers to get a more comprehensive report of the repairs that are required and to get the requisite permits for any demolition and rebuilding works. We hope to be able to share a more definitive timeline at the beginning of next term. 

Finally, before we finish the term I want to wish Mary, our Council Crossing Supervisor, well as she takes some leave in Term 3. Mary has become part of our community and loves keeping our students and families safe each morning and afternoon. We look forward to welcoming her back in Term 4.

I wish all of our students, staff and families a restful and safe holiday break and look forward to greeting everyone when Term 3 commences.

Mr Don Thompson

Head of Junior School