Assistant Principal  -Curriculum

Today, my newsletter is about feedback and consultation.  This is in reference to the information we receive from students, parents/caregivers and staff.  An example of this is the recent Mobile Phone Policy Survey.  This survey was done by students, parents/guardians and staff.

Theory

Before I go on, I’d like to explain the process and theory behind why we ask for feedback and what we hope to achieve in doing so.  Firstly, it is important that we all understand that there are three types of decisions in an organisation, like our school.

Three Types of Decisions 

There are three types of decisions, based on the amount of feedback needed.

1. Communication

No feedback.  The decision is made by the Principal or APs and Principal.

2. Consultation

Feedback is asked for from stakeholders.  

Then, the decision is made by the Leadership Team or Principal/APs

3. Collaboration

Everyone's voice heard and opinions are equally important.  Joint decision.

The decisions I am referring to in this article are those based on the feedback.  So, these decisions are examples of Consultation.  We, as a Leadership Team, strongly value the opinions of parents, guardians, students and staff.  We will look closely at the feedback and make decisions based on these ideas.

The other theory-based idea I’d like to mention is about change management.  In general, people do not like change.  That’s fair enough.  However, sometimes change is needed.  I am a firm believer in the following principle:  

People are more likely to embrace change if they: 

1. Believe (or at least know or understand) the WHY behind the change

and

2. Have been consulted in the decision making process.

I realise these two ideas pass most people's “common sense test”, so are not radical thoughts.  But I’m sure you can think of changes that have been made in large organisations that have not gone well because one or both of these have not occurred.  At O’Connor, we are strong believers in ensuring our community understands WHY a certain change is needed, and also involve you all in the decision making process.  The second of these is done using a variety of data collection methods including survey results and anecdotal conversations. 

Generally, parents say that their child/children feel safe and valued at school.  They are also happy with the progress they are making.  Parents like the communication through Compass and the newsletter, but some have said that they would like more feedback from teachers on their children’s progress. From this, I believe we need to improve the information given on the Learning Tasks so that regular feedback is easier to access and understand.

Students and parents have both commented that they (the students) need to be better prepared for the jump in expectations from Year 10 to Year 11/12.

For some issues there were mixed messages.  For example, some parents and students say we are too strict on uniform, while an equal number say we are not strict enough.  Finally, there was (earlier in the year) a clear message from parents and staff that phone use by students needed to be reduced/moderated.  This has been acted on with the new Mobile Phone Policy.  I’ll elaborate more on that next…..

The Mobile Phone Policy Survey (Last week, Week 5 Term 4)

The survey I want to mention is the recent Mobile Phone Policy survey.  As we did this on a local level, we had the results straight away.  I’ve read every single one and will try to articulate the main points. 72 parents/guardians, 37 staff and 218 students filled in the survey.

On the whole, most people agreed that the policy is working well with a marked decrease of phone use by students both during classes and at breaks.  Nearly everyone (yes, even students) sees the advantages of being more focussed in class by keeping off their phones.  Keeping them in their bags was by far the most popular plan.  Most parents think they should not be allowed to be used at all during the school day, but students think they should be able to use them without restriction during breaks; just not in classes.  “Teacher permission to use” or “not allowed at all” during classes did not have a clear opinion across all three groups.  It was a similar story with the “one warning given or not’ question.

As a Leadership Team, we’ll look through the data and amend the Mobile Phone Policy in the coming days.  It will then be implemented in its final version on day 1 2024.  Until then, there are no changes with the current policy still in play.

Thanks, everyone, for your continued feedback and support of our awesome school.  I love coming to work each day!

Mr Stephen Chapman

Assistant Principal - Curriculum

Never stop learning; for when we stop learning, we stop growing  - Jack Lewman