Principal Report

It is amazing to reflect upon how much we have already achieved as a school in this our first year. Stepping into our Performing Arts Centre, you can’t help but being blown away by the transformation that has taken place. It’s been a privilege to give students access to this new facility and to witness their hushed ‘woahs!’ as their eyes try and take in this space that is vaguely familiar but has undergone such a dramatic change to render it almost unrecognisable.

And it’s pretty humbling to hear students say how proud they are of their school and how excited they are to fill this space with their learning. As principal, I can’t wait to be in the audience with you to watch your children pushing themselves beyond their comfort zones and developing their gifts and talents on the stage. Our vision for this space is that it becomes a hub of creativity- not just for our school, but for our wider community. I’m excited about the potential this facility has for bringing groups together with our school acting as the heartbeat in a healthy, thriving community.

And whilst I can marvel at the developments that our growing school is undergoing, I can’t help but reflect on the journey so far: brick by brick. As principal, it is clear to me that the changes that we can see within our school- that seem dramatic from a distance- are the result of a thousand tiny actions, so many faltering steps that help us reach our goal. Real change is never a smooth ride and progress poses challenges at every stage. Our building program has suffered many setbacks, but it has been the clear vision of what the end goal means in terms of enhancing the life choices of your children that has helped us reach this point. We are committed to creating an environment for learning that will provide opportunities for growth for all students and to provide high quality facilities that will enable this growth to occur whilst meeting the demands of an ever changing world. Your children deserve the very best and we will continue to work hard securing the resources needed to develop our school.

However, I recognise that buildings alone will not secure the aspirational outcomes that we are working towards for your children. It is innovative teaching and learning that makes the difference- coupled with student engagement borne from strong relationships between students, parents and staff. Our Professional Learning Communities this term will be focused on an area that is central to our improvement agenda: effective assessment and moderation. Our teachers are working hard to use research driven strategies to increase their collective efficacy and improve their capacity to be able to feedback to each student what they need to do in order to take that next step of improvement. As our Year 12 students know all too well, what seemed like a road stretching out into the distance in Y7 now just feels like 5 big steps to take them to where they are now: standing on the edge of the next part of their journey. There’s a saying about setting targets and high aspirations that goes 'Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.' And there is clearly a link to the ambition we have for our school and the journey we are on.

This is rocket science!

It requires teachers to work together in order better understand the complexity of learning and find improved ways to provide feedback that makes a difference. We know that all students want to learn and grow, but they need the tools to do so. If you consider how hard it is to learn any new skill (if you have any doubt, watch me cut up the golf course twice a year) and then think about how each part in a process fits together: that’s where our work lies right now. Feedback is critical in all walks of life and we want our students to be able to ask for guidance and know how to act on the advice that they are given. I am so proud of the challenges that our teachers have set themselves and the desire that they have to improve their collective practice: each step that they take is a step closer to ensuring that every child experiences good growth. As our Year 12 students understand, they are in direct competition with their peers throughout Victoria so we need to work hard and work together.

I know that Woodmans Hill students are more than ready to take on this challenge and build their future with us. Over the course of the last week, I have been energised by our new student leadership group who are willing to work with us to make the changes needed. They will be acting upon data from the ‘Student Attitude to School Survey’ to provide an authentic voice and innovative ideas that will help us move closer to the school they want to be part of. I have also taken great encouragement from our first ‘Careers Pathway Fayre’ in which Carolyn Gregg invited representatives from a wide range of industries and professions to talk to our Year 9 & 10

students about their own journey towards realising their dreams. Our students and staff are ready to move our school forward and we are going to do it together… step by step.

Stephan Fields

2020 Student Enrolment Applications:

French students cook pancakes

French students cook pancakes