Grammar News

Deputy Principals

LANCE RYAN

Deputy Principal -

Teaching & Learning

 

 

 

Our students sit firmly and proudly at the heart of our Teaching and Learning Model at Oakleigh Grammar.

All efforts are focused on achieving our mission to create quality learning opportunities for every student, to enable them to reach their full potential. Success for every student both in their personal and academic growth and achievement is the driver of our Teaching and Learning Model.

To better understand if and how each student is improving, it is essential to enter into the positive circle of influence, in which quality feedback and evidence of learning is vital. Providing guidance to our learners as to where they have met key outcomes and where they did not, is giving to them the knowledge they need to improve and is a key process of them ‘moving forward’.

However, this feedback is only part of the process of growth and achievement. What we have to do is to ensure we have evidence of the learning taking place. It is not enough to show how something can be done better, it needs to be embodied, enacted and shown to be in use. It is only in understanding the differences between what we have and what was, that we can see genuine learning has taken place.  

Learning is at the centre of growth and achievement, and is the purposeful activity in which student growth and achievement occurs. The importance of identifying and using the evidence of learning cannot be overstated. As a measure of learning, not only is seeing and analysing the evidence vital, but using it as basis to further inform feedback to each student to influence better outcomes is just as important.

The circular nature of quality feedback, giving rise to quality evidence and its impact upon producing valuable feedback sounds common-sense, but as we know, much common-sense is not commonly known. Our Oakleigh Grammar Teaching and Learning Model makes it clear and unequivocal to students, teachers, parents and all, that great learning must have each student at the centre. It must provide each student the highest standard of feedback and show evidence of learning so that continual growth and achievement can be made.

 

 

PETER DICKINSON

Deputy Principal - Operations

 

 

 

Student Wellbeing

The Resilience Survey is an online national survey that collects, analyses and reports the resilience of young people at a cohort level in terms of their strengths, life satisfaction, hopefulness, anxiety and depression, coping style, and risk and protective behaviours. Specifically, the survey measures the resilience and wellbeing of young people across 9 key domains: Understanding Self, Social Skills, Positive Relationships, Safety, Healthy Body and Healthy Mind, Learning, Positive Attitude, Positive Values, Positive Identity. Our student results are tracked in each of the domains against national norms. For each year level and each school, we look to celebrate the strengths but also look to areas where there may have been concerns. Targeted actions are then incorporated into the pastoral care curriculum. 

 

In recent months, the pastoral groups within each year level (Years 3 – 12) have had a chance to analyse this year’s data to understand better their students’ wellbeing strengths and challenges and begin to consider and implement key actions. We are able to target initiatives at each year level. We also look across year levels and track changes longitudinally from year to year.  

 

As part of our review processes, we are always keen to validate and applaud student voice in the development of actions as this is empowering them to share responsibility for developing and enhancing their own resilience, mental health and wellbeing. For example, across many of the year levels, our pastoral teams have worked with the students to unpack some of their responses and draw on the ideas of the students to help make positive changes in some of the areas highlighted as concerns.

 

Whilst there is a different picture for each year level, I share some common elements that came through this year’s results from across the school. In reference to some of the areas where Oakleigh Grammar students tend to have a higher level of positive response, these included:

  • Feeling safe within the home
  • Having a sense of being trustworthy
  • Believe it is important to help others
  • Being able to come up with solutions to solve problems

Some of the areas, where our students did not have such a high level of response, relative to their peers across Australia, included:

  • Excessive use of devices late at night
  • Feeling tired and not getting enough sleep
  • Feeling anxious and not being able to control the worrying

We will continue to reflect on our practices to improve what we do but are driven by a strong desire to ensure that our support programs provide the best possible school-based pastoral care to meet the needs of our Oakleigh Grammar students. We also know that student resilience and mental health data are strongly linked to learning outcomes, so it is vital to know what students are experiencing in school and at home.