Principal's Report
I would like to take this opportunity to again thank you for your support during our extended period of lockdown and remote learning this term.
As you are aware, the situation regarding coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to evolve. I will provide information to you as soon as I can after any announcement of changes following decisions about school operations based on the advice of Victoria’s Chief Health Officer and the Department of Education and Training (DET).
Over the past week we have received feedback from students and parents in regard to the current round of remote learning. Much of this feedback has centred around student wellbeing and also the use of a broader array of digital tools by teachers with students. As a result of this feedback, teaching staff have been making modifications to the way they are working with students, this includes:
- Daily check in for each class via MS Teams Video. This check in, isn’t necessarily about delivering content or teaching and learning but more to support the engagement and connectedness of our students with each other and with our school. The opportunity to see familiar faces and smiles is invaluable and something we cannot under estimate for our students at this time.
- Our instructional sessions during the day will only run for 60 minutes and we ask that all explicit teaching takes place in the first 25 minutes only and that this is via MS Teams. The remainder of the time is for students to complete work, ask questions and to be provided with support by their teacher. This should ensure that students are not left with work to complete later in the day and thus causing undue stress at home. The exception to this is our senior students who are busily preparing for assessments and end of year exams.
- Lesson plans should be clear and articulate so that students know what they need to do, where they need to access things and have the required resources attached. These should be on XUNO prior to the start of the relevant day.
- Assessment tasks will continue to be delivered remotely for all students. Teachers will ensure that these are modified for remote delivery, including a shorter time frame and modified tasks, all administered in line with our school based assessment advice for remote learning.
At the moment our teachers are asking all of their students to complete a short PIVOT survey about the teaching practice that students are experiencing in their classes. We ask that all students take the time to complete this survey as it provides us with invaluable information that will support us to ensure learning is meeting your needs.
At this point in time, we will not be transitioning back to onsite teaching and learning until Term 4. This future transition back to school will provide challenges after such a period away from the school setting and routines for all of us. It’s going to be critically important that we work very closely together to ensure that we provide the very best possible support for the ongoing wellbeing and learning of our students and your children.
I will continue to provide updates as information becomes available for students and parents over the coming weeks. I encourage you also to keep up to date via our ESC Xuno Portal, our fortnightly newsletter and our ESC Facebook Page.
Strong NAPLAN results
The incredible resilience and hard work of Victorian educators, students and families has been reflected in the remarkable results for this year's NAPLAN tests. NAPLAN results were released last week, with Victorian schools demonstrating improvement, despite the challenges of remote learning.
The Department of Education stated on their website “Victoria has held the top spot as the highest-performing jurisdiction on seven out of ten measures in the primary school years. Our Year 3 and Year 5 numeracy results were the highest in the country.”
“Year 7 students achieved the highest scores of any jurisdiction for the foundation skills of Reading and Numeracy, and our Year 9 students achieved the highest scores for Spelling.”
The pleasing performance of the Year 9 cohort was also celebrated. “For the first time, almost 19,000 Year 9 students are receiving certificates to recognise their excellence or significant learning growth on their Year 7 NAPLAN results.”
The College is extremely proud of our Year 7 and Year 9 students who took part in the NAPLAN testing this year. The College will receive individual student results this week and these will then be distributed to families. Tune in to next edition of the newsletter for a summary of our performance at ESC in 2021.
University of Melbourne Hansen Scholarship
We are extremely proud to announce that Huda Mousawi one of our Year 12 students and also a College Captain has been accepted as one of 20 students Australia wide to be a recipient of the University of Melbourne Hansen Scholarship. Huda is extremely excited and if she can get the ATAR she is chasing, she will be provided with onsite accommodation, funding and many other benefits for the duration of her under-graduate course. An amazing achievement by an amazing young lady who is a fantastic ambassador for our school. So, when you are thinking things are tough and trying, turn to these moments of celebration and inspiration.
Congratulations Huda!
Brad Moyle
Principal