Principals Report
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Term 1 has proved to be extremely positive for Henry Kendall High School, however equally hectic. It has been great to have had such an encouraging start to the year, with a strong focus on our collective sense of belonging and what it means to be part of the Henry Kendall High community. Our staff have been involved in examining our core values, considering our vision for this school, and assessing our purpose. For our student this has meant; getting involved, treating each other with respect, enjoying being here, and demonstrating a desire to contribute. I look forward to this positive culture continuing as it reflects the great things that public education brings to a community.
Staff Development Day Term 2
Our School Development Day for Term 2 is Monday 29 April 2024 and will be focused on the NSW Curriculum Reform. In 2023 NSW schools began the process of incorporating the new syllabuses in every course, which will take some years to complete and will involve rewriting every teaching program, it’s assessment, and redeveloping all supporting resources. Quite an undertaking! Although the syllabuses are being released gradually there are some core fundamental understandings that apply to all subject areas, and it is this work that the teaching staff will be involved in on the staff development day next term.
Positive Attendance Is Vital
Research highlights a clear correlation between student attendance and achievement of quality academic, socio-economic and health outcomes. This research tells us that students with an attendance rates below 90% are educationally at risk.
Attendance is essentially our gateway target. If we achieve high levels of attendance for each student, then we make it possible for them to access the best possible opportunities and outcomes for their future lives – academically, socially and personally. Walking in the gate is so important.
Our attendance as a school for Term 1, 2024 is 86.4%. This is good, but it needs to be better still. Our target is for every student to be at school 95+% of the time.
Our expectations are high – and they need to be. Let’s use term 2 to really strive towards attaining that 95+% target.
Attendance Notifications
Our school provides a range of notifications to parents and carers on a regular basis regarding student attendance. One of those is a departmental requirement to notify parents and carers each term where overall attendance for any student is below 90%. In most cases these absences have been explained and are genuine, however they are still recorded as an absence on our system and the notification is a requirement that we have.
In some cases, the notifications issued in the past week raised concerns with some parents and carers. Please be assured that these letters are for your information only. If significant attendance concerns exist regarding your child’s attendance pattern the Deputy Principal will be in contact to discuss the matter.
Executive Conference
On Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 March the school executive held our annual conference, which represents a vital opportunity to spend two days focusing on our core business of teaching, learning and the development of the leadership capacities of each person.
On Monday 25 April we spent time working in three key areas. The first of these was a review of the school’s behaviour management processes and expectations, a conversation that hasn’t been had in many years. As a school we do have a high level of classroom management evident, however we have identified the need for a greater level of consistency, clear messaging around expectations, and to improve our skill development in our early career teachers.
This session was followed by an examination of high leverage strategies that can be applied in our HSC courses to maximise the depth of student learning. This session was led by our Head Teacher of CAPA Jarrod Walters, who is part of a statewide HSC Learning Community in the subject of Music and brought back his learning from this experience where the concepts were applied across all subject areas – a very valuable opportunity.
The final session of the conferences first day was to test, question and refine the values of our school identified as a staff and the vision statement developed to reflect the future intent of Henry Kendall High School. This is all part of a broader body of work we are undertaking in strengthening our school culture and a shared purpose in this.
The second day of the conference was focused on the development of leadership capacity within each member of the school executive. The day was titled ‘The Life You Lead’, and was led by Tim Perkins from Cut Through Coaching. Through the use of strategic thinking across all elements of our life, we are better placed to understand our own patterns of behaviour, frames of reference and ways of managing the daily challenges faced as school leaders.
Understanding our sense of purpose as a leadership team, our belonging to our school, a shared purpose in direction, and the mindset that we bring to our professional identity, are essential to ensure that the leadership of our school is as vibrant as it can be. Our executive team found this focus enormously purposeful and beneficial, empowering us to continue to lead our school through strengthened self-awareness and clarity.
Mr Andrew Backhouse
Principal