From the Head of Teaching and Learning

A very warm welcome to Term 4. We are looking forward to ensuring that all in our learning community end the academic year well. In this edition, I wish to continue the journey of unpacking our Pittwater House Learning Framework. It is my pleasure to present the third of five volumes that frame our ‘School for HEROIC Learners’: ‘Excellence in Teaching and Learning’.

We aspire to excellence in effort, determination, and dedication in academics and all our endeavours. Our staff are vital members of our community that strive for excellence in teaching and learning daily. It is important that they are given the skills and support to achieve at their best, thereby giving our students every opportunity to succeed and flourish. Our passionate teachers are vital members of our community, so we focus on staff excellence and welfare, to maintain the best standards of practice and the highest levels of professionalism. We support a performance development culture where outcomes are acknowledged, and staff are provided with opportunities to maximise their professional excellence by seeking higher levels of accreditation and tertiary study to connect with their students HEROICally.

Our teaching staff work in a collaborative inquiry cycle - an evidence-based approach that provides them with the structure to plan, design, implement and reflect on what went well and what could work even better next time. This inspires new thinking, which builds a strong culture of professional learning. With ongoing Professional Development days for staff, we support a performance development culture where opportunities to seek higher levels of accreditation are provided, and outcomes acknowledged. On Monday we engaged in a purposeful day of preparing robustly for the term ahead. The focus was on ensuring that our Pittwater House Teaching and Learning programs for Term 4, embrace the reforms of the latest NSW Curriculum Reform, whilst passionately adhering to our teacher-framed/student-led Deep Learning model. Next Friday marks a significant day of recognition for our profession as we join our global colleagues to celebrate ‘World Teachers Day’. At a more local level, we celebrate the achievement of one of our colleagues; Miss Caitlin Wilcox, our Year 2 Primary teacher who has successfully been awarded as a finalist in ‘The Teachers’ Guild of NSW Early Years of Teaching - Primary School Division’. ‘Hat’s Off’ to teachers is the motto of this year’s World Teachers’ Day and thus I hope you enjoy the selfies attached to this article as we enjoyed as a staff a fun moment on Monday's Professional Learning Day, to recognise the enormous impact that our wonderful teachers make in the lives of your children.

‘Hat’s Off’ to our wonderful Pittwater House staff.