Creating the conditions for success

Our school values and creating a climate of success

This term our sub-schools are working with staff, students and parents around how we 'Create the Conditions for Success'.  This means looking at our 'ways of being', both individual and collective, to ensure that we are working together to enact our shared values of Achievement, Curiosity, Humanity and Fairness.

For some students, this may mean being supported to reflect on their learning behaviours and feedback from teachers: focussing on being in the right place at the right time, ready to learn and maximise their achievement.  For others, it may be involvement in events such as the Year 9 Intercultural Day, Year Level Philanthropic Projects, Senior Solstice or the School Production, all of which highlight our cohesion as a community and our values of Humanity and Fairness.  

For staff, it means that we are working collectively to see that our expectations and processes in each classroom are consistent and that they encourage the participation and involvement of all students. At the moment we are particularly looking at how language communicates mutual respect in the classroom and the yard. The student Captains’ Conference in Week 4 will also explore some of these ideas.

This work is also supported by our long-term involvement in the Respectful Relationships initiative of which we are a lead school. This whole school approach is being promoted by the Victorian Government in response to the Royal Commission into Family Violence and focusses on using education to address the key drivers of domestic violence, including gender inequality and gender stereotyping.

Last Monday, staff were engaged in an introductory presentation by the Department's project lead, Sharon Simon. The project (at the Northcote High School level) was also presented to School Council at the end of last term. This work will continue throughout this year and 2018, with a trial of 'bystander' training scheduled for a small group of students and teachers this term. 

In Term 2 the Respectful Relationships implementation team completed a gender equality audit and as a result we will be:

• Providing staff, student and parent workshops to increase awareness and build community confidence
• Reviewing existing curriculum and embedding the Respectful Relationships curriculum resources into the Connect and Health programs across the school
• Reviewing NHS policies
• Engaging with students to get their feedback about their experiences

A useful link for further reading is the Australian Government's site https://www.respect.gov.au/