Principal Team Report

The Evolving Role of Technology in Education

On Wednesday the 13th of August I had the pleasure to attend the EduTech Congress and Expo at the Exhibition Centre along with a number of other WHSC Staff. The Congress attracts participants and presenters Australia wide as well as overseas. One of the keynote speakers was Sal Khan, who founded the Khan Academy 20 years ago while moonlighting as a Hedge Fund broker. What started as an online support program for his relatives and high school Maths has evolved into one of the largest free online tutor support programs in the world. His message has always been constant: technology is here to help not hinder and we must always ask ourselves: why are we using it?

Khan was also one of a panel of speakers responding to the issue of Generative AI and how its emergence over the last few years is really challenging the way society uses such technology tools to create. Assessing the legitimacy of such creations can be contentious but the potential of such technology to support learners is undeniable. Governments, educators, families and the software creators themselves are all stakeholders in the complex business of using such tools to make humanity smarter and hopefully wiser. 

The Revised Victorian Curriculum 2.0 embeds very directly Digital Capability as a foundational skill along with Literacy and Numeracy. This also involves ensuring staff have the digital capability, which is the skills and knowledge to tutor students, that government provides the necessary ICT infrastructure and that Data Literacy and Artificial Intelligence understanding of its impact are basic requirements for all stakeholders.

Nery Soto, our Leader of Teaching and Learning, and Laura McLure, our Leader of Mathematics presented at the Congress on the topic of: Exploring Mathematics through Art, Drama and Climate Impact through Technology. What they shared with their audience were some of the amazing ways our students are engaging with Mathematics through real life experiences and contexts. David Gill, our leader of Student Voice and Agency, also presented as a panel member on the impact of Artificial Intelligence in Learning. It is a huge endorsement of our staff that they were asked to present and we congratulate them wholeheartedly for their work.

VTLM 2.0  Explicit Teaching

One of the ways the Victorian Government wishes to enhance student learning as well as improve student outcomes is through Explicit Instruction or Explicit Teaching. What does this look like in teacher pedagogy?

• Teaching skills and concepts in small steps
• Using examples and non-examples
• Using clear and non-ambiguous language
• Anticipating and planning for common misconceptions
• Highlighting essential content and removing distracting information

Only when teachers have provided this foundation can inquiry learning really be successful for most students. The other challenge is the long held cultural norm of pass rates. Even when a student may receive 70% in a quiz or test, it means 30% of the skills and knowledge has not been learned. Yet sometimes we press on with the next topic, especially in Mathematics, which often requires a 100% understanding to access the next topic. Our goal as educators is to ensure that we meet the needs of individual who may have huge learning gaps through illness, disability or non-attendance and ensure that they have the opportunity to catch up while also extending our most capable students. This challenge is not new, and it is what most teachers do. The focus is very clearly now on all teachers ensuring that they are explicitly teaching key skills and knowledge.  The VTLM 2.0 also align closely with our own model. We ask that our parents and carers support us in this journey by ensuring  that students do have regular study routines at home, including revising and regular quiet reading ( fiction or non-fiction) and preferably hard copies. Students at every year level should also be encouraged to ensure that they are completing set work and submitting it to their teachers by the due dates. If you do need any support on this, please do not hesitate to contact the College. Please see document provided.

NAIDOC Week Celebrations

There are moments in one’s professional life that will stay with you forever. I cannot express how proud I was of our students during NAIDOC Week. The work of the Year 9 RISE class and their indigenous garden, the amazing work of our student leader, Shay Coxhead, which drove our student led assembly as well our  whole student cohort who embodied our school values. They listened and behaved with respect, kindness and empathy to our local elder and other indigenous leaders who shared their experiences and gave a beautiful message to all about the importance of unity and reconciliation.

A huge thank you to Khairi Razaai who is our  Marrung Officer. He is a champion of inter-cultural understanding and reconciliation. He too is an embodiment of WHSC values.

Master Planning

On August 21st, our College Council endorsed our Master Plan. This document becomes the basis for School Council’s submission to the Minister for Education and Deputy Premier, the Honourable Ben Carroll, for funding for Stage One of approximately 6.4 million dollars in the 2025 State Budget. The main focus of Stage One is a major upgrade to our Science precinct so that we can provide a state-of-the-art learning space for our students. The other component of Stage One is the transformation of our current Resources Centre, which includes the Library, into a Learning and Wellbeing Centre. The transition will be prototyped by the College in 2025. While the Library collection remains in L Block under the care of our wonderful Library technicians, the Wellbeing Team, including our Assistant Principal, Jeremy Woods, will also have spaces in L Block. The purpose of this innovation is to:

• Extend the opening times of L Block for all students
• Provide an adjoining space  for those who require a noise reduced environment for learning and wellbeing 
• Provide a space that is easily accessible, and student focused for any wellbeing, social or learning needs
• Provide quality, visible  learning space for teachers to share best practice and model pedagogy
• Increase student participation and ownership over L Block by providing a range of furniture options for students during the day and where they may eat food during recess and lunch if they choose to do so as long as they adhere to the protocols of respecting and valuing the space.

The funds you donate to the Library fund will help us magnify and celebrate one of the most important learning and wellbeing areas in our College. School Council would also greatly appreciate community support for our funding application. Please contact our School Council, via the College, if you would like to lend assistance in any way.

I would like to acknowledge the work of Jane Xing, our International Student Coordinator. Jane is moving into retirement with leave in Term 4. Jane has been a champion of our program, supporting international students and their families over a number of years. Our deepest thanks Jane for all your work. I would also like to welcome Randalson Xia who will  lead the program from Term Four. We know that like Jane, that he will be a champion for our International students and the benefits such programs bring to our school.

Fern Brisbane

College Principal