What Our Students Are Telling Us About Teaching and Learning
by Ms Shareen Bottrell, Assistant Principal
Box Hill High School
A few times a year, we ask our students how things are going in their classrooms what's working, what's engaging them, and where they'd like more support. We do this through two surveys, the Attitudes to School Survey (AtoSS), run by the Department of Education, and PIVOT, which we run three times a year ourselves.
These surveys give us honest, in the moment feedback that helps every teacher, Domain area, and Sub School keep improving. Over the last two years we have also asked students some extra questions about explicit teaching of writing and goal setting, since these have been a real focus for us.
One thing we love tracking is how engaged and challenged students feel day to day in the classroom.
Below, you can see how things have shifted since 2022 (the start of our current four-year school plan) through to this year, 2026 (its final year).
| Factors | 2022 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Effective teaching time | 68% | 69% |
| Differentiated learning challenge | 62% | 64% |
| Stimulated learning | 59% | 62% |
| Effective classroom behaviour | 62% | 65% |
% means positive response from students
School improvement goals that may have helped the data improve:
Whole School focus on explicit teaching of sentence level strategies through modelling their own thinking out loud so students can see exactly how a confident writer plans and builds their ideas and develops sentences.
Whole school focus on regular checking for understanding in the moment and then responding if students understand or need more support. This allows teachers to know where students are at and how to differentiate.
Working together on moderating assessment. Our teachers have been using moderation as a tool to make sure tasks are consistent and pitched at just the right level of challenge across year levels.
PIVOT Student Survey Results
PIVOT is a student survey about learning that is completed each year in Terms 1, 2 and 3.
The survey provides valuable feedback about students' experiences in the classroom and helps us identify both our strengths and areas for continued growth.
In the most recent survey, students identified the following as key strengths:
Teachers know a lot about the topics they teach.
I know how I am expected to behave in class.
This teacher respects me for who I am.
Students also identified the following as areas for ongoing focus:
This teacher helps me to set goals for my learning.
This teacher often works with me one-on-one or in small groups during class.
Supporting students to develop self-regulation and become confident in setting meaningful learning goals remains a key priority across the school.
We will continue to strengthen our practices in this area, with the aim of seeing "This teacher helps me to set goals for my learning" become a reported strength in the 2027 PIVOT survey.