This month the Department of Education is celebrating government schools and has been working with Principals and leaders to identify examples of practice which meet the definition of excellence. Sometimes, I believe, it can be easy for us to get caught in the grind of the day-to-day, immerse ourselves in our work, and perhaps not reflect as often as we can and as deeply as we can on the excellence that we encounter in our workplaces and our schools. Additionally, there can often be complacency that creeps in, because if things are just part of our school culture and ‘what we do here’, then we can risk losing sight of how excellent they actually are. I have been intentional this week, in identifying excellence across our school and within our learning here at Woodmans Hill, and I wanted to share some of these examples with you, in the hope that you can ‘pay it forward’ and pass this on, championing Government education through your families and social networks.

NAPLAN:

I mentioned it in my Principal’s Round Up last week, and I know that Steven Sirrals is sharing the data with you all in this edition of the newsletter but I wanted to stress the importance of our NAPLAN growth data with you again, in particular the Numeracy growth. The Maths team at Woodmans Hill have worked hard over the last 4 years to build, develop and review a program of mathematics differentiation that has led to our Numeracy growth results being above state level for two years in a row. This program, which ensures that every student is taught and provided work at their point of need, which uses data gathered formatively in every unit, and through which students feel confident to ‘have a go’ and be successful has not only seen results in NAPLAN, but across other measures such as engagement and learning confidence as well. The best part however, is when we speak with the students themselves, and hear the shift in their thinking about Maths. So often, study in Maths can be characterized by ‘struggle’ and ‘fear’… but not at Woodmans. In our Maths classes, you see all students engaged, all students feeling confident and all students having success in the learning. Well done!

Magic Moments:

On the first day of the last school holidays, four Year 10 students from Woodmans Hill turned up to school at 4am (!!!!) ready to travel to Sydney to participate in the Magic Moments Youth Leadership and Business Summit. What commitment! The students who returned from this 5 day experience were changed young people, with a new found confidence and self-awareness about their strengths and qualities and how they can best harness these to achieve excellence not only in school but in their journey into adulthood. Well done to Ertha Hardware, Stella Morisi, Bailey Smith and Joel Maddern for demonstrating bravery in putting themselves forward for this opportunity and taking everything possible from it.

Course Counselling:

Preparing in the best way possible and selecting the most appropriate pathway for each young person is a pre-condition for excellence at Woodmans Hill and our staff, students and parents/guardians and kin have partnered together, over the past three weeks, to ensure that our Year 9 and Year 10 students are setting themselves up for success in years 10 & 11 in 2025. We take this seriously: sharing key information, providing families important knowledge about new subjects and post-school pathways, using student data to inform conversations and building positive partnerships between home and school to ensure the right pathways for every child. We hope that you have found this process supportive and helpful to you and your child during what can be an overwhelming time. Well done to the careers and pathways team for pulling this process together and demonstrating excellence in their level of support for our community.

Over the coming weeks, I challenge you all to identify areas of excellence in what your child has done at school. Everyone has something to share in this space and something to discuss. I look forward to sharing more excellence with you in the coming months.

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