Principals' Report

Executive Team Report

Every morning for the last two weeks a small group of us have started our day, initially outside, but more recently inside the school buildings checking the temperature of every student who attends school. We head down to the Senior end of the school with our thermometers, hand sanitiser, masks, gloves and carefully selected stickers for the day. Who would have thought 6 months ago that we would be doing this? Who would have thought that I would find it such a positive start to my day?

Now that we know that we need to be inside a warm room to avoid the “Lo” display and that under the fringe or just below the collar are good places to get a reading, we can really focus on the benefit of greeting every single student as they arrive in the morning. Checking in to see not just if they have a fever but how they are feeling on more than just a physical level. In return they have filled my cup every day with their positivity. Our students are so patient, they wait their turn, they greet us in return and they don’t complain when it takes two of us to get a reading. You should be so proud of the young people that you have raised.

All students and staff are wearing masks of many varied colours. Please remember that we do have a small supply of the single use masks at the General Office should students or staff forget to bring their own.

Remote learning Years 7-10

We only had the VCE students for the first week and sadly, at the start of week 2, we returned to remote learning with our students in Years 7-10. We were so happy to have them physically back on site at the end of last term. However, we have done this before, we know what we are doing and students clearly know what this looks like. They are incredibly resilient and are back on Zoom and confidently adapting to our increased contact across the week. We are getting good at teaching and learning remotely, but hopefully it won’t last for too long.

Staff took advantage of the extended vacation for Years 7-10 to prepare for the return to remote learning. The sub-school teams made contact with many families who found aspects of remote learning challenging in Term 2. Staff completed individual learning plans for many students to support their learning. Semester 1 reports were completed and released at the end of week 1. Hopefully you have had a chance to discuss the information included in the report with your son or daughter. It is particularly important that we maintain our two way communication at this time, with the lack of any physical presence at school we need to work together to support our young people. Please remember to contact the sub-school coordinators if you have any concerns. We try very hard to pick up on any changes with our students but it can be challenging in our virtual world.

2021 subject selections

Over the next two weeks all students in Years 9-11 will participate in a 1:1 session to discuss their performance in Semester 1 and their subject selections for 2021, this will be an excellent opportunity to have more personal contact with each student and we encourage you to join the Zoom if possible.

Staffing update

Judy Tricker retirement

Congratulations and farewell to Judy on her 24 year career with DET. Judy was already a very experienced ES staff member when she came to work at Koonung SC, having worked at Ringwood North Primary School for 15 years. Judy started at Koonung in term three of 2011 and has held a variety of roles over that time. She left us briefly to work at Cranbourne East SC and has been back with us since July 2018. We wish Judy all the very best as she embarks on the next phase of her life journey which gives her the time to concentrate on her passion for photography - enjoy!

We would like to welcome back Jonathan Moore and Clive Oldland, from their leave in Term 2. We also have Amanda Chen and Chloe Stimar continuing at the school in Term 3, as well as Christopher Henson teaching Art/Photography. We also welcome back Mark Quinlan after his secondment to a Principal position.

Learning Specialists

Our Koonung students may have noticed other teachers within their classroom or ZOOM sessions. Koonung SC has a team of three (3) learning specialists led by Daniela Nardelli (Leading Teacher). The team is as follows:

Nancy Fiore (Maths/Science)
Mark Anderson (Humanities/Arts)
Mia Poulton (Languages/Maths)

The role of Koonung SC Learning Specialists is to model excellence in teaching and learning through demonstration lessons and

mentoring and coaching teachers in improving the skill, knowledge and effectiveness of the teaching workforce. The team works with every teacher from beginner to experienced. In 2020, our Learning Specialists at Koonung have continued to do the following:

Demonstrating high-level expertise in teaching and learning practice
Modelling exemplary classroom practice including through teaching demonstration lessons
Observation and feedback of teacher practice and peer collaboration
Modelling effective learning practice and supporting teachers to seek, analyse and act on feedback and on their practice.
Modelling high impact teaching strategies (HITS) which are 10 instructional practices that reliably increase student learning when they're applied. For example - Sound lesson structures reinforce routines, scaffold learning via specific steps/activities. They optimise time on task and classroom climate by using smooth transitions. Planned sequencing of teaching and learning activities stimulates and maintains engagement by linking lesson and unit learning.
Modelling and supporting teachers with the Koonung lesson plan structure of LETS (Learning Intentions, Engage, Targeted Teaching and Summary)
Providing evidence-based feedback to teaching staff to inform their effectiveness and development
Mentoring/coaching teachers
Modelling exemplary use of student data to inform teaching approaches
Seeking feedback from other teachers and leaders on their own classroom practice as part of critical reflection and inquiry to improve practice

The Koonung SC Learning Specialist Team continues to aim at building excellence in teaching and learning within our learning community to continue to improve student outcomes.

Capital Works Program Update

We are currently in the design development phase of our Capital Works project. This phase considers the design of the learning and teaching spaces and amenities areas. Materials and finishes are also being discussed. The next stage in the process is finalising tender documentation to proceed to tender - we are getting closer to turning the first sod!

While this is an exciting project, we have also been busy updating our existing facilities. Rooms 9, 10 and 11 are looking very spiffy, with new paint and rejuvenated floors making a big difference!

Stace Kerr

Business Manager