Curriculum Report

As I write this report, I glace out the window onto the street. It’s so quiet. Cars are parked in driveways, I hear the birds chirping and an energetic dog and owner pair drift past. I’m just waiting to start English class with 7E, the final class of the week….and I feel grateful for many things.

I would like to thank all Greensborough staff and students for their hard work and determination to make teaching and learning in Term 3 work. 

Though it hasn’t been easy, staff has worked so hard to adapt curriculum to the remote learning situation and students have come on board in their droves to continue their learning. 

Students, for your persistence and resilience in your work, we congratulate you. For your effort and engagement online, we thank you. For contributing and participating in your learning community, we applaud you. Enjoy the holiday and return to us refreshed - knowing that we’re all in this together and we will pull through together - and be all the stronger for it! Any learning issues we will face in the future will never feel so insurmountable again, in comparison…  

Indeed, we look towards a positive future where: new students will join us in Year 7. Those students going into Year 8 students will choose electives for the first time. Students beginning Year 9 will choose aspects of their learning through electives and strengthen their social and emotional understandings. Year 10 students will begin to make important decisions about their pathways and futures and Year 11 and 12 students will be empowered to reach their personal goals and aspirations.  

As teachers and ES staff members, we’ve learned some really helpful lessons along the Term 3 lockdown journey. We’ve developed the capacity to use a range of forums and tools to reach out to our students and innovated our curriculum delivery, to allow for learning continuity. I don’t think there’s a teacher amongst us who hasn’t done a Kahoot with a class! We’ve also focused on the formative assessment process and assessing student growth and we will continue to respond to our circumstances and the needs of our students when we return to school and face to face learning too. We’ve got this!

And though we’ve all missed time in the conventional classroom we’ve learned other really important things aside from the subject content in our virtual classrooms: 

Our community is strong because our purpose is strong, and we probably didn’t realise how strong, until now. 

Our teaching and learning is personal and precious to us, and we probably didn’t realise how personal and precious, until now. 

Our interactions with one another are important to us, and we probably didn’t realise how important, until now. 

So, when we return, let’s not take those things for granted. May we embed those traits of determination and flexibility, in teams that work together through adversity and the best of days! Any content or skill can be learned when we are resolved to make it happen - and we have that resolve in spades! 

Lisa Dunne

Learning Specialist- Curriculum Innovation