Principal's Message

Amadeo Ferra

Term 2 is in the rear view mirror –time to look ahead

What an extraordinary situation we have lived and worked through. Whilst we are not totally over the Covid-19 we should be proud of what we have achieved as a community despite the circumstances. A crisis such as a pandemic is the ultimate test of culture. McClelland College’s  organisational values were revealed in the transparency and in how decisions were made, communicated and implemented. We worked solidly and throughout the previous term “holiday” period to prepare for remote learning and despite the overwhelming challenges we faced, had some real successes. We were able to get 185 students without devices a laptop computer as well as supporting over 100 students with internet access. This was a mammoth undertaking in itself. On top of that we had many teachers who occasionally used technology as part of their teaching and learning program, suddenly having no choice but to quickly upskill and use it daily. Student connection data was particularly strong at the senior VCE level but as time went on it was clear many were struggling or becoming fatigued. Our staff worked hard to go above and beyond and tried to connect with students by sharing videos of how they too were keeping positive in working from home.

The skeleton crew of staff who worked on site through the remote learning period did some great work cleaning up the school grounds and I hope our students appreciate this and take more pride and place their rubbish in the bins provided. We also took advantage of the empty buildings and fast tracked the Year 9 refurbishments that were earmarked for the end of the year. We are now in a position to be able to bring other works forward (VCAL Centre coming soon, followed by PAC Dressing Room upgrade and at the end of the year the Year 8 Centre).

Our VCE students in particular and their teachers should be proud of their outstanding attendance during and since remote learning. They are extremely well placed to finish this year strongly and achieve their best. VCAL students also have had their VET courses and for most, their work placement interrupted but they too will be getting back to normal from next term. We are very conscious of this last year for all Year 12 students being an important one not only in terms of setting up their career pathways but also for the social memories. Mr Hemsley and Mr L’Huillier are keen to ensure these students have every opportunity to make this year as memorable as it should be and are working hard to run any event possible within the rules we have to work within. Many schools have already made decisions to not hold the types of social events that students look forward to but we will be doing everything we can to compensate for what our students have already missed out on. They deserve nothing less.

 Lessons from remote learning and “Education by Design”

We know that remote learning was a real challenge for a number of students, but for some students they actually thrived. Some of them were students who were not doing well before the pandemic but interestingly were doing much better with online learning because of a whole lot of factors. As a school that prides itself on being on the cutting edge of education (with our “Education by Design” approach which includes real accelerated learning along with flexible learning for students who need other supports in place) we are in a unique position to be able to lead from the front. So what have we learned so far from our engagement data through remote learning that we need to explore more?

Self-pacing – learning at home allowed students to work at a much more leisurely pace, often with a lot of choice in how they organise time – a welcome change from the micromanaged normal school day.

Fewer activities – at school, many students are overscheduled with excursions, lunchtime activities, sports, after-school activities, volunteering, part-time jobs. With almost all of that shut down, there was time to focus on schoolwork and be less stressed.

Lower stakes – One student said he liked remote learning better because he no longer feels the extreme pressure of failing without constant testing.

Less disruptions– Home learning provided a safe haven from the pressure to fit in socially. The online environment may have also allowed for voices to be heard without social anxiety. It also meant that students had less disruptions from individuals who possibly struggle in a mainstream setting and we need to consider what we can provide for them for mutually beneficial outcomes

Sleep – Plenty of time to get plenty of sleep which often teenagers lack.

We are now digging deeper into our data as well as interviewing individual students who thrived during remote learning to come up with some case studies so we can see what we need to do more of and less of, in order to cater better for our students given our recent experience. We plan to turn what should have been a negative experience into one that we can truly learn from continue to provide the best possible “Education by Design”