Principal's Message

Student Dashboards

Student Dashboards will be released to parents next Wednesday, 29 June. The Student Dashboard is our first major attempt to bring together vital and important data points for each student. It is the culmination of some 18 months of work with OctopusBI, the third group of which we have worked with over the last 4 years to bring this to a reality.  

We are the first school within Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta (CEDP) to develop a Student Dashboard. Whilst we are releasing the Dashboard at a similar time to semester school reports, and the fact that the Dashboard fulfils the New South Government’s requirements for reporting by containing overall grades for each subject, the Dashboard is not a report. In fact, we will be updating the Dashboard more regularly than twice a year - meaning more information, more regularly to parents about key aspects of your child’s learning and growth.

There is much information that can be found on the Dashboard. That information, which teachers like to refer to as ‘data points’, include, but are not limited to:

• Capabilities growth over time for each of the 6 Pillars of Learning.
• Capabilities strengths within Key Learning Areas.
• Overall Grades awarded for each subject for the last 2 years.
• NAPLAN data.
• Attendance.
• PAT R & PAT M.

As part of preparing for the Dashboard release next week, we have offered 22 parents the opportunity to access their child’s Dashboard. Many of those 22 parents have provided valuable and worthwhile feedback. This assisted us last night when more than 100 parents joined us via Zoom to learn more about the Dashboard. Those who attended last night provided positive feedback and appreciation. 

As a result of those two engagements, there has been a need to respond to three recurring questions. They are as follows: 

Why are capabilities important?

​​There is a national and bipartisan agreement that after 13 years of schooling in Australia our graduates should leave school with knowledge, skills and capabilities that will support them in their endeavours to be creative individuals who are committed to moral and ethical contributions to society. However, there is misalignment between our current measures of educational success and these aspirations. St Luke’s is one of an increasing number of schools who are challenging the existing, narrow success measures of learning excellence. At St Luke’s we understand that learning through, and assessment of, Pillar Outcomes, also referred to as complex competencies, prioritises the transferable skills that will equip our young people with the capacity to participate meaningfully in, and adapt to, a changing world.

Why do we ‘report’ on capabilities?

We do not report on capabilities. Through visualisations, we provide feedback of current levels of competency as assessed through our Six Pillars of Learning. Over time, this allows for students, parents and teachers to see which Pillars (capabilities) are their strengths and also in which subjects these capabilities flourish.

Why can’t we have a personalised comment?

I acknowledge that there is no personal comment that is seen on the Dashboard. What I would say is that information, or data points on the Dashboard, build a story about a child’s learning. Such a story offers ‘a comment over time’ about a student’s growth in learning capabilities and other important aspects of their schooling.

As the first CEDP school to develop a personalised student dashboard accessible to parents, we know much will be required of us to assist parents and students to navigate the Dashboard and understand it. We are pleased that so much information about your child’s current and recent learning can be found in one place. Each child’s dashboard offers personalised information which, in turn, provides insights to key areas of learning and growth; however, it does require time to ‘get to know how to use it’. As such, and as previously mentioned, last night we hosted the first of two parent Zoom events and it was pleasing that over 100 parents attended. Another Zoom meeting will be held on Monday 27 June from 6:30-7:15pm. Please click here for the Zoom link. Lastly, there may be a need to make time so that parents can get to better use the Dashboard and understand the information contained within. As such, we will plan to host repeat Parent Engagement Events early next term to enable parents to get to know and understand the Dashboard.

In conclusion, I acknowledge that with the arrival of our Student Dashboard there will be many questions, maybe even frustrations as we continue to break new ground here at St Luke’s. I encourage you to work with us as we continue to develop a ‘new normal’, one of those being fingertip access to regularly updated snapshots of your child’s learning.

Staff Movements

As is the case in a large and complex learning community such as St Luke’s, there are staff movements throughout a year, especially at the end of year or term. At the end of this term, the following staff will conclude their time at the College.

• Year 7-11 Teacher, Mrs Sonali Fernandez has taught Business Studies, Legal Studies and HSIE since commencing at the College in 2020. Mrs Fernandez commences a temporary position as a teacher at Oakhill College at the beginning of next term.
• Stage 2 Teacher, Miss Tamara Dimech, concludes her temporary contract at the end of this term. Miss Dimech will complete her undergraduate course requirements by engaging in a rural practicum in Semester 2.
• Year 7-10 Life Design teacher, Miss Katelin Vincent has decided after 18 months at the College to pursue other interests outside of teaching, most particularly in the area of girls adolescent health. 
• Stage 2 Teacher Assistant, Miss Jayda Watson commenced at the College as an Activities Club Assistant in 2018. Miss Watson has accepted a wonderful opportunity to conclude her law degree in England. 
• Miss Katie Forster, concludes her 18 month tenure as our Technologies Assistant at the end of July. Miss Forster Leaves us to complete a full-time 6 month internship as part of her university degree. 

Also, Mrs Lisa Garcia will commence maternity leave at the end of the term. We await the safe and healthy arrival of her child in about 4 weeks, and offer our best wishes to Lisa and her husband Andy as they commence their next phase of life as a family of three. Mr Ernesto Gutierrez will replace Lisa Garcia from the beginning of next term as Stage 3 teacher. 

Recent additions to the staff at St Luke’s Catholic College include:

• Mr Chris Murray who joins us as a Grounds Assistant. 
• Ms Reta Danka has recently commenced as a Teacher Assistant in the Year 7-11 space. 

At the beginning of next term we'll introduce a number of staff who will commence with us.