DEPUTY PRINCIPAL LEARNING AND TEACHING
CONTINGENCY PLANS
Please be aware that the college is experiencing a high level of absenteeism amongst our student and staff population. This combined with teacher shortages across the district and greater Victoria, has led to many schools having to put in place contingency plans in the event that sufficient teachers cannot be sourced to cover each class.
The college has employed as many Casual Relief Teachers as we can for the remainder of the year to address this. However, there might still be times when we simply do not have sufficient teachers to take each and every class.
If that situation arises, we will be creating a “Study Hall” in Sacred Heart Hall, where students will be supervised by registered teachers. However, they may be in large groups. That's to say that there may be several classes in the “Study Hall” at one time. Each student will still have work from their subject teacher to continue with at these times.
If the situation becomes dire, we may have to resort to keeping a year level home for a day to enable us to maintain essential levels of supervision. We would give parents at least 36 hours notice in that unlikely event. I reiterate: this is a very unlikely scenario. It would only be enacted in the most dire circumstances and if we had at least 36 hours' notice of an impending shortage of teachers.
Many schools across the state find themselves in a similar (or worse) situation at this time.
PARENT STUDENT TEACHER CONFERENCES
Thank you to parents/guardians who attended the Parent, Student and Teacher Conferences (either in person or virtually) on Tuesday May 3. These conferences are invaluable in maximising learning outcomes for the students. Research shows that parents significantly impact their children's educational achievements.
In fact, parental engagement overrides all other factors that have been shown to influence a child's achievement. Therefore, it is critical that teachers and parents develop effective relationships to bridge student learning between home and school.
Meta-analyses of the relevant research have identified clear, measurable benefits for children when their parents are actively engaged in their learning. These studies demonstrate that the children are more likely to develop positive self-esteem, be motivated to learn, be positive about school and achieve good grades. Adolescents are less likely to have discipline issues, get involved in substance abuse or drop out of school. Young people are more likely to maintain high aspirations and plan to go on to further education and build a career.
Importantly, the power of parental engagement overrides other factors that have been shown to influence a child’s achievement. Various studies have shown that when parents are actively engaged in their children’s learning, their influence appears to outweigh factors such as parental education, socioeconomic background, or the quality of the child’s schooling.
I would also like to thank our teachers for their time and effort in making the interviews meaningful and beneficial. Overall, there were 1079 conferences conducted on this day.
SIMON DATA ANALYTICS
SIMON is our Learning Management System. I am confident that most of you are familiar with SIMON through either your child’s profile in SIMON or through the SIMON PAM Parent Access Module. If you require assistance, please contact the college.
SIMON Data Analytics is a new development for the college this year. As part of this package, we can set up what we refer to as Pulse Alerts. Below are some examples of the types of Pulse Alerts we can utilise.
Designated staff receive an email when a “Pulse” has triggered an alert. Below is an example of what these staff will receive.
The development of “Pulse Alerts” will allow the relevant staff to keep a closer eye on our students, allowing for earlier intervention, hopefully before it becomes a greater issue.
COLLATING DATA FOR IMPROVED LEARNING
This new tool also provides insight into student performance and provides an evidence base for assessing individual and cohort learning. Below are examples of some of the data that SIMON Data Analytics will provide us. We look forward to this data helping to improve learning outcomes for our students.
YEAR LEVEL - STANDARDISED TESTING (INSIGHTS)
ATAR PRESENTATION
To provide a better understanding of how the ATAR works, I presented to the Year 11 and Year 12 students during Academe and at the Year 12 Meet the Teacher evening for those who attended. Below is the link to the presentation, and attached is a document if you are interested.
Mr Greg Kluske
Deputy Principal, Learning and Teaching