Principal's Report

WELCOME 

I hope that everyone had an enjoyable summer break.  The beginning of a new year is always an exciting time within a school as we get the opportunity to welcome new members into our school community. This year was certainly no different as we welcomed a record number of both staff and Year 7 students to Patterson River. The large number of incoming staff has been due to a combination of our staffing restructure and a large Year 7 intake. In addition to our 245 Year 7's students this year we also welcome the following staff:

Mr Adam Slater (Assistant Principal)

Mr Sean Leith (Y7&8 Sub School Leader)

Ms Catherine Blackburne (Y9/Student Leadership) 

Mr Stuart Moody (Student Learning Leader)

Ms Narelle Archibald (Senior School Admin)

Ms Pragashinee Chetty (Junior School Admin)

Emma Robbins (Health/PE Domain Leader)

Mr Heinz Pfister (German Teacher)

Ms Mollie Riddle (PE Teacher)

Mr Matt Hayes (VCAL/PETeacher/Sports )

Ms Alison Wall (Trade Training Centre Manager)

Ms Kristiarna Carson (Library Technician)

Mr Tim Cook (PE/Outdoor Education Teacher)

Mr Andrew Lewin (Integration Support)

Mr Jason Vellios (English/Humanities Teacher)

I have been thoroughly impressed by the transition of the new staff into our College and the positive impact that they are having on our learning community. In addition to the new staff, there are a number of our existing staff who have taken up new roles in the College for 2018. 

A list of the key positions of responsibility can be found here:

Welcome Year 7's - Whole School Assembly

New College Values Launched 

In 2017, I worked extensively with staff and students to review our existing school values and house system. 

During the consultation there were some consistent themes and ideas from each group, which included keeping respect as a key College value and trying to align the Principal's Commendation Awards to a new value system. Following this consultation, it has been decided that our College values will now be:

• Persistence
• Excellence
• Community
• Respect

These values replace the previous values of Respect, Engagement & Success.

A new system for the Principal's Commendation Awards will be developed during the year so that students are recognised for their efforts beyond the classroom that align to each of the College values. In addition to this, there will be a special overall award for students who have been nominated for their efforts in each of the College values. 

In addition to the changes to the values, we have also developed new house names that align with the values. These new house replace the hold colour based system. Please see the School Leaders Report for the announcement of the new house system.

The Science & Ethics of Gene Editing  

Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending a presentation from two overseas scientists at the forefront of gene editing with over 50 of our senior students. In addition I attended a private function after the event with special guests and 4 of our Year 12 Biology students. 

It was a privilege to spend an evening with two scientists who will be recoginised in the years to come for their important contributions to the human race, which was something that was not lost on our students who were in attendance. See the senior school report for further details. 

Carrum Coast Guard 'Around the River Fun Run'

Last Sunday, I had the "pleasure" of joining around 50 staff and students in the fun run held around Patterson River. I took great pride in seeing so many participants from Patterson River in attendance.  Not only was there fantastic individual achievements (Aden Gasperino 1st 6km, Shykiah Upson 1st 12km & Nick Brown 3rd 6km) but we managed to also win the team events for both the 6km and 12km. See the  Sports Report for further details. 

2018 Annual Implementation Plan

At our College Council meeting held this month, the College Council endorsed the school's Annual Implementation Plan for 2018. 

At the council meeting, I was pleased to report that in 2017 the College demonstrated significant improvement in nearly all data measures across the College and now outperforms like school groups in all key areas. What is especially pleasing is that large improvements have taken place despite most big changes not coming into effect until this year. Key school measures that demonstrated improvement in 2017 included:

• Staff Opinion Survey results
• Parent Opinion Survey results
• Student Attitudes to School Survey results (in particular Year 7-9)
• NAPLAN (Students in top 2 Bands (Year 7)
• NAPLAN Growth 7-9 (Reading Comprehension)
• VCE English Mean Study Score

In order to address the goals in our 4 year Strategic Plan as well as to address some areas that have not shown improvement. the College will be embarking upon four major goals in 2018. These include:

1. To improve student voice and school connectedness through the development and implementation of a student voice strategy across all levels of the College. Strategies include:

• Develop a new house system
• By the end of first semester, all teachers will have completed a survey with a class that references their results against all teachers
• By the end of term all leadership roles will be filled into the new structure, including a student representative council.

2. To improve the accuracy of teacher judgements. Strategies include: 

• Teachers to work in curriculum areas to develop Common Assessment Tasks that cater for different student levels.
• Teachers to spend time cross marking student work at all year levels
• Teachers to spend time undertaking data literacy professional development with the Department of Education & Training.

3. To improve teacher capacity to implement the college instructional model. Strategies include: 

• Induct all students into the College Instructional Model
• Induct all new staff into the PRSC Instructional Model
• Embed High Impact Teaching Strategies into the Teachers Teaching & Learning groups in Term 1&3 (Questioning Techniques, Metacognitive Strategies).
• Increase the number of VCE Year 12 teachers who are VCAA assessors
• Implement a consistent approach to Individual Learning Plans.

To review the the new staffing structures and support the leadership development of staff. Strategies include:

• Monitor the effectiveness of new staffing positions, including attendance support staff, educational support staff and new leading teaching positions. 
• Engage a leadership coach to work with staff overseeing different programs.

Student Attendance

In addition to the goals outlined above, in 2018 we will also be focusing on improving student attendance. 

It is easy to overlook the significant impact that even incidental absences can have on student learning. Did you realise that a child who has one day off per fortnight will miss an entire year of schooling by the time that they are in Year 10?  A study by Professor Zubrick from the University of Western Australia suggests that a 10-day period of unauthorised absences in a single year is sufficient to drop a child about a band in NAPLAN testing. Attendance matters. Strategies being implemented to improve student attendance this year include:

• New positions at junior school & senior school to monitor student attendance and support level coordinators
• A formal analysis of individual student attendance rates each month with the following follow up provided:
  • below 90% = letter home
  • below 80% = phone call home
  • below 70% = parent support group meeting
• Updated attendance policy

Department of Education & Training attendance resources:

We hope that our renewed focus on student attendance will lead to significant improvements in student learning and look forward to working with families to improve in this area. 

School Council Elections

Nominations are being sought for College Council representatives. Nomination forms (attached) must be lodged by 4.00pm on Friday 8th March 2018.

The College Council is an important governance body of the school, providing oversight of facilities, finances & policies. College Council meets on the third Monday of each month 5.30-7pm.  

Please do not hesitate to contact me at the College if you are interested in nominating but would like to find out a little more. 

International Program 

Patterson River is now an accredited International School and has begun enrolling students from overseas. To help grow our program we are seeking families and members of the local community to host students on both a short and long term basis. For further information, including payment rates, please email our International Student Coordinator, Mr Blaise Northey via nor@prsc.vic.edu.au . 

Capital Works

Over the summer holidays, we completed approximately $100,000 of renovation works and upgrades around the College, including:

• LED light conversion in the Stadium
• Installation of air-con in the Performing Arts Centre
• Renovated classrooms (R1,R2,R3,R4)
• Renovated offices (B1, B6)
• Installation of new projectors in classrooms.

Curriculum Outlines

In recent times teachers have focused on ensuring that parents and students have access to curriculum outlines and the timings for Common Assessment Tasks. There are two types of documents that are able to access to monitor and support your child's learning:

1. Term Outlines: an overview of topics and CATs for Years 7-9. 

2. Curriculum Outlines: a detailed overview of the scope and sequence for each class. These can be found by going into an individual class on Compass and opening up the 'Resources' tap. 

SecondBite

Every week, students at the College are fortunate to receive boxes of fruit courtesy of the SecondBite initiative. SecondBite provides access to fresh, nutritious food for people across Australia.  They do this by  

rescuing edible, nutritious food that was heading for landfill and give it to people in need, free of charge. It maybe the fruit is slightly misshapen or not meet the size criteria of the supermarkets.

Our students this week have enjoyed apples, pears and plums and not a core or fruit stone has been found littering our school yard.

At our whole school assembly, I outlined a vision for Patterson River to be a litter free school. Not only is it important that we respect our grounds and each other by keeping the yard clean and tidy, it is extremely important given that our storm water flows into Kananook Creek which is adjacent to the school. To support this vision, any students caught putting litter into the bin by a teacher will go into the draw for a major prize at our last whole school assembly later in the year. Any student caught placing their litter on the ground will be required to complete a 1hr community service after school. Already there has been a significant improvement in the state of the grounds which aligns to our values of persistence and respect. Well done!

Open Night

Our College will be opening its doors to the primary school families on Thursday 15th March at 7pm. 

Mr Daniel Dew

College Principal