Principal Team Editorial

Improving Assessment Strategies

Principals can be impatient. Improving outcomes in education can be a slow burn, particularly during, or immediately after a rare global pandemic. School leaders and teachers alike want to see rapid improvement in learning outcomes and validation that the new and improved practices (the implementation of new strategies or resources) are having a positive impact. 

In the last couple of years we have focussed heavily on improving our assessment strategies, so that we better diagnose where students are at with their learning and therefore better respond with teaching that meets their needs. 

Our implementation of developmental assessment with a focus on the learning continuum and growth over grades, has taking significant time and resources and has been a powerful learning experience for all members of our school community. Furthermore, this year we have specifically targeted multiple layers of professional learning that focus on developing teacher expertise. 

Often schools and, more specifically, teachers spend a lot of time talking about what they should teach and less time talking about how they will teach it. We have begun to flip that balance and every day, our teachers, whether first year graduates or 30 year veterans, are working hard to improve their expertise - a journey that can never end. And all of that is well and good, but does it lead to better outcomes and improved results?

Let’s have a look at that further. 

This week we received our NAPLAN results for 2022. Keep in mind that students have missed more face to face teaching time in the last 2 years, than in any other time in modern history, and for the first time, all school across the nation pivoted towards NAPLAN results that were completed online rather than using traditional pencil and paper. 

Despite those challenges. I am very pleased to say that we had a lot to celebrate. 

Let me start by talking about Year 7 results. Firstly and importantly, Year 7 results tend to be more of a reflection of a student's learning in Grade 5 and 6, than an indication on progress in Year 7 (remembering that secondary schools only have Year 7s for one full term before completing their NAPLAN tests). That being said, our Year 7 reading results have improved and have only been better in 3 others years since 2009.  Our Year 7 Writing results were the best since 2008 and this is a credit particularly to the work of our Primary School Colleagues over the last two years. Our numeracy results were also steady and indicated that students had not gone significantly backwards, despite the many periods of remote learning.

The Year 9 results are a reliable measure of the impact of our approach at the College and whether it is improving learning outcomes. Again, the 2022 NAPLAN results are some of the best on record. Both our Year 9 Reading and Writing results are the best since 2009! These results are a credit to the English team and we took the opportunity to share the news with them and crack open a bottle of Champagne to celebrate! The Numeracy results were also pleasing with a sharp uptick and improvement in results compared to 2021 and, again, are a credit to the amazing team of dedicated and hardworking Maths teachers.

Trivia Night 2022

Whilst I am on the topic of results, it is important for me to mention the results of my team in the POPA Trivia Night in 2018. In short, my team won!!!! And we won't be beaten again this year!!! Don’t miss this event on Saturday 10 September, it is a lot of fun and the money raised supports the outstanding Performing Arts students and staff at our school. 

Let me reiterate my team will not be beaten! If you think I’m wrong, prove it and get your tickets here: 

https://www.trybooking.com/CBXFH

Parents Association Thu 6 Oct 

Finally, this year we have been working towards redefining our parents association. The PA have done amazing work in previous years, fundraising to support and improve the resources available to our students and staff. 

However, the bulk of the work was being done by too few and we did not want this role to overwhelm people, who we were thankful to for giving us their time. Therefore we have reimagined the PA and it will now be a forum for parents to hear the latest on the direction of the school from key school leaders, as well as an opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback.

Our first meeting will be on Thursday 6 October, 7pm-8pm, in the College staffroom drinks and supper supplied. I look forward to hopefully seeing you there.

Kevin Murphy

Principal