PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Staffing at schools

You may have heard your child/ren reporting lately that their teacher is away more frequently than ever before, and seen in the news reports of the ‘teacher shortage’ that is being experienced in several states in Australia currently.  Whilst staffing at SCSC has not been in crisis like many other schools are experiencing, we have definitely been feeling the pinch in the final weeks of term. Isolation requirements have meant that staff are needing to remain home, and in most circumstances are doing their best to work remotely so they can still engage with Year 12 classes via Google Meets and interact with their colleagues as best we can.  However, we have had to call upon more Casual Replacement Teachers (CRTs) than usual this year.  We are lucky to have a quality pool of reliable and skilled CRTs to call upon.

As Principal, I want parents and carers to know that we are always doing the utmost that we can to continue to have our teachers in front of their classes and provide continuity of learning for our students, but much of this impact is out of our control as staff cannot avoid getting sick or being required to isolate.  In term one, we have been fortunate to also be able to support several camps being able to successfully operate, including the Year 7 camp, VCAL camp and as this is published the Year 12 Pathways camp will be underway. Ensuring that these camps are viable and staffed well with minimal interruptions back at school has been a challenge.

Student Led Conferences – Term Two

Information will be sent to families before end of the term about Student Led Conferences next term. These will return to being held face-to-face at the College on Thursday May 5th from 3.30pm to 7.30pm.  Parents will be able to book via Compass.  

As per the current DET School Operations Guide, visitors to the school are required to provide proof of vaccination upon entry to school buildings.  This will be a requirement for attendance in a face-to-face capacity for this event.  If parents/carers are unable to fulfil this requirement, we can offer video conferencing options to still support these important conversations with staff taking place.  Please read the information that will be sent out via Compass about this soon and contact Assistant Principal Andrew Brown with any questions. 

We are excited to be able to re-engage with parents at the College in this manner and celebrate the wonderful work that your young people are engaging in so far in 2022. It is a good time to set some goals for the remainder of the school year to ensure that we are working in partnership to support the growth and development of your young person.

Learning Design Walks for Professional Practice Development in Term One

It has been wonderful to get back into some regular practices for staff in 2022 that have been interrupted or unable to occur due to remote periods over the past two years.  During term one, staff opted into engaging in what we call ‘Learning Design Walks’ to gather some data on observable positive climate for learning and instructional practices. Staff visit other classes and complete a survey that has been designed according to the current improvement goals of the College.  It is so lovely to be able to get back to visiting classes and seeing all of the amazing teachers that we have at SCSC in action again, doing what they do best.

Staff will look at this data at the start of term two, and also then engage in Student to Teacher feedback surveys that give our young people an opportunity to share how they are feeling in their classes with their teachers in a constructive manner.  All of these tools are designed to enable our teachers to engage in reflective practice on our teaching and set purposeful goals for improvement.

Some focus areas for us this year are ensuring that we are engaging students in purposeful learning, providing effective differentiation and using structures and routines that provide a positive and predictable classroom environment that is safe and inclusive.

Friday, April 8th - 2pm Finish

Hope you all enjoy a well-earned break and look forward to seeing you in Term 2.

Erin Wright

SCSC Principal