A message from Tami -Jo

The term has come to a close. It has been challenging for us all with teacher absence and the lack of teachers and CRTs, however we are proud of the learning our children have achieved. There have been sporting events, incursions, excursions, school photos, guest speakers and dress up days across the term. Learning has been intertwined with fun. There are a couple of messages for everyone below:

Traffic Working Party

In order to address some of our traffic issues, a Traffic Working Party has been formed led by Malinda Vaughan. A couple of parents and school council members are working to find some solutions to the traffic issues that are within our control such as student education, signage, Bike Ed and parent education. They are working to apply for a Vic Roads grant which could support the development of this work.

2024 BYOD Program Year 3-9

Our BYOD program is extending to Year 3 as of 2024. All students from Year 3-Year 9. This decision has been made for a variety of reasons; one being that all students have to complete their NAPLAN exams on line and without practice and experience, they do not have the skills in order for the results to accurately reflect their capability. 

Technology is a reality. It doesn’t take the place of learning; it is a tool to support learning. Research has found students’ test scores in science, writing, math and English language arts improve significantly. They also found students with laptops wrote more frequently across a wider variety of genres. They also received more feedback on their writing. In addition, it was discovered that they edited and revised their papers more often, drew on a wider range of resources to write, and published or shared their work with others more often.

Student surveys, teacher interviews and classroom observations in these studies revealed that students with access to laptops worked more autonomously and gained experience in project-based learning. This allowed them to synthesize and critically apply knowledge.

The earlier that we can work with the children’s natural bent toward technology and harness it for their learning; the earlier they reap the benefits.  I know there is some concern around the students using and transporting their laptops safely. I question the validity of that thinking. If we place importance on the care for their computers and put processes in place, the children usually rise to the challenge. Is it a wonderful teaching moment; to teach responsibility and build the students’ skills to care for and value what they have. 

Please contact us if you want to discuss this further and ask questions. We are happy to answer them. 

School Council Notes

The School Council parent members work hard to represent you and your issues and questions. At last week’s meeting there were a number of issues brought to our attention and discussed.

Why don’t we have STEM this year?

Last year we were unable to recruit enough STEM teachers due to the teacher shortage. In order to address this situation, more Science was re-introduced into the classroom programs and the Design elements of STEM are now taught in our ART and Design program. We wanted to make sure that our students were not missing any of the curriculum even though we had to change the structure to accommodate it. The students now have two sessions of Art and Design a week.

Why are we having so many split classes?

Wyndham is one of the hardest hit areas in terms of the teacher shortage. Most schools in our area are working without a full complement of teaching staff. The larger schools have been affected the most. We have been advertising positions both locally and internationally since June 2022 for 2023. HR has become a very important and time-consuming part of our job. We have advertised and interviewed for over 250 jobs in the past 12 months. Many of the advertised positions have been no appointments because there haven’t been people to apply for them. Many teachers in the Wyndham area live in Geelong where it has always been difficult to obtain positions as there is only a limited number advertised each year. The teacher shortage has changed this and many teachers are now in a position to gain a post closer to home, both in Geelong and other areas in the west.

The teacher shortage has also flowed onto the CRT (replacement) teacher availability and whilst we are booking CRTS, more often than not, there are not enough available if any. Split classes are the best way we can cater for the needs of our students when a CRT is unavailable. The staff have worked to try and ensure that students are being split to the same teacher and students if possible, meaning they can form a relationship with the teacher and learn the class routine. Teachers now use whole cohort data documents so they can ensure that they are still implementing small groups around literacy and numeracy to cater for all the students needs because they now have access to student results for all the classes in their cohort. They have also tried to adapt their classroom routines to incorporate routines that are consistent for them such as changing the readers.

To try and address this issue, our School Council has sponsored a small number of teachers from overseas that we have recruited. We are working with those staff and the Department of Education to have them move out to Australia as early as possible and as such we have a few arriving mid-term next term. They will be able fill some of the spots that will be vacated by teachers who are going on family leave, overseas or long service leave. As we move closer to term 4, we are hoping that we may have some teachers on staff who can fulfill some CRT roles regularly. 

We always cover specialist teachers first as they provide the non face to face time that the teachers are both entitled to and need, to plan effectively for the students. We have tried as much as possible not to disrupt the students’ programs as they are all valuable.

We understand the anxiety that some parents feel when there are split classes and sometimes for a few days at a time. Teachers are also feeling that way as they have split students to their class everyday; this puts pressure on them. So we ask you to be kind and respectful to our teachers as we want them to stay as part of our DCC community, be happy and they deserve the same respect given to any other professional you interact with. Whilst we know that emotions can run high when there is an issue with your child, please be patient, open-minded and polite when approaching our staff. 

It would support us for you to speak positively about split classes; that they have another teacher which is exciting; they will get to work and play with a different group of people which can be fun; that they can still play with their classmates at lunch and recess; that they are working  on the same program as they would be in their class and wouldn’t’ be wonderful if they worked really hard to show their teacher what they had achieved whilst they were away.

Why is the teacher not giving feedback on homework?

Homework is an opportunity for students to practice their goals and take some responsibility for their own learning. Our community is quite divided in terms of their view of homework; some would like it and others not. As such we provide homework, but it is not compulsory. We do believe however that students taking some responsibility for their learning builds motivated and persistent learners.

Teachers are not expected to provide feedback on work that is uploaded; this would take too much time out of their planning time however, it is still valuable as the teacher uses it as evidence of growth or areas of improvement. We also know that extra practice is always helping the student to become confident with particular skills. It is also important for the students to know that not all work will be seen and ‘marked’ so the purpose of homework as extra practice becomes something they do for themselves not for the teacher. 

Celebrations of Learning

I hope that many of you had the opportunity to see your child present their work and talk to you about what they had achieved and what their goals are moving forward. This is such a valuable opportunity to build motivation in the students. The children are so excited to share their work with you but it isn’t just a sharing time; it is an opportunity for you to help develop their ability to present but more importantly think critically about their learning. 

I will be on leave at the beginning of Term 3. Malinda Vaughan will be stepping into my role, ably supported by Brianna Morelli and Jess De Bono.

We wish you all a safe and restful holiday. We look forward to seeing you all back on July 10th. If you are looking for dates and feel that you miss Compass posts, all our current dates are on the Compass calendar. Take care.