College Principal's Report
Welcome to this edition of the Score
It is hard to believe we have passed the half way mark of the term. Term three is always a busy term as we balance maintaining the high expectations and rigour in our regular programs whilst being future focussed with our organisation for the next year.
This term staff have been working in action research teams. Action research teams are used as a form of inquiry conducted by and for those taking the action. The primary reason Scoresby Secondary College has engaged in the establishment of action research, is to assist us to further improve and refine teaching practice across the College. Last Friday we held a curriculum day. In the morning teachers visited several high performing schools. The purpose of these visits was to research what makes quality teaching and learning practice. In the afternoon the staff returned to the College where they reported on their findings. There was much reaffirmation of the changes in teacher practice we have introduced as part of our improvement plan. This provided much needed motivation for our staff who have worked so hard on the changes. The feedback also provided a rigourous discussion of a range of other strategies observed that we as a College could consider in the development of our own Instructional Model. I am proud of the staff as they have been continuously challenged on their own practice to be reflective and open to continuous learning. These high expectations of staff coincide with the high expectations we have of students and will ultimately lead to improved student outcomes.
Positive Feedback for Scoresby
Scoresby Secondary College vision isto be the College of choice and to be respected by parents, community, tertiary providers and employers. The past month we have continued to receive feedback that reaffirms that we are making significant progress towards bringing this vision a reality. I felt I should share one letter in particular with our community.
Dear Mrs Major
Last Thursday I had the pleasure of administering the 2015 PISA tests to a group of your students at Scoresby Secondary College. Upon my arrival at 7.30am I was greeted with a coffee by Anne at the office before being taken in hand by your PISA Coordinator Fiona Matthews who had all arrangements for the tests well in hand. I was very impressed with the way in which Logan McIntosh had prepared the computer room in readiness for the sessions. All of the computers were checked and sufficient of them were available to even have spares “in case”. He remained around nearby and was able to give timely assistance on the few occasions when it was required. The help provided by Ms Sue Rio with supervision during the day was quite invaluable. Having a teacher present who knew the students and also the school processes made the day very easy for me.
I must say that I was extremely impressed by the way in which the students approached the PISA tests. So far as I could see every single student did his or her best when answering the questions. Although there is the option for students to simply “step through” the questions without attempting answers this was never evident with any of your children. The day was long and required quite some concentration and focus; your students were up to the challenge. I am sure that they had a valuable learning experience and that they have contributed well to the overall Australian PISA results.
As a former teacher with some 35 years of experience I was impressed by the clean and pleasant appearance of your college. The garden plantings with little or no litter and the calm and purposeful way in which students moved about the school could be a positive lesson for other schools.
I enjoyed my brief time at your school and wish you, your staff, and your students all the best for the rest of the year. Thanks for the opportunity to work with such excellent teachers and students
Kind regards
Jack Zagorski
PISA Test Administrator
Principals Conference
Two weeks ago, Chris Knight and myself attended the Knox and Dandenong Ranges Principals Conference. The conference was an ideal opportunity for Principals to undertake professional learning outside away from the busy routine inside the College.
The Conference title was ‘Making Common Practice Common; Towards more Precision in Teaching’. This theme arose from research that shows high performing schools focus relentlessly on ensuring high quality instructional practice while reducing variability in the quality of instruction for every student.
Education Minister James Merlino opened the conference with his vision for Victorian Schools. Minister Merlino highlighted Victoria is priding itself on being the ‘Education State'. His passion for education and genuine desire to improve facilities and teaching practices was evident to the audience of over 100 Principals. There was a commitment made that there will be further funding announcements made before the end of the term.
This commitment, combined with the current consultation about education in Victoria will hopefully benefit all students.
In addition to the networking opportunities during the conference, the quality of the presentations was exceptionally high. Presenters included:
- Tom Brunzell educator and education advisor in New York and Melbourne. Tom presents internationally on topics of transforming schools, high expectations for differentiated instruction, wellbeing and trauma informed practice. Tom used his experiences including his work at Berry Street, to speak about the importance of structure predictability and consistency for adolescents. He provided strategies he and his team have used for students who are trying to ‘get power’ either through verbal or physical behaviours in schools that will be useful for our staff. His presentation resinated with us as his work highlights that so often students react that way because they have no power in other aspects of their life. It is up to us as educators to set the expectations and adhere to them so that these students are provided a clear framework in which to work to have the best learning opportunities
- Glen Pearsall renowned presenter and author on engaging & effective classroom practice who spoke about precision teaching. Precision teaching is what has moved some schools from ‘good’ to ‘great’ and underpins a lot of our current work. The only way we can do this is to place our focus on teaching in the classrooms.. Glenn presented many tools that can be used in precision teaching including: questioning techniques, higher order questioning techniques and inverted questions. These tools will be useful for our action teams to consider in the development of our instructional model
- Lawrie Drysdale, University of Melbourne who presented a summary of the findings from the International Successful School Principal Project which involved more than 20 countries and one hundred schools. I have worked with Lawrie previously when I ran an aspirant leaders network for the Department and one of the challenges he emphasises is for the leaders actions to be consistent with the school values and beliefs. Lawrie challenged all principals present to set goals and review the direction of the schools. This is a process I initiated and implemented upon taking over this College and one which I am committed to.
Enrolments
We are about to send out letters to students who have been accepted into our College for Year 7, 2016. For families who are considering coming to Scoresby Secondary College Years 7-12, tours are available. Please phone 9765 4100 for an appointment for one of our regular tours. You can download an Enrolment Form from our website or by contacting the office.
If you are a parent/guardian of a current student and you are moving and therefore not returning next year, please contact our enrolment officer, Michele Rogers to assist us with our forward planning.
College Partnerships
Recently I referred to the programs we have developed in partnership with Monash University, RMIT and Swinburne University of Technology. We have now secured another partnership with University of Melbourne.
This program includes placement of subject specific university students to support our teaching and learning programs and are designed for graduates who are considering teaching as a career option following their specialist studies. For the next five weeks we have Mr Luke xxxx who is undertaking a Mathematics placement to work with our teachers and students. This placement in particular will allow for greater personalised learning in the classroom enabling extension of our higher achievers whilst still catering for other ability groupings. Our ‘Quick Smart” program will still continue to support our students who require further development of their numeracy skills and our support program incorporating a program ‘Cars and Stars’ benefits students requiring assistance with their literacy. Literacy and numeracy are the foundations of learning at and beyond school. If student knowledge, skills and understanding are not improving in these areas, it can hold students back in their performance across all of their subjects. At Scoresby we have a commitment to providing every opportunity to enable all students to develop to their full potential prioritise allocation of resources and establishing of partnerships into both of these areas as well as providing programs that offer enhancement opportunities to our most able students.
Production
Our music staff and students have been busy rehearsing for our annual production. Tickets are now on sale. Having seen some of the performers at rehearsals I am sure that everyone who attends will see the exceptional talent we have at the College.
Information Evenings
I would like to acknowledge the commitment of parents, students and staff who have braved the cold evenings to attend our 2016 Information Evenings, Night of the Notables and to collect students from production rehearsals. An international research paper titled ‘Engaging Parents in Raising Achievement Do Parents Know They Matter by Professor Alma Harris and Dr Janet Goodall, highlights the importance of parent engagement in their child’s education. Their research shows that where parents and teachers work together to improve learning, the gains in achievement are significant.
Thank you to Mr Chris Knight (Assistant Principal), Ms Yvonne Sly (Head of Senior School) and Ms Sandy Gunn (Head of Junior School) who chaired and coordinated the evenings, students who performed on the night and staff who attended to answer parent questions. A reminder of the due date for return of subject selection forms to the general office together with the deposit for materials.
I want to take this opportunity to publicly apologise to the parents of a small group of students who I believe may not have received a copy of the letter given out about last week’s information evening. We do try multiple forms of communication. Unfortunately for this group, the absence of our Information Technology technician through illness meant the information was also not updated on our website. All evenings were all publicised in advance in the newsletter last term and for students in home group. I take on board the feedback and now we have reviewed our processes for distribution of on line information.
Careers In Science Launch at KIOSC
Last Thursday, Chris Knight, Fiona Matthews, Alison McGregor and myself were invited with Principals and student representatives of other KIOSC Consortium Schools to the launch of Careers in Science as part of National Science Week. The launch was conducted by Ms Kate Evans KIOSC Director and officially opened by Education Minster James Merlino. The event was attended by Swinburne University of TAFE , Mayor of Knox Cr Peter Lockwood, Industry Representatives from Carribean Industry Park and other key organisations. This launch was a positive start to other events which are taking place for National Science Week including: Careers of The Future, Carribean Industry Park careers excursion and our Star Gazing event to be held at the College on Friday night.
Student Leadership Scoresby Student Leaders Mentioned In Parliament
In State Parliament on 6 August 2015, Nick Wakling in his member statement congratulated our student leaders for attending the latest youth council meeting. At the youth council meeting, students had first-hand experience by participating in discussions with the member of Rowville and Member from Croydon (who is also the Shadow Minister for Public Transport) on a range of issues within each of the member portfolios. Student voice is a priority in our College Strategic Plan and for the first time we have student leadership scholarships next year. Next term, I will be calling for student nominations for a Principal Advisory Committee which will commence in late term four and continue in 2016. This leadership group will add to existing leadership programs, consisting of Student Captains, Vice Captains, House Leaders, Student Representative Council (SRC), student representatives on College Council and subcommittees, representation and Teach the Teacher Program.
Gail Major
Principal