CIS Splash

As the year continues to fly by at a rapid pace, we now find ourselves only weeks from the end of Term Three.  Importantly though, a fortnight from now also will be the CIS Preparatory Visit which will evaluate the level of GWPS’s appropriateness for a re-evaluation visit in 2021.  Under normal circumstances, the CIS would send a small visiting team to our school and they would review the day to day running of the school.  Usually this would include classroom visits, interviews with staff, students and parents in addition to reviewing school policies and procedures onsite. 

However, due to the unprecedented challenges that 2020 has presented us with, the CIS Preparatory visit will now be done virtually. This will still entail an in-depth review of the school, however, obviously the need to adjust a few things will need to be considered.  

This includes the school tour being conducted virtually as well as a all of the interviews with staff, parents and students.  Evaluators will still be given the opportunity to view how the school has continued to provide professional development opportunities for staff and how this has continued to improve the learning outcomes of the students. 

We are excited to know that the CIS will be providing our school with two evaluators with a rich knowledge of education and ideas on how to drive continuous improvement.  During the visit, the evaluators will be breaking their review of the school into eight key domains, which are:

• Purpose and Direction
• Governance and Ownership
• The Curriculum
• Teaching and Assessing for Learning
• The Students Learning and Wellbeing
• Staffing
• School Premises 
• Community and Home School Partnerships

The first domain, Purpose and Direction, relates directly to the school’s Guiding Statements.  Essentially, in this domain, the evaluators will be investigating how well our Guiding Statements align with the day to day operations of the school and connect to our teaching and learning programs.  As we take great pride in the programs and curriculum we provide, we look forward to the feedback that the evaluators will provide in this area. 

Since our last visit by the CIS in 2016, our school has undergone some significant number of changes, including evolution of the physical premises, running of the school and curriculum.  In time, we look forward to sharing with you the outcomes of the upcoming CIS visit and the next areas of growth for our school.