Teaching & Learning
It has been an extremely busy and productive fortnight for the GSSC Senior Students. Last week our Year 11 students undertook exams and this week they have enjoyed a full week of the Year 12 Early Commencement Program.
It has been wonderful to host all of our 2022 Year 12 students at our Wanganui Campus this week and provide them with the opportunity to be together as one cohort as they prepare for the move to our new site.
Next week our Year 10 students will undertake their exams and Year 11 Early Commencement Programs. We congratulate our Senior Students for the responsible, respectful and aspirational manner in which they have undertaken these experiences. We thank staff and senior leaders for their hard work and dedication in making this a viable and valuable senior learning experience program.
Professional Learning Communities
A successful school function much like a community, where everyone feels welcome, productive, and able to share and learn together. This is just as true for the teachers as it is for the students. In a constant effort to see improved outcomes for all students, learning area teams will be changing up the way they meet next year to allow for greater collaboration and consistency of practice.
These will take the form of curriculum collaboration groups or professional learning communities. In these collaborative teams, staff will share the responsibility of the improvement for all students.
They will actively work together, with a key improvement strategy, planning student learning, observing each other’s practice and evaluating the growth of students learning based on classroom practice.
Over the course of the year, a small selection of experienced coaches and collaborators within the school have been working on unpacking the key elements of successful teams and creating professional learning for staff to support this change. This group of staff have been analysing our school data, observing meetings in practice and creating facilitation guides for each team.
Next year all of our curriculum collaboration leaders will have the opportunity to build their facilitation skills, so that staff time is purposeful and leads to improved outcomes for all students.
Our fabulous new school buildings are designed as houses, neighbourhoods and communities, and we are excited to see our practice adapt and adjust to fit these models.
We are confident in the work our teachers are already doing and can’t wait to see how these new ways of working together will improve the learning for everyone.
End of Semester Reports
It is that time of year again, where staff are busily finalising their reports. These will be a snapshot of the level of achievement a student is working at in each year level, as well as the grades students have achieved on each of their assessments.
This year parents can expect to be able to download their child’s report on the afternoon of the 3rd December. These are for students in Years 7 through to Year 11.
Parents are always welcome to check the written comments and feedback on student assessments throughout the semester. These are accessible via Compass. We also encourage parents to contact classroom teachers at any time via Compass or the school, if you have questions about your child’s growth and aptitude. Our staff are more than happy to communicate with you.
Megan Michalaidis
Associate Principal of Teaching & Learning