Community Newsletter

Ms Cucchiara - Assistant Principal

Welcome to the 2021 school year. I especially welcome those families who are new to our school community. I hope 2021 will be a most rewarding year filled with many wonderful opportunities for learning and growth.

Above - Our learning Architecture is used by all teachers to inform our teaching practice.

 

At Cranbourne Secondary College our Teaching and Learning Model is the Learning Architecture. This is an evidence based model and I would like to acknowledge Esther Weichert, our learning partner for her coaching in supporting us with this work. 

 

To ensure the growth of all students at our College, teachers implement the following phases from the Learning Architecture: 

 

PHASE 1: Know Our Students 

  • Teachers collect and analyse evidence and data to ascertain student readiness for learning, preparing accurate preassessments to determine each child’s point of entry
  • Teachers have an ongoing focus on formative assessment to make sure they address the point of entry of their students to bridge any gaps successfully

PHASE 2: Plan for Teaching and Learning 

  • Teachers unpack the Victorian Curriculum and extract key skills to ensure a guaranteed and viable curriculum.
  • Teachers determine what learning is essential, relevant, empowering, and enduring for their students
  • Teachers plan activities that address at least four levels of complexity and work towards bridging learning gaps through differentiation and personalisation

PHASE 3: Teach Our Students 

  • Teachers deliver engaging lessons that support students to develop knowledge, understanding, skills and capabilities across the curriculum
  • Teachers use The Gradual Release of Responsibility Instructional Model, as illustrated in the diagram below.

 

PHASE 4: Assess Our Students 

  • Teachers have a strong emphasis on formative assessment to consistently track student learning
  • Teachers create summative assessments based on different levels of complexity
  • Teachers provide timely and specific feedback
  • Teachers provide multiple opportunities for students to learn the skill
  • Teachers use evidence and data to inform future learning

TUTOR LEARNING INITIATIVE 

The Tutor Learning Initiative is a Victorian Government Policy designed to support students whose learning has been disrupted due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Each school’s funding allocation is based on a model of no more than five students for 26 weeks. Even with the very best of teachers’ efforts in 2020, there are some students who have not been able to engage as entirely in the remote learning program as they would have been able to in the usual classroom environment. This is likely to include students at all ability and achievement levels. 

 

Students who may require additional support include those: 

  • with low levels of English
  • with home environments not conducive to remote and flexible learning
  • already at risk of disengaging from school
  • enrolled in applied programs, and
  • who need educational and health and wellbeing supports at school but were unable to access them at home

At Cranbourne Secondary College, any student outside of the Literacy and Numeracy Support Programs who experienced significant disruption to their learning in 2020 will receive additional educational support from a tutor in their English, Maths and Life Skills classes. Student data and evidence will inform the selection of students across Years 7-12. 

 

By engaging tutors to support students with intensive learning, classroom teachers will have a greater capacity to ensure all students’ learning needs are met. Additional options for before or after school support will also be made available. 

PROGRESSIVE ACHIEVEMENT TESTING 

ON DEMAND TESTING 

Progressive Achievement Testing (PAT) and On-Demand Testing (ODT) took place towards the end of Term 4, 2020 and our Year 7 students are currently undertaking this testing. Students that were absent during this time will undergo the testing during our catch up sessions scheduled to take place over the coming weeks. These tests focus on monitoring student growth over time and allow our staff to tailor their teaching to individual learners’ needs in our classrooms. 

 

At Cranbourne Secondary College, we pride ourselves on knowing our learners and their readiness to learn, and these assessments reflect our commitment to deliver the best program to each student. 

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT YOUR CHILD’S LEARNING AT SCHOOL? 

You can encourage your son or daughter to: 

  • be organised
  • arrive to class on time
  • bring the required equipment to class
  • be ready to learn
  • complete and submit his/her best work

You can support your child by: 

  • reminding them about the importance of having a growth mindset
  • keeping him/her healthy - appropriate amounts of sleep, exercise and healthy food
  • discussing and showing an interest in their learning
  • reassuring them that teachers will be looking at designing learning to help them learn as much as possible from wherever their starting point is and,
  • reassuring them that teachers will provide multiple opportunities for them to continue to learn key knowledge and skills

Ms Jo Cucchiara 

Assistant Principal