Headmaster's

Message

End of Term Wrap

We have arrived, as a community, at the end of the first semester of 2021 and many of us are rejoicing. Whilst much effort has been invested, much has also been achieved. The fabulous BMGS staff team has spent the semester seeking to provide the conditions for our students to flourish. Parents have spent these months supporting their children in every possible way, including by encouraging them to engage positively in School and benefit from all that happens on campus and under our care. Students have applied themselves industriously to their studies, their co-curricular programs and their School sports teams. As a result they have grown and developed in many and various ways. Much of the outcomes of students’ efforts has been captured in their 2021 Semester 1 Academic Reports, to which parents now have access. 

 

This semester represented the peak of the enormous year-long effort of the fabulous BMGS staff team, directed towards the launch of our new online school management system. From the start of Semester 2, ‘Mezzo’ (our local installation of Sentral) will replace iWise and Igloo and a range of other software and facilitate the modernisation of many School systems and processes. My expectation is that, after the learning spike we are all about to experience, the lives of students, parents and staff will become significantly better and substantially easier. Parents will be offered instruction in how to use Mezzo at the start of next Semester.

 

The School took the opportunity of the move to Mezzo to review its Academic Reports. For this reason, two weeks ago, I asked parents, via my article in Pulse titled ‘It’s Report Time!, to share with me their perspective in a range of key areas. This survey provided much valuable feedback and was crucial in determining the next steps in the evolution of our School’s Academic Reports. 

 

There was strong support for the following School proposals.

  • Include on reports an analysis of the grade distribution for the course (how many got each A-E grade) – parents felt this was appropriate for Senior School only.
  • Replace an assessment of ‘Effort,’ which is very subjective, with teacher judgements about each student’s ‘Engagement in Learning’ as measured by the frequency in which each student demonstrates appropriate levels of organisation, application, focus, cooperation and reflection.
  • Report on a student’s demonstration of growth in the Character Traits and Learning Behaviours we know to be central to their development, both as a person and as a learner.

My article, and the survey, suggested that we replace course-based comments with more focused individual statements that summarise specific ‘Areas for Improvement’ and ‘Recommended Parent Actions.’ Parents liked the idea of more specific and focused statements and specifically mentioned the following areas of focus: “areas of aptitude that would benefit from extension/ support at home;” “suggestions for how parents should intervene” and; “areas of concern and what action needs to be taken outside school to support improvement at school.” However, parents were generally not supportive that we remove comments in order to achieve this. Despite some parents’ attachment to comments, it is the School’s position that almost everything that comments usually address can be stated in other ways in a well-designed school report and in ways that are simpler for teachers and their supervisors and facilitate and that will generate more specific parent engagement.

 

Finally, there were a range of suggestions from parents that have me thinking about how we might provide some of the following in the future.

  • A perspective on whether achievement is reflective of learning in class or a student’s approach to assessments.
  • Information on how a student’s ‘Engagement in Learning’ compares to their peer group.

So, henceforth, we can all look forward to our Academic Reports improving each Semester. Please visit iWise one last time to say goodbye as well as to access and download your latest School reports. If there are any questions that derive from these reports please see the correspondence mentioned below.

 

Please also find below the links to the End of Term letters that provide a reflection on Term 2 and a great deal of relevant information for the coming Term.

At the end of this semester, I wish to thank staff, parents and students for all that they have done to make this School community successful. In addition, I wish all students a wonderful break from classroom learning and the freedom school holidays typically affords to undertake learning of many other kinds.

 

Mr Ian Maynard

Headmaster