Principal's Report
Remote Learning Updates
It has been disappointing to have been unexpectedly thrown back into remote learning after having had such a wonderful return to camps, excursions and sporting activities earlier in the year.
Based on student feedback, we decided to approach remote learning by following the normal timetable. Once it was clear that the current lockdown was not going to be short lived, we made amendments to reduce the amount of live lesson screen time for students. Families are able to view their child's classes by viewing their Compass timetable. Typically, across most year levels, we have dropped a single period from each subject. Students are still encouraged to complete school work and revision activities during this time, however it is designed to give students flexibility to be able to complete their work when it suits them. For example a student may have a break during the middle of the day and could choose to exercise then to break up the day and then complete any work at a later stage.
Staff, students and families have reported that students motivation is lower than during remote learning last year. Despite this, I have been impressed with student attendance rates, which continue to be similar to regular school days.
As you will be aware, the Victorian Government has announced that remote learning has been extended until at least the start of next term.
Have Your Say
We are now seeking feedback from families to assist us to plan for any potential tweaks to our remote learning plan in the event that there is an extension of remote learning next term.
Click here to complete remote learning survey
End of Term Activities
R U OK? Day
On Thursday 9th September we will be taking part in national RU OK Day? by encouraging students to look after themselves, their friends and family. Year 7-11 and VCAL students will have a screen free day and no formal classes will run, however everyone is encouraged to participate in Wellbeing activities across the day. There will be a variety of activities to promote student wellbeing and self-care as well as checking in on friends. RU OK Day is an important event in the College calendar and we are encouraging all students to be part of it - even in remote learning. There will be a matrix of activities, live challenges online and a form competition for students in Year 7, 8 & 9.Year 12 classes will run as normal for lessons 1-4 with the afternoon free.
Parent Teacher Interviews
We will be holding parent teacher interviews on Wednesday 15 September via MS Teams in the same way that we did in Term 3 last year.
No classes will run on this day and we encourage students to attend interviews with their parent(s)/carer(s). Booking information will be communicated along with Term 3 reports mid next week.
Footy Colours Day
On the last day of term we will be holding footy colours day, with students encouraged to attend their remote classes dressed in colours of their favourite football team.
The day will begin with a whole school assembly via Teams and we will host a range of activities at recess at lunch. Stay tuned for further information.
Vaccinations for Students
Students aged 16 and older are now able to book in to receive COVID vaccinations. Students currently in Year 12 (and Year 11s completing a Unit 3/4 subject) have access to priority bookings (see Compass).
The Department of Education and Training has indicated that students aged 12 and over will be able to book in for vaccinations in the coming weeks.
High levels of vaccinations will be a key strategy that we see students able to return onsite learning. Although vaccinations are not compulsory, I highly encourage students to be vaccinated. A large number of staff (myself included) are already vaccinated, with many more booked in for vaccinations following the vaccine eligibility for those aged 16 - 40.
Disability and Inclusion Funding Changes
The Victorian Government recently introduced a new funding model to support students with a disability. The funding changes will see a significant level of additional funding for schools and the removal of complex funding and eligibility requirements.
In 2022, Patterson River will receive almost $500,000 in additional funding to support students and we have already begun recruiting staff for a number of new roles. These include:
- Speech Pathologist
- Wellbeing Team Leader
- Student Learning Intervention Specialist
- Behaviour Support and Intervention Specialist
We will also be creating a number of new internal positions of responsibilities, including:
- Inclusive Education Leader
- Disability and Inclusion Profile Coordinator
In addition to these new roles, we have also advertised three new leading teacher roles (Year 7, Year 8 and Year 10). These roles are part of a move away from a sub school model in which a leading teacher oversees a number of year levels. We have made these changes in response to our growing student numbers. The new roles will allow a leading teacher to not only support the student managers but to lead curriculum programs at each year level and a formalised approach to student goal setting. Trials of student goal setting based on their learning data have been credited as one of the drivers of our big improvements in NAPLAN and we are now seeking to implement a school wide approach.
Building Works Update
Our new food rooms and community rooms will be completed over the course of the next week.
The builders have now connected our new community room with the Performing Arts Foyer which will give us more capacity to have people inside prior to events in the Performing Arts Centre. The room will also be used for smaller information sessions, hospitality events, staff training and additional options for external hirers.
New Community Room Looking into PAC Foyer
New Food Kitchen (1 of 2 Kitchens)
New Canteen
The next stage of the building works will be the construction of the STEM building. We have been busy trialing and ordering new equipment for this building. The new building will incorporate traditional machinery and modern equipment such as 3D printers, laser cutters and CNC Routers. The facility will have two print rooms that will each include 6 x 3D printers and a new laser cutter. There will also be other specialist equipment depending on the location of the print room such as a vacuum former, vinyl cutter and oversized photographic printer.
Year 7 Winners
In our last interschool sporting competition prior to lockdown, our Year 7 Boys Football and Year 7 Girls Netball took out the Northern Peninsula Titles for both sports after dominant performances. Unfortunately they have since been prevented from progressing further due to restrictions. On the upside they now remain undefeated and will be hungry to take on other schools once interschool sports finally return.
Student Course Selections
Students from Year 8 - 11 have now completed their subject preferences for 2022.
Our timetablers are now in the process of constructing the timetable blocks and liaising with small groups of students regarding the implications of these blocks on their courses.
Our bigger numbers coming up from Year 10 have resulted in a number of new subjects running, including Specialist Mathematics which has been great to.
NAPLAN Results
This week NAPLAN results were released to schools. Pleasingly, Patterson River achieved the best results that we have ever had since the introduction of NAPLAN in 2008.
Although we have been confident that our key strategies are having a significant impact on student learning, the results still came as somewhat of a surprise given the significant COVID related impacts that have been experienced over the last 18 months. Key highlights:
Year 7
- Highest mean scale score for Reading
- Highest mean scale score for Numeracy
Year 9
- Highest ever mean scale score Reading
- Highest ever mean scale score Numeracy
- Highest ever percentage of students experiencing high growth Year 7 - 9 in Numeracy
- Highest ever percentage of students experiencing high growth Year 7-9 in Reading
I am incredibly proud of the achievements of our students in the development of their core literacy and numeracy skills. While NAPLAN is the least of our worries at the moment, it is pleasingly to see students continue to grow academically despite the challenges faced. Given that student growth results are based on comparing the students improvement compared to other students across the state, it is also a validation of our approach to remote learning and the commitment and engagement that everyone has demonstrated.
Strategies that have assisted our NAPLAN improvements:
- Coordinated approach to student goal setting
- Students setting goals based on their relative academic strengths and weaknesses
- Incorporation of problem solving numeracy activities in junior maths classes
- School wide approach to reading comprehension and vocabulary
- Tutor learning initiative
- Onsite supervision for vulnerable students
- School Wide Positive Behaviour Framework
- Consistent approach to Assessment Practices and Common Assessment Tasks.
I have been inundated by emails from parents and carers in recent weeks showing their appreciation for the schools approach to remote learning and to recognise the lengths that particular teachers are going to engage and support students. It has been difficult for our students and teachers to maintain motivation while working in remotely and your lovely messages have been greatly appreciated.
Never before has working in partnership and your feedback been so important to our ever evolving work!
Stay safe,
Mr Daniel Dew
College Principal