Excellence in Teaching and Learning 

Stephanie Di Salvo 

Assistant Principal

School Improvement Team Updates

The Reading/Numeracy and Student Voice, Agency & Leadership (SVAL) School Improvements Teams (SITs) meet twice termly, to develop, oversee and evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the annual implementation plan: for improving student outcomes.

The teams follow an Improvement Cycle to focus on better outcomes for our students. The engagement in the stages of the improvement cycle and how to plan the right improvement strategies. They have evaluated and diagnosedcurrent whole-school needs,prioritised and set goalsanddeveloped and planned tasks that will build staff capacity to improve student outcomes in Term 2. 

Reading/Numeracy SIT will be focusing on the following in Term 2:

• Creating opportunities for teachers and ES to observe skilled colleagues, trial and review new strategies and receive feedback and focused coaching to support improvements to their practice.
• Creating opportunities for teachers to use targeted student feedback to reflect on lesson content, structure and student engagement.
• Establishing spaces for teachers to work in stages of learning and learning area groups using a range of assessment data to diagnose learning needs, informing future planning.
• Building teacher capacity to provide students with targeted feedback based on informed and timely judgements of each student’s achievement, relative to their learning goals and needs and curriculum standards.

SVAL SIT will be focusing on the following in Term 2:

• Building teacher capacity to the Student Voice Agency & Leadership assessment during Professional Learning Communities and other, to increase the practice of reasonable adjustments, during each phase of the Teaching and Learning inquiry cycle.
• Building teacher capacity to create authentic opportunities for students to demonstrate voice, agency and leadership throughout the day, through specific strategies including regular student choice, student goal reflection and selection.
• Supporting teachers to use specific assessments that support student choice and reflection.

Safe and Well Initiative

Jacana School for Autism applied for the Safe and Well Initiative at the end of 2020, as part of the Safe and Well in Education Strategy 2019-2024.  The school is pleased to announce that that the grant selection committee have approved the school’s application. 

The school has identified that the Safe and Well Initiative will be aligned to the school’s Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Framework, to support staff to engage in workplace mental health and wellbeing practices. The increasing levels of supports, enable staff to access supports at their point of need. 

At the Tier 1 level, the school intends to implement school-wide practical skills to build resilience to workplace stress and manage mental health in the workplace. 

At a Tier 2 level, the school intends to build staff capacity to develop skills in engaging in effective conversations around stress, mental health and wellbeing and understanding the resources available to them; resulting in cohesion through effective communication and change management.  This will include understanding human behaviour, managing conflict and effective communication. 

At a Tier 3 level, the school seeks to build staff capacity to develop skills in gaining a highest level of knowledge across the school when it comes to managing mental health in the workplace. This will include managing psychological injuries, risk factors and warning signs.