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Student Voice and achievement

Our Senior Student Leadership team have been seen out and about recently, leading within our community and showing ASCs core values of Respect, Responsibility and Resilience. Captains, Nicole and Ashton were recently the MCs of the Armidale Regional Council Citizenship Ceremony which welcomed 23 new citizens to Armidale. Nicole also led the National Anthem on the day, accompanied by the Ben Venue choir. Nicole and Ashton are both former Ben Venue students. The choir were very keen to engage with our captains and learn more about what was ahead for them as they begin their transition to ASC.

Our Future Teachers Club which is part of the Professional Experience (PEX) Hub program at ASC is this week working with their Future Teacher peers at Macquarie Fields High School (MFHS). Students from the Macquarie Fields Future Teachers Club (FTC) and our own FTC students along with Future Teachers from Uralla Central and Guyra Central, engaged with our University of New England Partners to engage in a series of STEM activities to integrate into a stage 3 STEM day being held at ASC. All of our Future Teachers will be leading the 450 stage 3 students from our partner primary schools, and regional public schools in the STEM learning activities throughout the day.

Tanya Williams who is our PEX Hub coordinator has worked tirelessly this term in organising this very special event which allows our students to shine as they engage with our community. The Macquarie Fields Visit has included social events and “get to know Armidale” events as well and our School Captains, Nicole, Lekzin, Tom and Peace did a fantastic job in hosting the Trivia and Pizza night at ASC on Wednesday night.

Thanks also to the outgoing P&C executive who have set up wonderful processes as our school has started and for the support of the school and the canteen staff. P&C meetings are held on the last Thursday of the month in the Staff Common Room on the 2nd floor in A Block and new members are always welcome.

Staffing

Being a PEX Hub is a dedication to the future of teaching and education in NSW. In partnership with UNE directly but with all universities involved in the Rural Scholarships for Teaching program, ASC is working to grow the numbers of preservice teachers entering the profession and encouraging working in NSW Public Schools. Tanya William’s role as PEX coordinator includes organising and facilitation preservice teacher placements and support in our school and supporting preservice teachers in our partner schools. This support extends beyond the school gates in organising social events for preservice teachers to connect with each other and the region. We are seeking to attract young teachers to our regional areas and to stay. We are working with our local community and businesses to provide our preservice teachers with a positive view of Armidale and the region to encourage them to teach rural.

Following the state election, the new Relieving Secretary of the NSW Department of Education, Murat Dizdar met with all educational stakeholders (The Deputy Premier and Minister of Education and Early Learning, AECG, Teachers Federation, P&C, PPA and SPC) to sign a statement of intent to “support and strengthen collaboration to meet the urgent challenges facing public education in NSW.”

The statement recognises that these challenges are seriously impacting our ability to deliver our long-term purpose- the best possible outcomes for all our students.

“The immediate challenges affecting public education include: teachers are facing unprecedented workload demands which are forcing many from the profession; teacher salaries do not recognise the vital work that they do; and that too many teachers are in temporary or casual roles, impacting their futures and those of their schools.”

The collaboration will be focused in 4 areas:

Rebuild the teaching workforce and restore pride in the profession.
Put teachers and school staff at the heart of the NSW public education system to support our students.
Address workload challenges and improve the working experience for all school staff.
Improve outcomes for learners at every level.

It is fantastic to have a quality educator back at the helm of education in NSW. Too often people who have no experience in education or teaching are making decisions based on grubby politics, finance and media spin rather than what is best for our teachers and learners. You are able to read the full statement through the following link.

https://education.nsw.gov.au/news/latest-news/agreement-to-face-education-challenges-signed

This commitment to education is already impacting our school with many of our temporary teaching and non teaching staff being offered permanent appointments within the department. This offers security and stability for them personally and moves us towards having a school that is fully staffed.

We all need to be cognisant that our staff in education are working well beyond what is reasonable. The workload challenges for teachers are growing and there needs to be significant change to be able to provide the best education available to our community of learners. Teachers leaving the profession, buckling under stress and looking for other career options is not unique to Armidale or even NSW. The gradual erosion of respect for the profession demonstrated through the previous government’s unwillingness to negotiate with key stakeholders and listen to those experts in the profession is being seen across the globe. We have a global teacher shortage. This shortage continues to impact our school. As we move into week 6, we will again be utilising our study hall to ensure that when we are unable to cover classes that students are able to have continuity of learning in a warm and supported environment. We understand that the best educational option for students is to be in a classroom learning and supported by their classroom teacher, but the reality of our current situation is that we don’t have enough teachers and with the impact of Winter illness this is further exacerbated. Study hall is a way that our students can continue to learn and keep warm.

Making things better a little at a time together

The last few years in education have been some of the most challenging ever seen. At ASC we are constantly seeking to improve how we support our teachers and students to achieve excellence. We do this through engaging with programs of professional learning, providing academic and extra curricular wellbeing support for our students and ensuring that we are educating the whole person.

Sometimes the challenges in our community of crime and violence come into our school. Our school is not the cause or centre of these antisocial behaviours but a part of the Armidale community. As part of that community, we are working side by side with the NSW Police and Health as well as the Department of Communities and Justice to build a better future for our region. No one wants to be living in a place where they are afraid to walk down the street, no one wants to be sleepless as they listen to their car being stolen, no one deserves to be a victim of violence in their home or their community. At Armidale Secondary College our students overwhelmingly do the right thing and uphold our core values of Respect, Responsibility and Resilience. Recent negative media attention has focused on a small group of students who don’t. The more that all our incredible, talented, respectful learners speak up and out with kindness, understanding and a commitment to making the whole community a better place, the less acceptable these behaviours will be in our community. The more parents speak with their students about the great things they do each day, the more parents and carers engage with their childrens’ positive lives, the more we as parents know and understand how and with whom our children are hanging out with, not just in person but online, the greater opportunity we have to make a positive influence on their lives.

At ASC we deal with antisocial and violent behaviours using the policies and procedures we have available to us through our department. We also work with community agencies to address social inequality and provide supports to an incredible range of students. Our ability as Public Educators to deliver this support to students and families, to ensure that our community is safer, and that wellbeing is thriving is only possible when we all work together. Our students have a right to be proud of their school, to wear our uniform with pride, they have a right to be safe and ready to learn. Our teachers have the right to feel pride in their profession and to enjoy their time at school without fear of verbal and physical abuse, the wider community needs to feel confident that our school provides the best education available. Hate breeds hate, ignorance loves company. I encourage everyone to reject the hatred and ignorance that has recently been spouted on social media and on the news around our school. Let’s work together with respect to make our school and community a better place to live, work and learn. Each of us must take responsibility for our words and actions and the consequences of those on others. As a community we need to come together with resilience to make the difference this region needs.

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