School Review: A Great Success

It is wonderful to be back at school after almost two terms working in the regional office.  Thank you to Kellie Ind who took on the responsibility of Acting Principal in my absence as well as to all the leaders, staff and students who continued to work hard and achieve the outstanding outcomes that our school is known for.

Our school review, conducted over 4 days in August was a huge success.  The panel members, included the school reviewer, Branko Lukic, Kaajal Fox (School Council President), Eva McMaster (SEIL), Maria Kavourni (Principal, Auburn High School) and Daryl Bennett (Principal Swinburne Senior Secondary College).  They were very impressed with the school’s achievements over the last 4 years, especially given the disruption of a global pandemic.  The process was a rigorous one, including extensive data analysis, classroom observations, and robust discussions and feedback provided through focus groups with staff, students, and families. 

The panel reported that our students were 'magnificent, articulate and a great advertisement for the school'.  Students expressed their deep appreciation for the school culture that was 'respectful, diverse, non-judgmental and inclusive’. They loved the 'support from staff and the many opportunities they had for extra-curricular activities.'  They feel 'acknowledged and valued and comfortable in their own skin.'  They want more 'agency/choice' in their learning, more 'opportunities for reflection and feedback on their learning during the class, and time to set goals' for the next stage of their learning. They want less teacher directed lessons and more experiential learning. 

Parents were appreciative of the strong leadership, supportive and committed staff and spoke very positively about the support and communication provided during remote learning.  One parent said that their child 'comes home buzzing'.  Parents feel comfortable in approaching the school, happy with support programs and VCE offerings.  They liked the balance between the typical English/Humanities/Science/Maths and the Arts/ Languages offerings - catering for all students' interests.  Parents want more opportunities to engage with the school, greater clarity/consistency in regard to Compass feedback/ information on Learning Tasks. 

The panel were highly impressed by our leadership team and staff and the levels of professional knowledge and expertise we have at the school.  It was clear to the panel that the school had high expectations and ambitious targets and that there was real clarity in regard to the school vision as well as the various portfolios, roles and responsibilities of those who lead all aspects of our work. 

The reviewer will now write a report on his findings and will also endorse the goals and key improvement strategies that will inform the new School Strategic Plan (SSP) 2023-2026.  The SSP is shared with the whole school community via our website. 

Thank you to all staff, students and parents who gave up their time to participate - this feedback is important in shaping our work for the next 4 years.

School Planning for 2023

With the careful planning and organization by our Senior Sub School leaders and Careers team, this year's Course Advising was a great success.  Students in Year 9-11 had an individual appointment with a teacher to discuss and select their courses for 2023. Our students had access to multiple sources of information prior to the event, designed to support them in making some informed decisions about courses and pathways for 2023. As a result, most students were well prepared for their interviews with either a well-considered course in mind, or some clear and specific questions to ask that would help them to clarify their options. 

Now that all courses have been selected, the principal class team looks at each of the subjects and the number of students that have selected each of these, to make (difficult) decisions regarding which subjects are financially viable to offer next year.  We do our best to offer a spread across all the different domains, including Languages and the Visual and Performing Arts, to cater for the varied needs and interest of our students.  In some cases, a class is combined, to ensure that it is viable eg Year 11 and 12 students take a combined class in some cases where numbers are very low.

Our projected enrolment for next year, indicative DET budget as well as the staffing needs in each subject area determines our workforce planning and recruitment of staff.  This is a long process and continues in stages all the way through Term 3 and 4. 

The Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2022

The Fairwork Commission approved the new Industrial Agreement for Teachers and Education Support staff, and this is effective as of 25 July.  The agreement aims to reduce the workload of teachers, lower stress levels and provide more autonomy for staff. 

There are, however, some challenges associated with implementing this new agreement in schools

1. Time in Lieu (TiL) for teaching staff: our system is built on the ‘goodwill’ of teachers.  This TiL is important recognition for all the out of hours work done by staff in public schools. Teachers must now be compensated with TiL for any additional duties undertaken outside of their 38-hour work week. This applies to any structured school activity where the Principal requests the Teacher to attend eg evening events, school camps etc.  Teachers can either be paid for the extra time or be released from school for the hours worked. The challenge for us is managing this compensation as it will impact our budget as well as create disruption to the teaching program. We will need to employ more CRTs to cover classes to allow for this TiL. 
2.  Reduction in face-to-face teaching time:  The intention is to allow for more time for Teachers to plan, collaborate and assess student work within their paid hours (38-hour week).  This equates to a 60-minute reduction in 2023 and a further 30-minute reduction in 2024.  As a result of this reduction in face-to-face hours, we have made the decision to structure the school day into 5x 60-minute periods.  This allows us to maximise the budget allocated to staff salaries and also helps to reduce the cognitive load for students, as they have fewer classes each day.  The overall learning time each day will still remain at 300 minutes for students – there is no reduction in teaching and learning time.

We have also made slight adjustments to the bell times, including a slightly shorter lunch break.

 The school day will therefore be structured as follows. 

Structure of Sub School Teams for 2023

In 2023, we are introducing three sub-schools instead of two sub-schools. This change is based on some key reasons:

• Our student enrolment has increased significantly over the last 5-6 years and there are now over 230 students at each year level, making it hard to oversee such large numbers in each current sub school
• Student Survey data (Attitudes to School Survey) increasingly shows that there are learning, and engagement needs at Year 9 and 10 that require more specific targeting and different approaches required.
• Smaller numbers of students in each sub school allows for better knowledge and support of individual students, and support for classroom teachers 

The structure will be adjusted as per the table below:

Parents will be invited to an Annual General Meeting to be held at school in Term 4, to hear from our School Council President as well as to hear more about these changes.  It is also an opportunity for parents to ask questions or seek further clarity on any changes for 2023. More information and an agenda for the meeting will be communicated via Compass early in Term 4. 

Thank you for your continued support of the school. We look forward to seeing you at the various events planned for Term 4.

By Losh Pillay

Principal