Principal's Report

Education State Initiatives

The Education State is the Victorian Government’s plan to improve education across our state, targeting improvement in:

• Learning for Life (reading, maths, science, arts, critical and creative thinking)
• Happy, Healthy, Resilient Kids
• Breaking the link between students at risk and poor achievement
• Pride and confidence in local government schools

At Staughton, we have been working hard on these areas through the key initiatives of:

• Setting expectations and promoting inclusion
• Building practice excellence

We believe that these two initiatives will give us great leverage to continue our school improvement. One example of how we are doing this is by building practice excellence in Mathematics. We are involved in a Mathematics Association of Victoria program that is helping to improve our teachers’ ability to assess, and then target teach, what students are ready to learn. The program has a strong emphasis on teaching conceptual understanding and not just the ‘trick’ of how to do the maths.  Teachers in all areas of the school are involved in similar work to improve all of our students’ learning growth.

On Wednesday, 18th May, there is a student free day during which teachers will continue to work on building practice excellence to improve student learning.

Between 10th – 12th May, Year 7 and Year 9 NAPLAN tests will be held. These are a great way for students and the school to see the results of our improvement initiatives. It is vitally important that all students attend and put in their best effort in each test.

The attendance at our recent Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences was fantastic. This partnership is a vital in ensuring we achieve a high level of student learning growth. Although it is a long way off, the next Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences are being held on Wednesday, the 10th of August. Please save this date as we expect students to attend the conferences with their parents.

David Lord

Principal