From our Principal

Welcome back to Term 2! This is proving to be another busy term. I can hardly believe we have already hit the halfway point and there is still so much to do.

Parent teacher interviews

Our parent teacher interviews were held during Week 2 of this term. Attendance was fabulous and from all accounts, the interviews were valuable and well received. It was lovely to go around and meet so many families over the course of the day, and it was a great opportunity to chat about families' aspirations for their children and our school.

Our interviews are based on the following model:

Acknowledgement - What has the student achieved? What has worked well?
Support - How can we work together to support the student to improve?
Next Steps - What will the student focus on next?
Success - What does success look like for the student? How will we know if the student has been successful?

This model helps support positive conversations steeped in a growth mindset. Moving forward we are keen to further develop these important opportunities to build more chances for the students to showcase their learning and increase their ownership over their own learning.

Increased expectations

Our core business is not just about the skills and content within learning areas, but importantly it is about preparing our students for the real world around them. It is an unfortunate reality that as learners, young people sometimes make poor choices (as we all did as students). They also need to understand that there will be consequences for their actions and learn the appropriate ways of dealing with situations as they arise.

Our goal is to ensure there are very strict lines in the sand for poor behaviour choices. Our ongoing conversations are centered around "would you do that around your grandmother?", "would you do that at Church/Mosque?" or "would you do that at work". These questions are excellent starters for the learning conversations that stem from these behaviour choices, and I encourage families to keep this going whilst at home. A huge thanks to families for your support when we have contacted you in recent weeks .

With our goal of ensuring a safe and engaging learning environment for students and staff, we have a whole school focus on bringing the correct equipment to all classes, lateness, and appropriate behaviours in and out of the classroom. These expectations were shared with students in week one and there are daily reminders. In summary:

Equipment:

Students are to bring to all classes:

student planner
all relevant text books
pens/pencils/calculators
a charged laptop

Late attendance:

Students who arrive at class after the bell (or the end of the music for Period 1 and 4) will be marked late.
Three unapproved lates in a term result in a one-hour after school catch-up class.
Continued ongoing lateness will result in escalating consequences.
Failure to attend detentions will also result in escalating consequences.

Appropriate behaviours:

All students referred to sub-school (sent out of class) will now receive a one hour after school catch up.
A one-hour after school detention will be given to any student leaving class without permission, for unapproved use of a mobile phone, incorrect uniform or for failing to follow a staff member's instruction
Failure to attend detentions will result in escalating consequences.
Immediate suspensions will apply to any dangerous/aggressive behaviour, intimidation of another person, filming incidents on school grounds, damaging property, vaping or smoking, and leaving school grounds without permission

We recognise that in some cases there are reasonable reasons for lateness or not having the correct uniform. Should this be the case, we ask parents to contact the relevant sub-school via phone/email or diary note, and our sub-school teams will provide approvals to ensure there are no negative consequences in these instances.

In all cases - communication between the school and family is important.

We are already seeing positive impacts of these changes in every class across the school. The majority of students always do the right thing and come to school ready to learn, and they are seeing an increase in their productivity due to reduced interruptions in classes. The number of students arriving late has dramatically reduced and we are seeing an overall calmer school environment. That can only be a good sign for the learning of every Glenroy student.

School review

The school review has been fantastic opportunity for the whole College community to contribute to the shape of where we head next. The panel interviewed almost every staff member and about 50 students, visited a great number of classrooms, met a fabulous panel of parent representatives and explored every nook and cranny of our school.

The terms of reference for the field work days were:

To what extent are leadership structures and practices developing the College as an effective professional learning community focused on improving student outcomes?
To what extent does the College have a Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum that is consistently used to plan and deliver a teaching and learning program that is differentiated to maximise student growth?
To what extent do teachers, students and parents share a culture of high expectations for student engagement, learning and wellbeing achievement and behaviours?

The early findings precisely match the work we have been focusing on this year - namely the building of consistent practice across our school and clear expectations for all community members. This includes in our processes, our teaching methodology, the way we strive to build positive relationships with families and students and our communication methods.

It will be exciting to share with you the final report once it is finished!

Phew… last words

There has been so much going on I could continue to write, but I fear I'd still be writing in June.

Thank you to all our families for your ongoing support, and please do not hesitate to reach out should there be any way we can further support your children.

Cheers

Andrew Arney