Heard on the Hill Term 4, Week 2

Nuts and Bolts

Alumni Open Day

A reminder that next Saturday 22 October, from 9.30 – 11.30am we are planning an Open Day for the Bunbury SHS Alumni. Morning tea will be sold through the cafeteria, school site tour, sale of Alumni merchandise and membership drive. Thank you to all those who have volunteered to help. It is coming together nicely. If you would still like to help please drop me an email. If not please ensure that your classrooms and surrounds are clean and tidy for Friday afternoon.

Photocopying

Today’s article about the latest Gratten Report on Curriculum Planning and delivery is timely. You will see from Sue’s article on photocopy use that we have fallen back into some bad habits. This level of photocopying by some staff indicates that technology is probably taking second place in the classroom and it also opens a line of enquiry about the degree by which those staff members are engaging in our agreed whole school delivery through the Best Teachers description and our Shared Instructional Framework.

Leadership Minutes

Please click the link below to access Leadership Minutes from last term.

Professional Learning - Application Process

Please be aware that the PL application form has been updated. This is still located in the School Templates folder on your desktop. Please make sure you use the most up to date form when applying to attend professional learning. Please also ensure that your PL form is submitted to me at least two weeks prior to the PL date/s where possible.

Note: To request relief for meetings on site, please use the Internal Relief Form, also in the School Templates folder.

Skills For Lifelong Learning - Tinkering and Making

The key to making is using authentic tools to create meaningful projects. It is a natural fit for the STEAM subjects, but other forms of making, such as researching and presenting a report on a topic, creating a documentary, or writing for an audience, also stretch those creative and critical thinking skills. The link below will take you to a digital magazine called The Tinker Times, which has some cool ideas for projects and provides some suggestions for how to structure these for students.

Makerspace in the Library

Paul Reynolds and I are currently in the process of setting up a Makerspace in the Library. It will have a range of typical construction materials and equipment (ie scissors, glue, cardboard), as well as some electronics components and we will continue to add to it over time. We hope to open the Makerspace soon, and it will be accessible by making a booking for your class or group via BookIt.

We would love to hear what you would like to see made available in this space. Would a 3D printer be useful, for example? What kinds of projects are you currently doing or want to do with your classes? What equipment would help you to facilitate your projects? Please email Kelly or Paul with suggestions.

Best Practice

Some of the more older staff may know of a teacher/DP called Keith Marley from ASHS, NMSHS, Manea and District Office. These staff would remember him (he’s only just retired) as being a highly intelligent, astute and passionate teacher. I have met some of his ex-students and the aspect I noticed most when talking to them is that they wanted to be taught by him. They stated they learnt so much in his classes and enjoyed learning.

There were two elements of teaching he was passionate about and constantly modelled, mentored and delivered in his classroom; high expectations and classroom observations. Keith, similar to Mike, studied in Japan and bought ideas back here on classroom observation well before this became a departmental priority. The focus was Jugyou Kenkyu; simply put it is the study of a lesson.

Here at school, we also have brilliant advocates of classroom/peer observation to assist in the study of a lesson. Working collaboratively with peers provides us with opportunities for enriching classroom practices and improving teaching.

If you want assistance please see Cathy or have chat with a colleague you feel comfortable working with. A starting point for peer observation is a recording of the first 15 minutes of a lesson; what is the routine?

For Term 4, work with a colleague and focus on one aspect of your teaching that you believe could be improved.

Photocopying

In 2019 the school introduced the printing policy because we were spending an annual average of $101,000 on photocopying and printing. The impact was outstanding, reducing the cost by 43% to $58,000. In 2021 the policy was relaxed to permit more colour copying and printing. However the negative effect is that our costs are increasing again, to date we have spent $68,000 with a term remaining. At this rate we predict expenditure to be $90,000 for 2022.

Some printing facts and figures for the year to date:
• Pages printed/copied: 1.5 million
• B&W: 1 million
• Colour: ½ million
• Reams of paper: 3,000
• Copies per day: 10,000

30% of our copy count is colour. A page is deemed a colour page with even the smallest amount of colour, it could simply be a full stop. Colour costs 10 times more than B&W.
• Colour cost = 7.5¢
• B&W cost = 0.75¢

Please carefully consider the use of colour copying and opt for B&W instead, and consider alternatives to reduce the overall printing amount.

The printing policy will be reviewed. We may need to consider a quota system, applying annual maximum print/copy totals.

Download SZapp

Download the SZapp to keep up to date with all our school communications.

It's a very easy-to-use app with links to all of our school platforms, including the school website, newsletters, Facebook, calendar plus more!

Watch the video below on how to download and some of the features.

BUNBURY SHS INSTAGRAM

BUNBURY SHS FACEBOOK

Is something interesting happening in or around your classroom? Having an incursion or excursion this term? Please let me know!

We love to share updates from the school with our community and would like representation from each area of our wonderful school; no matter how big or small.

Please submit stories for our Facebook page via the wufoo link below and include as much information as you can, plus a few images to accompany the article. If you are having trouble with the wufoo form, you can email the information to me directly.(ellie.mackay@education.wa.edu.au)

Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and check out what our students and staff get up to.