Heard on the Hill Term 2, Week 3

From the Principal

Bonjour à tous, and Wanju

“The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence”

This saying is very apt for our Year 10 students at the moment as they begin digesting the transition information that they heard last week. The very first decision on their senior school journey is deciding at which school to complete their senior schooling.  It is very easy for the students to look “across the fence” and see lush green grass without realising how “green and tender the grass is in their own paddock”. 

It is because the hard work of staff and the school is intelligently executed that it can appear invisible to others. Our common philosophical approach (above) and the mechanism that create the school culture provide the conditions for students to be successful without ever realising. Please take a moment this week with your Year 10s to remind them that they Belong at Bunbury SHS.

• Teachers at this school know their students well.
• Large investment in student services resources
• Student clubs bring likeminded students together
• House program – reward activities
• Inclusivity committee/programs

And there is much, much more. 

Thursday evening we will have our Prospective Parent Open Night.  It would be fantastic to see as many of you there that can make it. You will be filled with pride when you see and hear the presentation about our school. It is a great summary of our school vision, philosophy and all the elements that go together to make it a reality.

Have a great week.

En Avant

Nuts and Bolts

As mentioned above the Prospective Parent Night is this Thursday. We are looking for some staff members to assist with school tours. As we did last year. There is a map and script for anyone who can help. Please see Ellie if you can assist.

I would like to publicly congratulate two of our PCs who have made major contributions to our school vision. Paul Reynolds and Mark Woodland. Paul for the support with the recent ECU Cultural Fusion Day. Our school involvement was fabulous. It has paved the way for other opportunities for students.

I recently received a letter of commendation from The Herbert Jones Trust acknowledging Mark’s contribution to the Between The Lines Literature Festival.  A large commitment was necessary to cater for over 300 students, across four venues, for our local schools.

Student Survey 2023

Each year we conduct a survey of staff, parents and students. This is called the NSOS (National School Opinion Survey). It is a mandatory requirement, but we add some extra questions to the compulsory modules so that we can get feedback about the priorities in our business plan, and our general school vision.

The student survey needs to be administered in Weeks 3 or 4, whatever suits individual teachers. Please don't make this an option for students. It is a requirement that they complete this, and please tell them that their input is important.

The Program Coordinators have agreed to the following roll out plan:

Yr 7 - Maths
Yr 8 - HASS
Yr 9 - Science
Yr 10 - English
Yr 11/12 - Academic Success

The teacher needs to copy the link provided and share it with students. The easiest way is probably via Connect.

Thanks for your assistance with administering this survey

Future Leaders Program and Aspirant Sessions

FUTURE LEADERS PROGRAM
Congratulations to the following staff members who have been successful in their nomination for the Future Leaders Program at BSHS.

Cameron Allan, Mark Longbottom and Peta King join the current cohort, which also includes Xan Ashbury, myself and Kim Nimmo. The cohort receives special support for their leadership aspirations, such as access to targeted professional learning, time to meet with a mentor, and support to develop and complete a project in the school.

This program has provided useful support for staff aspirations, with many staff who have participated going on to be appointed in leadership and/or promotional positions, such as:

Catherine Simmonds - appointed as permanent Program Coordinator - Science
Nic Andrew - appointed as a Head of Year
Nghia Nguyen - appointed as a Head of Year
Xan Ashbury - One year as acting Program Coordinator in 2021 - English, now GAT and SIDE Coordinator
Cameron Allan (previously engaged with the program in 2019) - now acting Program Coordinator - Health and Physical Education
Kelly Anderson - appointed Chair of the South West Secondary School Deputy Principal Network
Kim Nimmo - Prefect Coordinator, and previously a House Coordinator, and who has recently won a position at SDERA for 15 months as a Road Safety and Drug Awareness Coordinator. This role involves assisting with the planning, implementation and evaluation of whole-school alcohol and other drug (AOD) education programs. Kim will collaborate and liaise with school leaders, government and non-government agencies, to support schools to deliver AOD education programs.
Congratulations to Kim, who will be starting in this position in Week 7. We wish her well and are hopeful that she will return to BSHS and bring her new knowledge and skills back to benefit our school community.

ASPIRANT PROGRAM
I would also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that we have an in-school Aspirants' Program that provides informative sessions once a fortnight (odd weeks) about leadership. These sessions have attracted some regular participants, but it is always open to more joining in. Our next session is this Thursday 11 May from 3.30pm in Room 10. If you plan on attending, please send me an email, so that I can order a couple of extra sandwiches!

Excursions

The appropriate time for both proposing an excursion and accepting planning for an excursion needs to be considered by staff. Thus a reminder is presented here.

Proposal – this goes straight to me. I will accept the proposal if the event is already noted on the calendar, or been approved by Leadership as an addition to the calendar. The Planning aspect of an excursion can still be completed in C2G whilst waiting for permission.

Planning – allow sufficient time to get everything correct. I focus on the Risk Management and Emergency aspects in greater detail. This is to ensure that the organiser and participating teacher(s) are well prepared for the excursion by understanding their duty of care. Unfortunately, there is still some old school thinking in play when it comes to planning an excursion whereby insufficient Risk Management aspects are presented.

For example – this is a submission where a class will walk to and from the BREC. I will not approve this excursion because the teacher has not indicated an awareness of their duty of care and associated risks with a simple task of walking.

SSEN Reporting

Sarah Hales and I are in the process of determining the approach of the school towards managing SSEN reporting. This is in response to the spike of enquiries from staff on the subject. Consequently, we are requesting staff to hold off on implementing SSEN reporting for Term 2. PBL and Shedworks will continue with group SSEN reporting as per normal, but individual students will have a hold for now.

Instructional Leadership: Social Skills for Effective Group Work

Last term I wrote about some of the components of effective group work. I want to focus on one component for a while because, without it, groups will fall apart rapidly.

Group work is about using communication to encourage critical thinking; however, we can’t do that if the students do not have the skill sets. Trying to get students to consider and discuss both sides of an issue is hard when they do not know how to listen attentively or disagree agreeably. They cannot do these without the social skills of taking turns and using equal voice. So how do we teach that? Shouldn’t they already know how to do these things? The short answer is nope – not in this context.

I strongly urge teachers to take the time to actively teach and practice at least one social skill when they are using a cooperative learning strategy. A think-pair-share loses its power when Student B doesn’t listen or doesn’t know how to take turns.

Some great social skills to be mindful of when using group work include:

• Being polite
• Taking turns
• Using quiet voices
• Encouraging equal voices
• Encouraging the efforts of others
• Being patient
• Being empathetic
• Sharing materials
• Not taking criticism personally
• Participating actively

Some quick and easy ways to do this is to get the students to brainstorm what each of these look/sound/feel before you launch in. You can create a class T-chart (looks like/sounds like) or Y-Chart (looks like/sounds like/ feels like) before the start of the activity and leave it up in the room for future reference.

More complex ways could be using some concept attainment examples. I have heaps if you want to borrow some!

A quick reflection question for you – how often do you actively teach a social skill when you put the students into groups?

Staff Vending Machines

The vending machine in the staff room now has a card reader on it. Coin & Cash payments are still working and are cheaper as with every tap of the card or phone there is an extra charge for the service.

If there is any particular product you would like the machine to stock or any issues with it please let me know. As the machine is a P&C fundraiser we are happy to look at ways to divert some of the profits back to the benefit of staff so we welcome any ideas you might have.

Geoff Ogden 
President 
Bunbury SHS P&C Asn Inc.

Prospective Parents Open Night - Staff Tour Leaders

I am still searching for volunteers to lead tours for the Prospective Parents Tour Open Night this Thursday. Thank you to those who have already volunteered.

Details:

Open Night: Thurs, 11 May (Term 2, Week 3)

Tour: 5pm-5.45pm

Tour Leaders will be given a map with locations of where to stop and take your tour. You will also be given talking points about each location.

We require around 6 staff members for tour groups.

If you are interested or for more information, please email Ellie via email by COB Monday 8 May: ellie.mackay@education.wa.edu.au

Workload Advisory Committee

Workload is often the main cause of staff stress or anxiety. Our school has a workload advisory committee, which was set up as part of our focus on Staff Wellbeing in our previous business plan, and which we continue to support through the new Staff Wellbeing Committee.

Staff Representatives for this year (continuing their 2 year tenure) are: Renee Chapple, Luke Marinoni and Adam McGill.

If you have workload issues, please discuss them first with your line manager, as many of these can be resolved quickly and easily.

If you have an issue that cannot be resolved, please submit it via either the survey link provided here, or on the document below (which can also be found in the School Templates folder on your desktop.

Social Media Content

We love seeing students in action, whether in a classroom setting, in an incursion or off-site for an excursion or camp.

If you are conducting any activities you think are suitable for our school's Facebook or Instagram pages, please submit your content through the link below.

Please contact me with prior warning if you would like me to attend a session, lesson, activity etc if you would like me to take photos/videos to accompany your story.

If you have taken photos on your phone/iPad and are unsure of how to transfer these to me, please send me an email or come and visit me and I can assist you.

Submit your Facebook post using the link below.

Schoolzine

Keep up to date with all the latest news for staff and parents via the schoolzine app. You can access Heard on the Hill, the school's website, Facebook page, calendar, Connect, and more via the homepage of the app.

This easy-to-use app also sends you notifications when newsletters have been published.

See below for how to download the SZapp.