Heard on the Hill Term 3, Week 2

From the Principal

Kaya, Wanju,

I hope you all got out into the brilliant weather across the weekend. There really is - “no fire warmer than a winter’s sun”. It warms the body and puts a spring in the step.

Last week I asked you to keep the big picture documents in front of you this term. This will keep our focus on who we are, what is important and achieving our planned outcomes. As the term moves on and we understand well where we are going, it is vital that we pay very close attention to the everyday actions. These are the actions that ensure the achievement of our success. I am reminded of the saying.

“Look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves”

Schools are complex places with many processes, procedures, and whole school actions. Pay careful attention to these things to avoid being caught short. Where there is a process follow it; if there is not one, speak with your line manager to create one. With all the best intentions in the world, working outside of the process can leave you very vulnerable in our risk adverse organisation. 

Being on time, returning student work in a timely fashion, following up on student issues, providing a duty of care, catering for student needs, etc….. our list goes on and on. Working in a school is a tough job and I am awe-struck by the efforts of our staff. Please keep up your efforts and if you see areas of risk, please let your PC know. If it is a question of workload, please use the WLA committee to get your message through to the administration of the school.

Have a great week.

En Avant

Mike Sinagra

Please see below for a copy of last week's leadership minutes:

Staff Wellbeing

I wanted to remind everyone, especially since we have quite a few new staff, that staff wellbeing is really important. The Department of Education also recognises this and is offering free webinars to support staff physical and mental health (see the link).

We also have a Staff Wellbeing Committee - this is lead by our School Psychologist, Lauren Dragon. If you are interested in joining the committee, please get in touch with her. There is an action plan in place for this year, which is attached below.

In our Teacher Resource Library (in the Library) there are also a range of texts that have been purchase over the past couple of years that are focused on wellbeing. These are available for staff to borrow.

And finally, we know that workload issues can add to increased stress for staff. Please use the Workload Advisory process which is detailed further down in this newsletter, to submit any concerns you may have.

Please look after yourselves, especially during the flu season!

Professional Learning Opportunity

UK-based James Nottingham will be coming to WA in the beginning of August. James is an experienced educator and leader who developed ‘The Learning Pit’ concept to capture the cognitive challenge journey that children go through when they learn. ACEL hosted James for a very successful workshop in Perth last year and this year he is coming back to run two workshops , one in Perth (on the 3rd of August) and one in Busselton (on the 4th of August). These workshops will be beneficial for leaders and teachers, focusing on how we can create whole school cultures of learning. James also agreed, bravely, to run demonstration lessons in each of the two locations, with a group of primary and a group of secondary students, to demonstrate how to translate the theory into action.

To find out more or register, please go to the ACEL website.

Lemov’s High Expectations

In an earlier Heard on the Hill, I shared a resource highlighting Lemov’s strategy of No Opt Out. Further to that information is this scripted video that shows the strategy in its simplest form: No Opt Out Strategy Video.

When students aren’t used to the discipline of No Opt Out, start out with questions that have one clear, correct answer and can be answered in a single sentence: “What phrase shows that Hemingway’s old man is tired? Anna?”

Note to use a student’s name for direction.

Coffee Club

Starting next week the Coffee Club will be up a running again starting at 8.00am in Rm 30. This club is open to all staff to participate in a safe, non-judgmental environment that promotes collegial support. The focus is on setting smart goals regarding teaching strategies within our instructional framework. This is a great vehicle for classroom observations. A reminder will be emailed this week and coffee orders will be on offer as well. Have a chat with Cathy if unsure.

Connect

A reminder for teachers to have minimum requirements uploaded to each Connect class. This includes an Assessment Outline, Course Overview, and the marks book is turned on for each SIS class. A flexible class can be established manually to combine classes but the marksbook for each class will not be linked to this flexible class.

Data Literacy

The Best Teachers have a sound understanding of their students. One facet of developing this understanding is to access available data and reflect on the information presented. Now that we are starting Semester 2, I have observed some teachers looking in RTP at their current student list to see what they have done last semester.

With any presented data standard questions are asked:

“What do you see?”

“What does the data suggest?” and “What are the assumptions we make about students and their learning?” Or as Dr Julius Sumner Miller said “Why is it so?”

“What are the implications of this data for teaching and assessment?”

From this point forward the reflection needs to be put into action.

In RTP for each class, you can view data from the previous two semesters. To do that you just use the drop down window and choose ‘Show Grades for Last 2 Semesters’.

As can be seen here that is shown as 2021 2 and 2021 1. You should now be able to see 2022 2 and 2023 1.

The value of this data differs year to year. As a Yr7 teacher, the data is quite valuable to see what happened in PS. For example; students ranked 14, 16 and 17 are of big concern (potentially). B grades in PS but D here, plus student 16 has NAPLAN 427 in Numeracy. I would like to know why student 16 is struggling in my class.

As a reflective tool, this data is good to use. For the other years (8 and 9), same process for reflection.

Hi folks!!

I am looking at starting up Coffee Club again from week 3.

For those that are new - coffee club is a series of 3x 30min morning meetings where we discuss classroom observation and feedback. We provide the free coffee!!

The first meeting will be based on setting a goal for your classroom observation and pairing you up with someone of your choice to do an observation.
The second will occur after your first observation. You and your partner will readjust your goal based on your feedback and organise another observation.
The third session will reflect on the process of observation and hopefully set the next observation goal.

We talk about all things CMS and CMIS, try out new strategies or you can observe someone trying something new. I guarantee you that my Year 9's period 5 are quite "interesting" to observe! I am always happy to receive feedback and new ideas on how I can effectively engage them. I certainly need a coffee and a lay down afterwards.

If you are interested, please email me your preferred morning and your coffee order. You can also find me in the Science Office or Room 30 for a chat about classroom management and instructional strategies.

cathy.watson@education.wa.edu.au

Representative Applications

Calling for a representative (or 2) from each Learning Area to join the technology committee.

The next meeting will be Wednesday 2nd August. 3.10pm D&T 4.

See you there!

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.