Heard on the Hill Term 4, Week 4
From the Principal
Bonjour à tous, and Wanju
I had a great day Friday. Starting with the World Teacher Day morning tea. GWN came to the school and did a story on some of our staff who were also students of Bunbury SHS. If you missed the story, you can catch it on 7plus or on Facebook HERE. Friday culminated in the Presentation Night for our Year 12s. It was a great start to the weekend. Feedback from the community has been copious and all positive. Thank you to the many staff who worked hard to plan and then gave their time on Friday evening to put on a wonderful event. In particular, I would like to single out Ellie who shouldered the responsibility.
Our ceremony is known for its efficiency, its feeling of community and recognition of regional excellence. Hence it attracts a list of VIPs like no other school and has started a school culture where the families go off together after the ceremony to have a celebratory meal. It is fantastic when we “get things right”. Our structures and procedures support the development of the culture that we want for our school. You can view the video on YouTube HERE.
As we say goodbye to one group, our focus sharpens on those still in our care. There are many data sets in our school but some to point out are
- Number of D’s and E’s in English and Mathematics in our Year 7 group.
- Attendance of our current Year 9’s
- Increase in the number of students with ASD
Knowing this, it is hard for us to do nothing. We are making whole school plans to respond to the needs our data reveals. The same goes for your own individual classes and learning area. Where you identify a need you are obligated by your moral purpose to act. Term 4 is a good time of the year to be reflective. Learning meeting agendas will reflect this cyclic focus. Take the time to consider the needs of your students, class and learning.
Have a great week
En Avant
Mike Sinagra
Nuts and Bolts
WACE exams start today. Although the exams area is in the library please be quiet as you move around the school and remind students of the same. We wish all the students well at this time.
To access last week's leadership minutes, please click below.
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 (link). Term 4 may be a good time to have a go at doing this.
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 or word: “What phrase shows that Hemingway’s old man is tired? Anna?”
Note to use a student’s name for direction.
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. The upcoming SDD is to review data from the year for planning purposes.
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. Beginning of Term 1 next year this data can assist in planning.
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’.
The value of this data differs year to year. As a Year 7 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.
Teaching for Impact PL Opportunities
The below PL may be of interest to some staff. Click the link to learn more about the program.
CoSpaces includes the integration of VR and AR into classes.
Event name – click for more information or to register |
Date |
Venue |
Last registration date |
2 November 2023 |
Online |
31 October 2023 |
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QTS K-10 Teaching for Impact: Creating culturally responsive classrooms (South Metro) |
6 November 2023 |
John Curtin College of the Arts – meet at reception |
2 November 2023 |
QTS 7 - 12 Teaching for Impact: Plan for differentiated learning (Online) |
9 November 2023 |
Online |
7 November 2023 |
QTS 7 -10 Teaching for Impact: Differentiation - Gifted and Talented (South Metro) |
13 November 2023 |
John Curtin College of the Arts – Curtin Theatre |
9 November 2023 |
23 November 2023 |
Online |
17 November 2023 |
|
QTS 5-12 Teaching for Impact: Capabilities for learning and life (South Metro) |
29 November 2023 |
Rossmoyne Senior High School |
24 November 2023 |
Aboriginal Education Advisory Council
Last week we had a AEAC meeting. It was great to be part of this and see the work that has gone in to setting up this group and the role they play supporting the school.
See minutes of meeting below.
Thanks!
Adam McGill
Cleaning Staff
Following on from my all staff email, could all staff be aware that our cleaning staff are currently short staffed due to various types of leave.
Our cleaners will be conducting priority cleans across all areas (toilets, bins and floors as priority), so please be aware other duties may not be attended to.
If you have any queries please see me in Kylie’s absence this week.
Kingia Lift
As Tonya advised, the Kingia Lift is now fixed. You may find it reads “Out of Service” first thing in the morning. Please be patient as the lift is put into this mode at the end of every day by the cleaners. Depending on staffing it may not be switched back to “In Service” in the morning. If you come across this in the morning please let Tonya know and she will rectify it.
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.
Year 12 Presentation Night
Thank you to all those staff who attended and assisted at the Yr 12 Presentation Night on Friday night.
It all ran very smoothly and even finished earlier than expected!
Social Media Content
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.
What’s OnTerm 4, Week 4
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Monday |
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Tuesday |
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Wednesday |
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Thursday |
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Friday |
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Coming Soon |
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Mike's Calendar |
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Tuesday |
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Wednesday |
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Thursday |
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Friday |
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