Heard on the Hill Term 3, Week 2
From the Principal
SETTING THE AGENDA - how our next business plan is coming together.
Thank you all for your input into the development of our new business plan 2023 - 2025. At the school development day this term we looked at our draft priorities of:
- High Quality Teaching
- Successful Pathways for Students, and
- Positive Learning Environment
and you gave useful feedback about the draft outcomes for each of these priorities. This feedback will be collated and then shared again with the Executive and Leadership teams.
The next stage will be a draft of the whole plan, which will be presented to all stakeholders again for final feedback and adjustments. The business plan document will be focused on the outcomes, rather than specific actions - these will be noted in a separate Milestones document, as an appendix to the plan itself. These milestones come directly from the suggested actions put forward by staff during our review of the current plan.
We are on track to have the plan completed and published ready for the 2023 school year. The Milestones document will be more operational and will be adjusted year to year as we implement our planned actions. The milestones will form our Focus for each year of the plan.
STAFF VOICE - sharing your ideas for improvement makes our school better for everyone.
There are many mechanisms for staff to share ideas and get directly involved in school improvement. The usual way is to join a committee (or two!) and provide input into the operations of the school. We also welcome feedback via the Program Coordinators or your line managers, who can bring any ideas to the Executive team.
If the ideas are possible solutions to workload issues, the best place to put those forward is through the Workload Advisory Committee (see information on this in my DP section below.)
If you find yourself feeling frustrated about school processes or you've noticed something that you feel could be easily improved, don't keep your good ideas to yourself! If you have something you passionately wish to discuss with Exec, we are happy to chat, but please book an appointment time through Megan or Claire, so that we can allocate the time needed.
To access the Leadership Minutes from last week, see 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: No Opt Out 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 Tuesday 2 August the Coffee Club will be up and running again starting at 8.00am in Rm 30. This club is open to all staff to participate in a safe, non-judgemental environment that promotes collegial support. The focus is on setting smart goals regarding teaching strategies and within our instructional framework. This is a great vehicle for classroom observations. A reminder will be in next week’s HOTH and coffee orders will be on offer as well.
Connect
A reminder for teachers to have minimum requirements uploaded to each Connect class. This includes an Assessment Outline, Course Overview, and the marksbook 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. 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.
The value of this data differs from 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), the same process for reflection.
Workload Advisory Committee
At least once a term, I ask for staff to make submissions to the link provided, regarding any workload issues they are experiencing. If you have a workload issue, the first action is to speak to your line manager, as many issues can be resolved quickly and easily.
For those workload issues where the line manager is unable to provide a solution, please make a submission to the Workload Advisory Committee.
This is a group of staff who meet, discuss the submissions and try to work out a solution. The group includes the Principal, the Union Rep and some teacher reps.
New Security System
The new security system is now active. Some security areas have changed to better align with the recent movement of staff office spaces and classroom reallocations.
Your old code will no longer work. If you have not already done so, you will need to see Tonya in Admin to obtain your new security code.
Refer to the map below that identifies where the security pads are and the areas they control. Laminated maps with operating instructions have been placed at each security pad.
KINGIA ARTICLES
I'm now asking for Kingia articles for the 2023 edition.
For new staff, the school's Kingia Magazine is our Yearbook and is a summary and historical record of events and school activities. The first edition of the Kingia Magazine was written by students when the school moved to our current site back in 1928!
Articles for the Kingia Magazine can be submitted via the link below or you can email me directly at ellie.mackay@education.wa.edu.au
If you have a number of photos to submit (more than 10): you can drop these into the drive for me to access here: M:\Kingia 2022
Video for promotions
We love to see what projects are happening throughout the school! Across all the learning areas, we would like to capture a snapshot of what projects, activities and more happens during school for a new promo video that can be shared on our socials and website.
Ellie is available for classroom visits and can even attend incursions and excursions to get great footage of our students in action.
If you have something that you think could be videoed during class time or an incursion/excursion, please email Ellie: ellie.mackay@education.wa.edu.au with more details.
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.
What’s OnTerm 3, Week 2
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Coming Soon |
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Kelly and Mike's Week |
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Kelly |
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Mike |
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Tuesday |
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