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From the Principal

Bonjour à tous, and Wanju

Sorry for missing last week's Heard on the Hill. I was away in Albany at the SWER Principals’ Conference. There was some significant learning for us.

Aboriginal Education
Our Department documents have a focus on Aboriginal students succeeding as Aboriginal people. What does that look like? Currently, we are measuring the success of Aboriginal students against department measures that do not take into consideration the communities input. I have asked our Aboriginal Advisory Council to consider this issue and provide us with some advice.

Neuro-Diversity
We were addressed by the ICAN founder. ICAN is a company run by neuro-diverse staff to mentor students with Autism. As well as providing his own stories, Chris gave some strategies for Principals and staff to support students with Autism.

Recruitment
Staffing shortages and department responses were presented to the group. The situation required some long, medium and short-term solutions. Today I am meeting with the Dean of Education from ECU to discuss some strategies to build a pipeline of supply for us.

Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS)
MTSS is an acronym that you will hear with increasing frequency. It simply is ensuring that the supports that we have at each tier are built on each other and are measured for effectiveness. You will see this already in action across the school. Analysis of our data for effectiveness and an audit of many of our processes will direct resources more directly where they make the biggest difference to students.

AI Chat Bots
You would have seen a local Bunbury man who is at Oxford in England on 60 Minutes talking about Artificial Intelligence. It has been a hot topic for a while now. The speed of change is moving quickly and we will need to keep our eye on this space or be run over. I recently purchased a subscription to ChatBox. No, this newsletter is not created by it but I urge you to start using and investigating ways to use these AI chatbots to enhance the teaching and learning process. I see now that there are even PL sessions that you can access.

Have a great week.

En Avant

Nuts and Bolts

HIT Strategies for students with Autism

Give the focus of some students a purpose - set them a specific role within your classroom
Leverage their interests and motivations to deepen their learning and increase their engagement
Model positive first reactions to your students
Be explicit about what not to do in investigations and task
Be explicit with pairing during collaboration learning activities