From the Principal
As I mentioned last week, staffing through Term 2 has been difficult and this is still a priority in the school at the moment. Not just at Bunbury SHS, but across the region, staff shortages have caused difficulties. I cannot thank people enough for the unselfish efforts that they have put in to pick up TR. Pulling together gets us through difficult times.
Kylie has been working really hard with many of the Learning Area PCs to fill positions. There are a number of positions advertised statewide at the moment that will hopefully take some of the pressure off staff. The sooner we can do this the better it will be for everyone.
The Director General from the Department of Finance and her entourage visited the school on Thursday. They came to look at the outcome of the spending on the cafeteria. They were very happy with end result despite the compromises that had to be made from the original design. She was very interested in the progress that was made from the original canteen and courtyard.
Design work for the HPE and music “upgrade” are now complete. Both the HPE and Arts learning area have had input to the final design. The design has gone out to tender. The building is hoped to start in late August/early September.
The Leadership team will meet twice this week. Once at the usual Wednesday time slot and also Friday morning. They will be reviewing staff feedback regarding the SEL program for 2021 and looking at the best way to structure the 21st Century Skills into the 2021 timetable. More importantly, they will be reviewing the progress of the school review. Although we are preparing for our three year IPS review, an annual review is part of the Improvement and Accountability Framework. Hopefully, this process will become our annual process and not just done every three years. Once the leadership team has reviewed this, staff input will be sought to incorporate into the review.
I hope that you have had a great long weekend and that you are recharged to finish the last four weeks off. Of course, with reporting and country week on the horizon, there is still a little way to go.
En Avant
Mike Sinagra
Principal
NUTS AND BOLTS
We will be reminding students this week that the upper verandas at lunch breaks are mainly for Senior School Students. The Lower School Students are restricted along the upper veranda in front of room 31 during lunch breaks.
Staff, please keep our standard of uniform sharp by referring students that are not in uniform to Student Services to swap non-uniform items for uniform items or to receive a uniform pass.
INSTRUCTIONAL FRAMEWORK
Closure
Closure refers to an activity that ends a lesson and creates a lasting impression, a phenomenon called the recency effect. Closure offers multiple benefits, but are not a must-do in every lesson. A closure activity works best at the end of a section/concept, which may be after two or three lessons.
Teachers use closure to:
- Check for understanding and inform subsequent instruction,
- Emphasize key information,
- Tie up loose ends, and
- Correct misunderstandings.
Students find closure helpful for:
- Summarizing, reviewing, and demonstrating their understanding of major points,
- Consolidating and internalizing key information,
- Linking lesson ideas to a conceptual framework and/or previously learned knowledge, and
- Transferring ideas to new situations