Deputy Principal (Andrew Healey)

Consent2Go (C2G) is the platform we use to propose and plan excursions. Some staff are fully cognizant of how to propose and plan an excursion and this makes the whole process very smooth. Most are a little bit rusty so here is a brief overview of the process and some notes to clarify the approach.

1. Same day incursion – this only needs to occur if the event impacts other classes and/or occurs over multiple periods AND requires parental permission to attend. If no parental permission is required then we do not need to use C2G.
2. Same day excursion – any event whereby a teacher takes the students offsite. If the excursion enters a site other than a State school a copy of the certificate of currency or public liability insurance is mandatory. This also includes outside venues such as the Athletics Club.

To start an excursion it needs to be proposed and accepted by Leadership. The steps are:

1. Proposal – need to be a minimum of four weeks from the date of the excursion. If on the calendar it will be approved immediately. If the event is new it must be presented to Leadership by your PC, approved by them before I will approve it. That is why four weeks at the minimum is promoted.
2. Approval – this is a two-stage process. The first approval is done by Sue Gledhill. She will check to ensure the budget/costs are correct. Even if there is no cost it will still be checked by Sue first. Once Sue has approved it I will then go through the information.
3. Management – once approved you are required to manage the excursion, monitor the responses and chase up any student that has not replied before the date. On the day, even for a quick walk into town, it is the teacher’s responsibility to have a good indication of the medical details of their students, including contact details. There is an C2G app that a teacher can use that contains all of these details (and includes marking the roll!).

I look at the Risk tab very closely. The information entered here tells me how much a teacher thinks about the excursion; what possible risks are involved. I also closely look at the itinerary to have an idea of where and when ‘stuff’ is happening. The trick is to set out the itinerary like a running sheet to make reading it easy.

The fall-back position for any excursion is very simple; come and see me for a chat!

No Opt Out

In a high-performing classroom, a verbalized or unspoken “I don’t know” is cause for action. When a student begins by being unable or unwilling to answer, you should strive to make the sequence end as often as possible with the student giving a right or valid answer. Choose among four basic formats to respond:

Format 1. You provide the answer; your student repeats the answer.
Format 2. Another student provides the answer; the initial student repeats the answer.
Format 3. You provide a cue; your student uses it to find the answer.
Format 4. Another student provides a cue; the initial student uses it to find the answer.

This is surely among the most helpful and efficient techniques for raising classroom expectations,
especially if

• Students tend to duck away from questions rather than answer them.
• Students don’t hear themselves getting answers right.
• The class lacks a culture of accountability and incentive for each individual.

Take the rigour of your interaction up a notch by wrapping up the sequence with a request for another correct answer or an explanation of the “why” (stretch it).

I will go into more detail in future editions of Heard on the Hill.