Another GREAT Week- 9

Welcome to a very short week. With the Queen's Birthday and report writing day, we were only here for 3 days. But still we managed to get some things happening.

Last Friday night the College production closed. We would like to acknowledge the great work over a number of years of Linda McGloin. She will be taking leave to have her second baby later this year and will not be producing the College Production next year. The legacy she leaves behind her is a testament to her creativity, exacting attention to detail and high standards, passion for the Arts and her wonderful relationships with students. We are so very proud of her work and look forward to her return to the Forest Hill stage.

The VCAA exams went very well. They finished on Thursday with the GAT, and our students presented themselves very well. We are certain they have put their best foot forward and achieved their own personal best. Back now to the weekly grind of classes, but a big reduction for them in stress levels.

On Tuesday our Year 7-10 International students went on an excursion designed around inclusion and the Aussie culture.

On Wednesday our Year 9 Growth students completed their Commonwealth Bank Foundation ‘SmartStart’ sessions. This weeks 2 ½ hour session provided fun and engaging learning about what investing means for different people, what outcomes there are for people who invest their earnings and how to spend their money in a smart and considered way, with a focus on mobile phone bills and car loans.

On Thursday our Year 7 students participated in their winter round robin. The students returned to school with smiles on their faces after a day of working in teams and representing their school.

On Friday, in the absence of our students, we cleaned out our courtyard drains. Previously we had seen some flooding during big rains around the Year 7 locker bay. This should now be remedied. Quotes have been developed for the painting of the Year 8 and 10 locker bays and this work will occur in the next holidays. The painting of the Later Years Study centre will also take place then.

Staff have been very busy correcting exams and writing reports. This time of feedback to students is a valuable component of their learning. Parents need to take the time to read through their reports with their children and look for areas for improvement and opportunities to praise them for their grit, resilience and work ethic. Whilst we can never control outcomes of our work, we ALWAYS can control the amount of effort we apply to a task. It is this effort we should expect, praise and seek.

This week as a Principal team, we met with our local member of Parliament. We were delighted that he could attend and listen to our concerns about trends in the progress of the award re negotiations for teachers.

Last week teachers in state schools were involved in industrial action, in part, to pressure the Victorian government to honour a pre-election pledge to make Victoria’s teachers the best paid in Australia. In return, the government has promised to introduce ‘performance based’ pay for teachers. It seems a simple proposition, that the best teachers get paid the best… Unfortunately, like most things, life is never that simple.

Teaching is perhaps the most collaborative of professions. It is nigh impossible to artificially isolate the factors which determine the success or failure of students as they move from one classroom to another. It is also difficult to measure those factors which lead to success in one particular class over others. The variables behind student success are multifaceted and difficult to isolate and measure. Real life is always difficult to define. As a principal team, we would find it very tough to identify the precise factor which has led to an individual student’s success and nail it down to one person alone.
How does one isolate excellence and its affect upon the student down to one person? It is like singling out one player in a team as the sole arbiter of success and failing to recognise the work of the others. It is true that the individual teacher bears great responsibility for the quality of their work; but what of those who helped to create the climate in the school which allows this to happen? Preferential pay is hardly the approach designed to encourage collegial responsibility for the advancement of students. Anything which has the potential to make teaching an individual effort for individual gain is going to be a retrograde step.
Teaching is a team sport and the only way to really move forward is to attract, recruit and retain excellent teachers (in the plural). When excellent teachers work collaboratively across the curriculum for the advancement of the students, then we see real traction in improved educational outcomes.