Welcome to the 2023 school year. It has been fantastic seeing all the students settling into their classes and connecting with friends, old and new. This year is going to be packed with opportunities to grow and develop in all areas of our school life, for students and teachers alike.
The week before students returned to school, the staff were able to participate in professional development opportunities and the topics ranged from Play-based Therapy through to Teaching Literacy in all areas of the curriculum. Teachers had some great practical take-aways from these to apply to their classrooms.
This year we will be implementing the version nine Australian Curriculum. Over the last few years, the curriculum writers have been refining and redefining areas of the curriculum to make it more applicable and relevant to student learning today. Teachers are in the process of reworking their unit plans to reflect the changes and to create new and exciting units for students to optimise their learning opportunities. The library has sourced some new English class novels that address themes and topics that are applicable to students in today’s world, and these will be integrated into the new units. The Maths team are also busy integrating their new resources into their learning areas.
In order to support our staff with current and relevant professional readings and supports, a Teacher Resource Library is in the process of being established where all staff are able to further develop their learning and teaching strategies. Some of the topics include Differentiation and Extension, Assessment for Learning, Literacy and Behaviour Support. As a staff we are all reading the book When the Adults Change Everything Changes by Paul Dix. This book presents alternative solutions to student behaviour and how adults can use several strategies to guide their own reactions when dealing with discipline. We are going to be discussing the case studies and the merits that the interventions have and how to use some of these to improve the way in which behaviour is approached.
Lastly, Inquiry has taken on a new look this Term. The staff from Year 2 to Year 10 will be offering a range of extra-curricular activities each Friday afternoon and all the students in these year groups will be able to join a group that they are interested in. By joining the Secondary School with the Primary School we are able to offer a more extensive range of extra-curricular options like sewing, chess, creative writing, boot camp, mountain biking and cooking. We are looking forward to growing student collaboration across the grade levels and nurturing the growth and development of student leadership in the high school.
2023 seems to be blessed with new opportunities for learning and growth in our school community and we pray that students and staff will embrace these to the full.
Janice Pieterse — Head of Teaching and Learning Secondary