Ongoing Academic Assessment and Encouragement

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you — unless, of course, you fail the test? — 2 Corinthians 13:5

We all want the best for our young people. We all want to provide helpful and relevant encouragement to help with school work and guide our students to do their best.

Education is going through an interesting philosophical change regarding assessment. Technology is making communication at home easier. Through the SEQTA Engage Learning Management System and the Maths Pathway access, Parents have a growing mass of information about their children’s progress.

One of the best ways to shut down learning is to give a result, and the best way to enhance learning is to provide a comment only. I want our teachers to explore this more with students. Although this doesn’t apply to all students, a grade for a piece of work can shut off learning either explicitly or subconsciously. For example, a ‘C’ grade says, “I have passed, so there is nothing else to do.” Where-as a ‘D’ might discourage the learner as they have missed the fabled ‘C’.

A comment that picks up something positive and makes some useful suggestions may help students increase their arsenal of ideas to do better in the future. Students have a sense of hope and learning is ongoing which continues to build each successive piece of work.

A word that may be new to many is rubric. A rubric is another way for teachers to assess student work. Not only do students see what they accomplished, but they also see what they could have done to get a higher mark. It also shows how marks can work effectively and not limit achievement that I mentioned earlier.

An example from an assessed rubric from this year is:

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This student received ratings in the top box (in this case, the right-hand box) which is excellent. The second line encourages improving poor expression and how to get a stronger result next time.

Parents and teachers have a great conversation starter with assessments like this. Questions can range from, ‘Do you understand how to move forward with this?’ through to, ‘Great work. I’m so pleased to see the top box filled. How could you move the second line up to the next box?’ Our young people can answer questions like this, and if they can’t, we can work out how to help them specifically. Learning together and encouraging learning regularly and genuinely can make a huge difference.

Scott Winkler — Principal

Collaborative Teams

As a school, we are continually trying to meet our students where they are at. Whether that be from an academic, social and emotional or spiritual, even physical level. Setting appropriate challenges for our students is vital for them to stay engaged and to want to grow. Individually, teachers are already doing this, however, this year, we are implementing our collaborative teams and formalising the process.
There are several main drivers for us pursuing a collaborative approach toward our teaching and learning program.

1. CST Purpose Statement

   Our purpose is to prepare and equip students for life by providing the highest quality Christ-centered education.

2. School Strategic Plan

   80% of students achieving a minimum of 12 months of progress within a 12-month period

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Visible Learning is also still a major focus for our school. Visible Learning goes hand in hand with our teachers working in collaborative teams. John Hattie, a leading educational academic who uses effect sizes has undertaken several meta-analyses to determine a list of both negative and positive influences on student learning. The hinge point, which determines whether there is a low or high effect on student learning is 0.40. This number indicates if students are achieving twelve months growth in a twelve-month period. Anything above 0.40 is considered to have a positive influence on student learning. The following two influences are imperative for collaborative teams to work effectively:

1. Teacher estimates of achievements: Influence of 1.62
   The number one positive influencer of all Hattie’s effect size. This rating reflects the accuracy of an individual teacher's knowledge of students in their class and how that knowledge determines the classroom activities as well as the difficulty of the tasks assigned.

2. Collective teacher efficacy: Influence of 1.57
   The number two positive influencer is collective teacher efficacy. This influencer holds an even greater promise for improving student achievement. This influencer enables teachers to harness the power of the collaborative team by sharing ideas and knowledge to bring out the full potential of students and educators in our schools.

Teachers will still be displaying and discussing the key visible learning concepts, learning intentions and success criteria in each lesson. These key concepts will still play an immense role in the student’s understandings of what they should be concentrating on and also what they need to produce in order for them to achieve success.

The biggest shift for our teachers will be the intentional use of data. Data will allow teachers to clearly ascertain the academic level of where students are, both individually and collectively. Not only will this allow teachers to recognise students who may be struggling, but also to identify those that are already proficient in the skill, knowledge or disposition that has been taught.

“Across all sections of the school there will be multiple staff sowing into the education of your child.”

Once the learning levels have been identified, teachers will undertake cycles of learning. This will allow teachers to collaboratively design teaching strategies and provide opportunities that address the students learning needs, filling gaps where required and also enriching and extending the learning of others. Teachers will be continually checking for student understanding to determine what impact, if any, the strategies implemented are having. For the times that there is a positive impact, teachers will be able to continue implementing the new strategy. If the impact is not meeting the needs, our agile collaborative teams will have the opportunity to reassess and change the approach they are taking.

So, what does this mean for your child? Hopefully, it will mean that across all sections of the school there will be multiple staff sowing into the education of your child. Providing their teachers with richer pool resources to draw from.

For me, this is an exciting time in the life of our school. As we transition from a small school to a big school, I would love to see us continuing to grow in a positive way that embraces a positive learning culture for all students. A culture where students are prepared and equipped for life by being provided the highest quality Christ-centered education.

Drew Roberts — Deputy Principal

The Importance of Reading

It was during the 11th century in Japan that the first novel was believed to be penned by Murasaki Shikibu. Fast forward to today, and the joy of reading has continued from early childhood to elderly age groups. Although we know that reading poses many benefits for infants and young children especially, do we really understand just how good picking up a good story is?

As a mother of a two-year-old, we have many books that are on a regular rotation in our household. It is not an uncommon occurrence to take a peek into our daughters’ bedroom to see her flicking through the pages of some of her favourite books and saying the words and phrases that we had previously read together. As an educator, I know the benefits of reading to her from an early age and my husband and I have both enjoyed the moments of quietly reading together with her. As explained in an article on the Raising Children website, the benefits of reading with your children include:

Helping your child get to know sounds, words and language, and develop early literacy skills, helping them to learn to value books and stories, sparking your child’s imagination and stimulate curiosity and also helping develop your child’s brain, ability to focus, concentration, social skills and communication skills.

“It can be quite easy to lose track of the benefits of not only reading with our children, but also to our children.”

With an increasingly strong pull toward electronic books, it can be quite easy to lose track of the benefits of not only reading with our children, but also to our children. I recently read an article that spoke about a parent’s passion to engage her adolescent children in reading. She explained that it seemed her children had lost interest in reading around the age of fourteen and was becoming increasingly difficult to ignite their passion again with the constant distractions of social media and gaming. She mentioned how she would sit around the dinner table with them and discuss an article that she had read in the newspaper. This would then lead to sparking their interests, with her deliberately choosing a topic from the paper that her children were interested in. The literary discussions that would take place encouraged her children to develop their knowledge around current events and enabled her to even read aloud the articles to her children to further spark their engagement. By opening the door to these types of discussions, it then led to opportunities and interest from her children to read a book together as a family.

With the knowledge of the impact that reading has on young people, it is also important to remember that the benefits of reading do not stop when we finish school.
A recent study was completed using MRI scans of the brain, confirming that reading involves a complex network or circuits and signals in the brain. As these connections mature, those networks also become stronger and more sophisticated. (Healthline, 2021)

In one study conducted in 2013, researchers used functional MRI scans to measure the effect of reading a novel on the brain. Study participants read the novel “Pompeii” over a period of 9 days. As tension built in the story, more and more areas of the brain lit up with activity. Brain scans showed that throughout the reading period and for days afterward, brain connectivity increased, especially in the somatosensory cortex, the part of the brain that responds to physical sensations like movement and pain. (Healthline, 2021)

After mentioning all the benefits surrounding reading, when was the last time you decided to pick up a good book or even read the paper for 10 minutes? Maybe today is a great day to rekindle the passion you once had for reading and maybe encourage those around you to do the same!

Laura Ferguson — Head of Teaching & Learning

Faith Builders

The focus in Faith Builders this term has been on strengthening the skills of the student leadership team and it has been wonderful to see them take on this challenge with passion and diligence. They have stepped up in many ways and are demonstrating initiative and vision for the direction of the Monday lunchtime program. They have also taken on roles to facilitate promotion, games, devotions, prayer, discussion groups and audio visual and music. It has been a pleasure to witness their ongoing enthusiasm and commitment for taking on greater responsibility for the spiritual, relational, and organisational elements of Faith Builders.

Faith Builders continues to attract an average of 25 - 30 students each week. Our focal topic this term has been on how to receive God’s love ourselves and how to show it to those around us. Some highlights include a student devotion on God’s love for us all, a group discussion on a short Christian film on bullying, and making Easter posters for the aged care residents at Fairway Rise and Regis. On behalf of Faith Builders, we hope you all have a loving, joy-filled, and peaceful Easter.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. — John 3:16

Jenny Berry — Chaplain

Raising Children

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. - Proverbs 22:6

Bringing up young people is one of the most important things we do. As a society, speaking into children's lives, nurturing them and guiding them rates as one of the greatest privileges we will ever have.

I appreciated an article by Michael Grose, who is the founder of Parenting Ideas, one of Australia's leading parenting educators. The article is called 'A Simple Formula for Parenting' and includes this formula:

• Show kids how to behave.

• Keep pets to develop nurturance and responsibility.

• Be the adult in the parent-child relationship.

• Cultivate good manners.

• Build character daily.

• Catch kids being kind, gentle and strong.

• Establish healthy habits early.

• Stick to routines.

• Have fun.

• Eat together every day.

• Focus on excellence, not perfection.

• Spend individual time with each child each week.

• Expect kids to change.

• Keep an adult only place at home.

• Admit it when you're wrong.

• Choose the time and place to deliver big messages.

• Keep the meal table free from arguments.

• Prepare for tomorrow the night before.

• Expect children to help.

• Encourage siblings to apologise.

• Send kids to school with breakfast, a kiss and a smile.

• Celebrate success as a family.

• Spend time in nature together.

• Let go.

The simplicity of this formula is helpful and refreshing. On the other hand, there is nothing simple about this list. The list is food for thought, and I trust you find it useful and something to print out and stick on the fridge to guide you through the joys and perils of parenting.

I’ve often heard people say that when their children were born, they did not come with an instruction manual. In fact, there actually is, my wife and I found the Bible was a fantastic guide for raising children. Now with my three children as young adults, a wonderful son-in-law and a grandson on the way, I see the truth in the Bible to be a powerful guide for success.

Happy parenting and I look forward to working with you all in 2021 as we partner together to foster young people who act with integrity and show courage and respect in their daily lives.

Scott Winkler - Principal