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Leading learning at Holy Name School has taken on a new direction this year. Although as the principal I am ultimately responsible for this agenda, the growth in teacher leadership and the building of our collective capacity as a team of teachers is driving the continual improvement of student achievement across all classes. As Term 3 draws to a close and I consider the work of our staff this year, I am so proud of what we have achieved. I hope you enjoyed the Parent Teacher interviews with a focus on reading. One of our goals of these meetngs was to engage our parents to supportthe achievement of our reading goals for our students.
Together with our families, the staff demonstrated an amazing capacity to adapt when COVID-19 first started to impact on schools. We felt supported and appreciated by our parent community, who were patient as we deviated from our regular plans and had to learn new ways of reaching students in the home environment. Our teachers, under the teacher leadership of Mrs Amy Arrow, became experts ovenight in using programs such as Class Notebook that they otherwise may not have utilised. Grade partners supported one another to ensure a level of consistency and equity in the provision of learning to home environments.
As students returned to classes in Term 3, we returned to our original improvement plan. With a focus on reading, our teachers introduced different strategies in the classroom to make learning visible to students. Mrs Monks and Mr Hassett introduced Bump it up Walls to teachers which can now be found in most classes. These walls include examples of student work demonstrating levels of achievement. Each example has criteria next to it, showing students exactly what they need to do to improve their work. These walls are referenced by teachers when giving students feedback on how to improve and are becoming what we are referring to as part of the 'third teacher' in the classroom because students can use the examplars on the walls to become more independent in their learning.
As teacher mentors, Mrs Monks and Mr Hassett developed the capacity of teachers to introduce 'Learning Intentions' and 'Success Criteria' in English lessons. As we adapted how we structured our English lessons to support a gradual release of responsibility to students, these learning intentions and success critera helped students to know exactly what they were learning and why, as well as what they needed to do to be successful.
Our Leadership Team and teacher mentors conduct Learning Walks and Talks each week, as we move through the classes, looking for evidence of the strategies introduced as part of our new learning. The teacher mentors co-teach with teachers in classrooms and spend time reflecting together on how to get better results from the students. Our Learning Support team are beginning to adapt and align the way they support students to reflect the school improvement agenda. Our Library Assistant, Mrs Therese Harris, has been creating a Literacy Resource Room and setting up the structures for teachers to access appropriate resources for students. The staff are tracking the impact of our work on a Data Wall in the staffroom. We are determined to make sure the growth of every student is a focus of our work and have therefore used a photo of every student in the school on this wall. Student reading levels, the learning progressions and assessment information from the standardised tests used by the school annually are the basis for tracking achievement. We closely monitor the growth of different groups of students across the school, including our Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander students, our Gifted students, NCCD students and Students with English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EALD). The data wall enables us to identify where additional support may be needed to ensure the learning growth of each child.
We utilise the data wall as the basis of our conversation each week at the start of each Professional Learning Team meeting. When a teacher is struggling to move a student along in their learning, a teacher may choose to present this student at a Case Management Meeting. The collective capacity of the group of teachers meeting, provides the platform for an intervention plan to be developed. The teacher walks away with some fresh ideas and reconnects with this group after a set period of time to discuss the impact of the plan. Although the teachers use this option to focus on one child, the feedback from teachers is that the strategies designed for this one student, impact positively on a number of students across the classes.
As you can see, my pride in what our staff have achieved in such a short period of time is well-founded. I am looking forward to embedding this strategic improvement agenda across different KLAs and continuing to see the growth in learning of students across the school. Our job now is to get better at each of the above-mentioned strategies, including engaging with our families to ensure that every students enrolled at Holy Name is above the benchmark expected of them in their grade.
All parents/carers at Holy Name School are invited to contribute to a community consultation survey. The survey is open from 21 September 2020 to 22 October 2020.
The survey is anonymous, voluntary and easy to use. It takes about 20 minutes to complete and covers parents’ perceptions of the school’s support for learning, positive behaviours, and the promotion of safety and inclusion.
Students in Years 4–6 will also participate in the survey during class time. Parents/carers are asked to return the attached non-consent note to the school by 20 September 2020 if they do NOT want their child participating in the survey.
The insights we gain into parent and staff communication, activities and practices at home, and parent voice on the school’s support of learning, faith formation and behaviour will build an accurate and timely picture that schools can use for practical improvements.
This is your chance to provide valuable feedback about your school and support school planning and future direction and we welcome your participation, suggestions and comments. The school community will receive findings and proposed actions for improvement following completion of the survey process.
How to access the survey
Parents/carers can access the survey by clicking this http://tellthemfromme.com/HolyName .
If you have any problems or queries about the survey please contact Luisa Bowie in our office.
It was great to present Principal Awards to the following students today. This is Aria's third Principal Award and she was therefore awarded a Silver Badge. Congratulations to all of you for your hard work and leadership among our students.
Simarpreet Daliwahl | 1W |
Sara Uprety | 2G |
Hamish Carmichael | 3S |
Alexis Wakefield (absent) | 5M |
Aria Tritico | 6P |
Ruby Machon | 6P |
Helen Thomas | 6P |
You can find all of the latest St Clare's news using this link. This week it is especially nice to see the happenings among the senior students and the final days for the Yr 12 class. Best of luck to our Yr 12 students as they begin their HSC early next term.
As part of the Leading Learning Collaborative work that Mrs Stephens referenced in her report, teachers are working to make the learning more visible to the students. Each English lesson is beginning with the children being shown the learning intention for the lesson and then they co construct the Success Criteria with the teacher so they know exactly what they need to do in order to be successful. Classes have developed learning walls which are also known as the “Third Teacher.” These walls are full of scaffolds and tools for the children to use at any time in order to help with the task they are undertaking. The children are really starting to engage with these walls and become more independent learners.
Congratulations to Year 2 student Layla Price for completing all three components of the MultiLit Program with the support of Mrs Jackie Amato. Today, Layla was awarded three certificates by our Principal Mrs Brooke Stephens.
The Holy Name School community is looking forward to celebrating NAIDOC Week 2020 from November 8-15th November. NAIDOC Week will look different this year due to COVID19 restrictions, however with careful planning, we will mark this special occasion with the respect and recognition that it deserves. With the support and guidance from our Indigenous Educators, students will participate in cultural activities in classrooms and will have an opportunity to learn more about the language and the history of the Worimi people. Some of our Indigenous students have already been busy creating beautiful artworks that reflect this year's theme 'Always Was, Always Will Be'. More details to come early Term 4.
Wishing everyone a happy and safe holiday break
Simone Maloney
Learning Support Teacher/Primary School Coordinator
Mission Day
Holy Name children and staff united to "Sock it to Poverty" yesterday. Dressed in their most clourful and crazy combinations of socks, children proudly wanted to raise funds for children in Cambodia who have been injured by land-mine explosions. Together we showed these people are not forgotten by raising $1,397.00. Thanks goes to our school community for standing behind the students and generously donating what you could on the day. With silver and gold coins we filled a heart on the neball court in solidarity to the cause and our children were so motivated by the whole social justice experience. We are God's arms, we are God's heart, we are here like a part of the body of Christ in the world.
We offer our thanks to Joseph Reardon for giving his time to take aerial photos of our students in their grades sitting around the heart. Thank you Mrs Banham for drawing our sensational heart outline and for guiding the children to place their coins on the heart and be ready for their photo. We were all grateful to Fr Greg, Mrs Stephens, Mrs Loring and Mrs Maloney who cooked and served a very tasty BBQ to round off the day.
There are some amazing photos of our Mission Day in the attached gallery.
Kitchen Garden
As we move further into this glorous spring season, Holy Name continues to harvest produce from its kitchen garden. This week many cabbages, spinach, lettuce and herbs were given to the Community Kitchen for them to use for meals they would be making this week.
Thank you to all the wonderful families who have continued to support our 5c Friday initiative. Father Greg also shared our fundraiser with our parish community and they have sent us lots of spare change as well. Our current total is $502.80 which is wonderful for the past 5 weeks. Mini Vinnies have been researching some worthwhile charities in Cambodia, Africa, the Philippines and Thailand to support and will make some decisions on distributing the funds early next term.
We still have some Beeswax Wraps and homemade lemonade cordial for sale. These products are $5 each and will add to our fundraising totals. They are available at our school office. If you would like to purchase any of these send in $5 with your child’s name and class and we will send one home for you.
We have continued to receive heart warming emails and photos from St. Vincents Hospital in Melbourne after sending them a big box of word rainbows and kindness cards. The impact that these little random acts of kindness has travelled far and wide to frontline staff in Melbourne and then all the way back to the beautiful students of Holy Name who continue to make to give. Their eyes light up seeing what they have achieved. We have recently sent over 250 word birds to the 2020 Year 12 students of St. Clare’s and the Great Lakes Senior Campus as they prepare for their upcoming HSC. We wanted them to know we were thinking of them all.
Kristie Banham
Pastoral Care Worker
There were new covid guidelines released yesterday stating that school sports pathway sports remain cancelled for the remainder of 2020. Trials for Summer sports (basketball and tennis) will be held next term and Mrs Arrow has asked for expressions of interest for children who are skilled in these sports. The higher levels of these sports will recommence in Term 1, 2021. Whole school carnivals are permitted and the next school based carnival we will host is the Swimming Carnival early in 2020.
There is also some relaxation around spectators at community sports which I am sure many parents are looking forward to.
I hope you get some time over the holidays to spend with those you love in this beautiful place in which we live.
Diocesan Gifted Education Facebook group
Please check out the new MNCSO Gifted Education Facebook group launched this week. The purpose of this Facebook group is to share Gifted Education projects and developments in the diocese including activities undertaken by the Virtual Academy students. The group will be available to staff and parents of students in the Diocese.