As a team we have been working together on a document of Shared Norms, Routines and Rituals. After the cross campus visits it became obvious to the TPL team and both staff groups how different the two school cultures are at the moment. In response to this we have worked with the staff to workshop ideas for strategies already used in classes. There were many suggestions and substantive conversations about what works and what doesn't and what is really important. From this the TPL group wrote a draft document which we have given to staff and asked for feedabck. We will finalise this in the next couple of weeks to present at the beginning of next year to a joint staff meeting.
Thanks for the valued feedback.
Sunday 4 December 2011
Furnishings for Flexible Learning Spaces
Over the last few weeks we have been researching and visiting various retailers to buy new furniture to be trialled in E-Space at BHC next year. We hope to see as many people as possible from both campuses visit or use this space.
The furniture we have purchased includes couches, cushions, lapdesks, high benches, ottomans, coffee tables and chairs and stools of varying heights. Many of the traditional chairs and tables will be removed in line with the teaching philosophies we have observed throughout the year. In all open learning spaces we visited this year there were not enough chairs and tables for the students in the room. All students have the choice to sit and work in a space and position they feel comfortable in.
Throughout the year we would like feedabck from students and teachers on the suitability and durability of all products. We need to know what works and what doesn't before we decide on furniture for the new school.
The furniture we have purchased includes couches, cushions, lapdesks, high benches, ottomans, coffee tables and chairs and stools of varying heights. Many of the traditional chairs and tables will be removed in line with the teaching philosophies we have observed throughout the year. In all open learning spaces we visited this year there were not enough chairs and tables for the students in the room. All students have the choice to sit and work in a space and position they feel comfortable in.
Throughout the year we would like feedabck from students and teachers on the suitability and durability of all products. We need to know what works and what doesn't before we decide on furniture for the new school.
Post Cross Campus Visit Survey Results
It was quite disappointing to only have 16 people respond to this survey across the two campuses. However, here are some of the results.
It is good to see that most people enjoyed the cross campus visits and welcomed others into their classrooms, and the majority of staff (75%) found the TPL team's information useful.
It is good to see that most people enjoyed the cross campus visits and welcomed others into their classrooms, and the majority of staff (75%) found the TPL team's information useful.
Sunday 6 November 2011
Dandenong High School
In 2005 Dandenong High School, which had 1500 students, merged with Doveton High School, which had 200 students and Cleland High School, which had 575 students. "This formed a new educational entity", with 2100 students and 200 staff.
There is a high multicultural background with 77 languages other than English and 25% of the students being refugees.
To facilitate the merger they asked the questions;
What does the community need?
What do we know about effective learning?
What do our students need?
This led them to design a school with seven houses in seven separate buildings. Each house has 300 students from year 7-12 and 25 staff.
Each building has two floors with flexible learning spaces which can be entirely open or closed off as needed. Year 7-10 have their core learning in their house but go off to other buildings for specialist lessons eg technology, music and P.E. Year 11 and 12 students have their classes in the house that their teacher belongs to.
Each house has a leader who is an A.P. and two leading teachers,an assistant leader and a student coordinator. Each house also has an attendance officer.
The associate principal oversees curriculum across all seven houses. Consistency across the school is achieved by making one senior teacher in each house responsible for an area of curriculum across the entire school.
There is a high multicultural background with 77 languages other than English and 25% of the students being refugees.
To facilitate the merger they asked the questions;
What does the community need?
What do we know about effective learning?
What do our students need?
This led them to design a school with seven houses in seven separate buildings. Each house has 300 students from year 7-12 and 25 staff.
Each building has two floors with flexible learning spaces which can be entirely open or closed off as needed. Year 7-10 have their core learning in their house but go off to other buildings for specialist lessons eg technology, music and P.E. Year 11 and 12 students have their classes in the house that their teacher belongs to.
Each house has a leader who is an A.P. and two leading teachers,an assistant leader and a student coordinator. Each house also has an attendance officer.
The associate principal oversees curriculum across all seven houses. Consistency across the school is achieved by making one senior teacher in each house responsible for an area of curriculum across the entire school.
Joint Meeting BPS and BHC: Shared Norms
On Thursday 27th of October the two staff groups came together to start working on developing a set of shared norms for the new K-12 school that could be trialled in 2012. The ideas and findings from this meeting will be presented again later in the year in a draft document for further discussion.
Below is the PowerPoint presentation from that meeting.
Below is the PowerPoint presentation from that meeting.
Shared norms
View more presentations from SandyJohnstone
Sunday 16 October 2011
CROSS CAMPUS VISITS
Thank you to everyone for welcoming one another into your classrooms. Staff from both campuses have indicated they enjoyed and valued the opportunity to see the other campus in action.
We have looked at the reflection sheets.
It was noted that the Secondary staff are working very hard giving the very difficult circumstances of shrinking numbers and poorly maintained environment. It was also noted that staff are being very creative with timetabling to give students a wide variety of subjects.
Most people who visited the Primary campus commented on the strong and consistent use of routines and rituals along with the bright and inviting atmosphere. This was partly attributed to a lot of student work displays.
One of the main differences appears to be the atmosphere in staffrooms. All primary staff do use the central staffroom whereas the secondary tend to stay in their own areas.
Please take some time to look at the graphs at the bottom of the page that have been compiled from the information on the feedabck sheets.
We have looked at the reflection sheets.
It was noted that the Secondary staff are working very hard giving the very difficult circumstances of shrinking numbers and poorly maintained environment. It was also noted that staff are being very creative with timetabling to give students a wide variety of subjects.
Most people who visited the Primary campus commented on the strong and consistent use of routines and rituals along with the bright and inviting atmosphere. This was partly attributed to a lot of student work displays.
One of the main differences appears to be the atmosphere in staffrooms. All primary staff do use the central staffroom whereas the secondary tend to stay in their own areas.
Please take some time to look at the graphs at the bottom of the page that have been compiled from the information on the feedabck sheets.
Sunday 9 October 2011
Laverton 9-12 Learning Community
At the end of term 3 we revisited Laverton P-12 to see their newly opened 9-12 Learning Community.
The 9-12 LC caters for 240 students with 23 allocated teaching staff and 3 aides. The smooth running of this learning community was greatly attributed to a clear set of shared norms and behavioural guidelines. There was a clear process for students who did not follow these guidelines to remove them from classes. The importance of having a defined set of routines, rituals and expectations has become more and more obvious as our investigation has proceeded. These findings have led us to divert our focus this term to developing (with staff collaboration) a set of shared norms that we can start to implement in both schools in 2012 in preparation for the merger.
Teaching staff in this learning community have indicated that 90% of behavioural issues have ceased due to the extra support from other teachers in the space and the presence of the LC Principal to deal with serious issues immediately. There is now less of the petty stuff like having no pen so the focus can be on more serious behaviours.
Most staff have now indicated they do not want to go back to having a single classroom as they value the support from their colleagues that this type of open space provides.
Once again there is specific planning time given each term for teams to develop curriculum and strategies for teaching and learning.
As in the junior and middle LC's there are not enough tables and chairs for all students and ICT was predominant.
The 9-12 LC caters for 240 students with 23 allocated teaching staff and 3 aides. The smooth running of this learning community was greatly attributed to a clear set of shared norms and behavioural guidelines. There was a clear process for students who did not follow these guidelines to remove them from classes. The importance of having a defined set of routines, rituals and expectations has become more and more obvious as our investigation has proceeded. These findings have led us to divert our focus this term to developing (with staff collaboration) a set of shared norms that we can start to implement in both schools in 2012 in preparation for the merger.
Teaching staff in this learning community have indicated that 90% of behavioural issues have ceased due to the extra support from other teachers in the space and the presence of the LC Principal to deal with serious issues immediately. There is now less of the petty stuff like having no pen so the focus can be on more serious behaviours.
Most staff have now indicated they do not want to go back to having a single classroom as they value the support from their colleagues that this type of open space provides.
Once again there is specific planning time given each term for teams to develop curriculum and strategies for teaching and learning.
As in the junior and middle LC's there are not enough tables and chairs for all students and ICT was predominant.
Sunday 4 September 2011
St Francis de Sales Lynbrook
St Francis opened in 2010 purpose built with open Learning Spaces. It currently has 143 students, Prep to Grade 6. They have seven groups with approximately 20 students in each group. There are four groups of P-2 and three groups of 3-6. At the moment they only have one "Pod" functioning but will move into the second one shortly where they will still have a spread of students from P-6. The third one will open next year. They have found this spread of ages helps with targeted learning for their students and encourages cross age programs and pastoral care.
The curriculum has some non-negatiable tasks and other tasks where students negotiate the learning required from their set goals. Goal setting is a major component of student assessment and tracking. Their goals are revisited in small groups (two students and the AP) once or twice a week.
Students work across levels in workshops as posted at the start of each day so they are aware of their movements around the space across the day's activities. The workshops cover such things as reading, writing,speaking, numeracy and thinking skills. Teachers meet most afternoons to determine the needs of the students based on the goals they have set for themselves and teacher observation. While we were there the sessions changed with only one teacher instructing them to move to the next session over a microphone. This happened with minimum fuss and noise. The next session began promptly and seamlessly.
The students each have folder which contains their goal setting documents and progress towards achieving them. This includes samples of work chosen by the students as evidence of attaining a personal goal. These folders form the basis for assessment reporting. Each student also has a digital portfolio which will eventually contain all of the information currently in the folder.
Students are encouraged to approach any adult in the room for help or guidance instead of waiting for their teacher to be free. This was seen to be promoting independent learning.
Each "Pod" meets together at the start of the day at a base where students have their own space but this is not a desk or table.
In many of the schools we have visited previously there were many more adults than the normal requirements. This was not the case here and programs seemed to be functioning very well.All new staff and students are required to spend at least a full day at the school before making the decision on whether this school was right for them.
The curriculum has some non-negatiable tasks and other tasks where students negotiate the learning required from their set goals. Goal setting is a major component of student assessment and tracking. Their goals are revisited in small groups (two students and the AP) once or twice a week.
Students work across levels in workshops as posted at the start of each day so they are aware of their movements around the space across the day's activities. The workshops cover such things as reading, writing,speaking, numeracy and thinking skills. Teachers meet most afternoons to determine the needs of the students based on the goals they have set for themselves and teacher observation. While we were there the sessions changed with only one teacher instructing them to move to the next session over a microphone. This happened with minimum fuss and noise. The next session began promptly and seamlessly.
The students each have folder which contains their goal setting documents and progress towards achieving them. This includes samples of work chosen by the students as evidence of attaining a personal goal. These folders form the basis for assessment reporting. Each student also has a digital portfolio which will eventually contain all of the information currently in the folder.
Students are encouraged to approach any adult in the room for help or guidance instead of waiting for their teacher to be free. This was seen to be promoting independent learning.
Each "Pod" meets together at the start of the day at a base where students have their own space but this is not a desk or table.
In many of the schools we have visited previously there were many more adults than the normal requirements. This was not the case here and programs seemed to be functioning very well.All new staff and students are required to spend at least a full day at the school before making the decision on whether this school was right for them.
Sunday 21 August 2011
PLATO (Professional Leave and Teacher Outcomes)
During our TPL we have had four days in the PLATO program presented by ACEP (Australian Centre for Effective Partnerships.) During these four days we have worked on becoming more familiar with the E5 Instructional Model and using it to assist with our TPL inquiry.
On the first day we lokked at:
Engaging with e5-individual focus:
Self assessment, looking at each domain. What capability do you wish to work on in your practice?
We chose to focus our inquiry on the Engage domain particulary the capability of developing shared norms.
During these sessions we have come to realise that e5is not the big scary beast we think it is but rather a common language that teachers can use to reflect on and discuss our core business of teaching. One of the things that stood out for us was the statement that if everyone in the state was working at level one across all domains, what a fantastic group of teachers we would have. E5 is not to be seen as a ladder that we must climb to be an effective teacher.
During day one we worked on refining our question in order to guide our TPL inquiry.
On day two the focus was to look at project management tools and the need for planning to evaluate the impact of the TPL on our own teaching. In order to do this, we started with examining our own practice and placing ourselves on a level within the e5 model in our chosen area of engagement and shraed norms. Other tasks undertaken on the day were brainstorming our key tasks and unpacking them and allocating various tasks to members of the group. We aslo produced a document outlining our project plan.
Day three was reflection of our progress and evaluating outcomes so far. We had time to reflect on what we had achieved so far and where we could go from there. We revisited our e5 learning goal form day two. We looked at the modelling of and pratised a coaching conversation about e5 learning goals. We also participated in substantive conversations about teacher practice.
Day four was about Sharing the Learning. It gave us opportunities to share what we had done, ask questions and give and receive feedback on what we had achieved. We were chosen to show the group the presentations we had given to our staff as well as our blog. We received positive feedabck from this as no other teams had presented to their whole staff at this stage. There was time given to reflect on our e5 learning and how we had progressed throughout the year. To assist with this we were given a proforma about Observing Teacher Practice through an e5 lens.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time at PLATO and found it to be some of the best PD we have had in a long time.
On the first day we lokked at:
Engaging with e5-individual focus:
Self assessment, looking at each domain. What capability do you wish to work on in your practice?
We chose to focus our inquiry on the Engage domain particulary the capability of developing shared norms.
During these sessions we have come to realise that e5is not the big scary beast we think it is but rather a common language that teachers can use to reflect on and discuss our core business of teaching. One of the things that stood out for us was the statement that if everyone in the state was working at level one across all domains, what a fantastic group of teachers we would have. E5 is not to be seen as a ladder that we must climb to be an effective teacher.
During day one we worked on refining our question in order to guide our TPL inquiry.
On day two the focus was to look at project management tools and the need for planning to evaluate the impact of the TPL on our own teaching. In order to do this, we started with examining our own practice and placing ourselves on a level within the e5 model in our chosen area of engagement and shraed norms. Other tasks undertaken on the day were brainstorming our key tasks and unpacking them and allocating various tasks to members of the group. We aslo produced a document outlining our project plan.
Day three was reflection of our progress and evaluating outcomes so far. We had time to reflect on what we had achieved so far and where we could go from there. We revisited our e5 learning goal form day two. We looked at the modelling of and pratised a coaching conversation about e5 learning goals. We also participated in substantive conversations about teacher practice.
Day four was about Sharing the Learning. It gave us opportunities to share what we had done, ask questions and give and receive feedback on what we had achieved. We were chosen to show the group the presentations we had given to our staff as well as our blog. We received positive feedabck from this as no other teams had presented to their whole staff at this stage. There was time given to reflect on our e5 learning and how we had progressed throughout the year. To assist with this we were given a proforma about Observing Teacher Practice through an e5 lens.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time at PLATO and found it to be some of the best PD we have had in a long time.
Macclesfield Primary School
In 2002 a new open plan building was built. This was designed by MYNX architects who have designed the new Boronia K-12 buildings. Prior to this they had 230 students with only one permanent building and the rest were portables.
The main flexible learning building had 6 classroom spaces surrounding an internal Gallery space. This area had no permanent furnishings so things could be moved in and out as required by both students and teachers. This makes it truly flexible.
There were also a mix of year levels in this space rather than having all classes from one or two levels working together.
There were very large sliding doors with no windows leading to this Gallery space that could be opened or closed depending on the need of the classes at the time. When we were there one whole side was completely shut off.
The principal had told us before we saw the space that there were no teacher areas within the classroom. However we did notice that all classroom areas had a teacher desk and shelving at the front of the room. This is probably because any teacher space allocation had been taken over for programs such as Quicksmart and Reading Recovery.
The most interesting thing we took from this visit was that the Principal said it is important to ask "What's the Teaching and Learning going to look like?" rather than worrying about the physical layout and furniture.
Their focus from now on is:
* Changes in Pedagogy.
* Teacher Skills.
* Improving skill sets in ICT, assessment and collegiate teaching.
* Ongoing building of team capacity.
* Changes in physical set up that are required to support the points above.
The main flexible learning building had 6 classroom spaces surrounding an internal Gallery space. This area had no permanent furnishings so things could be moved in and out as required by both students and teachers. This makes it truly flexible.
There were also a mix of year levels in this space rather than having all classes from one or two levels working together.
There were very large sliding doors with no windows leading to this Gallery space that could be opened or closed depending on the need of the classes at the time. When we were there one whole side was completely shut off.
The principal had told us before we saw the space that there were no teacher areas within the classroom. However we did notice that all classroom areas had a teacher desk and shelving at the front of the room. This is probably because any teacher space allocation had been taken over for programs such as Quicksmart and Reading Recovery.
The most interesting thing we took from this visit was that the Principal said it is important to ask "What's the Teaching and Learning going to look like?" rather than worrying about the physical layout and furniture.
Their focus from now on is:
* Changes in Pedagogy.
* Teacher Skills.
* Improving skill sets in ICT, assessment and collegiate teaching.
* Ongoing building of team capacity.
* Changes in physical set up that are required to support the points above.
Sunday 31 July 2011
Student Focus Group Years 5-8 Wednesday 27th July 2011
On Wednesday 27th July a group of year 5-8 students met in E-space at BHC to undertake the visioning activity that staff and parent groups had already participated in. The students also viewed the "flythrough" of our new buildings and photos of various furniture items that the TPL team had seen used in open learning spaces at other schools. The groups were led by Sandy Johnstone and Chris Kors. It was an extremely positive afternoon enjoyed by both students and staff, who are keen to be involved in more activities. Following is an overview of the students ideas.
INTERESTING QUOTES
"Tick of approval from Education Department for new K-12 school in Boronia which assures teacher,student and student safety at all facilities"
"Our logo is U K-12 because the school is for you."
"Friendly and inviting school."
MAIN AREAS OF COMMENT
*Subjects/Learning
*Buildings
*Uniform
*Rules/Safety
*Technology
*Care of the Environment
SOME IDEAS FROM THE STUDENTS' WORK
Completely different colour for our uniform because it is a new start.
The suggestion of hoodies was a recurring theme. Jeans and Summer/Winter uniforms were also mentioned.
VALUES
When asked to include values for our new school respect featured in almost all groups. Contributing, Participating and Motivation were also included by many groups as were sharing,caring,kindness, truth and honesty and love of reading.
All expressed a desire for the school to be safe for all students, staff and parents.
In general all were excited about the new facilities and hoped that learning would be fun.
They also had some interesting ideas for dividing the school into various groups. Two groups mentioned Kinder and prep together, yr1-4 and then yr5 and up. Another group mentioned the concept of a senior school but did not mention which year levels this was.
MAKING LEARNING REAL.
They expressed an interest in Cross Age Tutoring, Work experience and training programs and a student run cafeteria.
INTERESTING QUOTES
"Tick of approval from Education Department for new K-12 school in Boronia which assures teacher,student and student safety at all facilities"
"Our logo is U K-12 because the school is for you."
"Friendly and inviting school."
MAIN AREAS OF COMMENT
*Subjects/Learning
*Buildings
*Uniform
*Rules/Safety
*Technology
*Care of the Environment
SOME IDEAS FROM THE STUDENTS' WORK
Completely different colour for our uniform because it is a new start.
The suggestion of hoodies was a recurring theme. Jeans and Summer/Winter uniforms were also mentioned.
VALUES
When asked to include values for our new school respect featured in almost all groups. Contributing, Participating and Motivation were also included by many groups as were sharing,caring,kindness, truth and honesty and love of reading.
All expressed a desire for the school to be safe for all students, staff and parents.
In general all were excited about the new facilities and hoped that learning would be fun.
They also had some interesting ideas for dividing the school into various groups. Two groups mentioned Kinder and prep together, yr1-4 and then yr5 and up. Another group mentioned the concept of a senior school but did not mention which year levels this was.
MAKING LEARNING REAL.
They expressed an interest in Cross Age Tutoring, Work experience and training programs and a student run cafeteria.
Silverton Primary School
Silverton Primary School was built in the 1970's with open learning spaces that were soon turned into traditional rooms. In 1993 Tony Bryant (Principal) took over and opened the rooms back up. It currently has 430 students with 68% coming from non-English speaking backgrounds.
Each learning community was about 400square metres with four homegroups and four teachers. The students work together for some activities and then as a homegroup for others. The students moved around the learning centre to work on different subjects rather than each homegroup being attached to specific area. This meant that the students and teachers had ownership of the whole area.
As we have seen in many other schools acess to technology is vital in the Open Learning Spaces. At Silverton Primary there are 600 devices including I-Pads, Desktop computers with Touch Screens and Netbooks available on demand for 430 students.
"Discovery Time" runs in four two hour blocks per week. There are no themes and Kids come up with their own project ideas. In the other times they run the usual literacy and numeracy workshops as well as specialist classes.
From 9:00-9:30 each Monday morning all staff and students work in "Mentoring Groups" where groups of 10 multi-age students work with an adult in the school. These include Canteen staff, maintenance, ICT techs etc.Students usually remain with the same group for 2 years.
They also have "Early Bird Reading" where 70-80 P-4 students come to school early (8:40-9:00am) and read with grade 5&6'S who have been trained in reading with younger students. They have found this has improved the reading of students across all year levels.
In addition, weaker maths students meet in a small group 20mins prior to a maths lesson to cover terminology, equipment and pre-knowledge required for the lesson. These sometimes take place during recess. These students have shown improvement in their self esteem and attitudes to maths.
There is also a radio station that transmits 24 hours a day to a 1Km radius with programming produced by the students and an in school TV station.
As we have seen in all open learning spaces there were a variety of seating options including beanbags, couches, cushions and lapdesks as well as the traditional chairs and tables.
Each learning community was about 400square metres with four homegroups and four teachers. The students work together for some activities and then as a homegroup for others. The students moved around the learning centre to work on different subjects rather than each homegroup being attached to specific area. This meant that the students and teachers had ownership of the whole area.
As we have seen in many other schools acess to technology is vital in the Open Learning Spaces. At Silverton Primary there are 600 devices including I-Pads, Desktop computers with Touch Screens and Netbooks available on demand for 430 students.
"Discovery Time" runs in four two hour blocks per week. There are no themes and Kids come up with their own project ideas. In the other times they run the usual literacy and numeracy workshops as well as specialist classes.
From 9:00-9:30 each Monday morning all staff and students work in "Mentoring Groups" where groups of 10 multi-age students work with an adult in the school. These include Canteen staff, maintenance, ICT techs etc.Students usually remain with the same group for 2 years.
They also have "Early Bird Reading" where 70-80 P-4 students come to school early (8:40-9:00am) and read with grade 5&6'S who have been trained in reading with younger students. They have found this has improved the reading of students across all year levels.
In addition, weaker maths students meet in a small group 20mins prior to a maths lesson to cover terminology, equipment and pre-knowledge required for the lesson. These sometimes take place during recess. These students have shown improvement in their self esteem and attitudes to maths.
There is also a radio station that transmits 24 hours a day to a 1Km radius with programming produced by the students and an in school TV station.
As we have seen in all open learning spaces there were a variety of seating options including beanbags, couches, cushions and lapdesks as well as the traditional chairs and tables.
Silverton ps
View more presentations from SandyJohnstone.
Monday 25 July 2011
Sunday 26 June 2011
Ashburton Primary School
Ashburton Primary are currently undergoing a major building program which will include Open Learning Spaces. They are trialling some open spaces that have been converted from old traditional classrooms with Inquiry Based Leasrning projects. In these open learning spaces they have different seating options available to students as we have seen at all schools with flexible spaces. They make a point of not having enough chairs and tables for every student in the room; instead they have beanbags and couches as well as traditional seating.
One of the most interesting things at Ashburton was the current LOTE program. They have had difficulty getting a teacher and are in the process of deciding which language would be the best to go with. In the mean time they have "World Wide Frenzy with Dr. McEnzie" which has the students "travelling" around the world investigating the culture of countries all over the world.
Again there was an emphasis on providing joint planning time for teams.
There was also a recognition that homegroup teachers do need time alone with their particular group each week to build relationships.
We also discovered some new contacts which will help with our investigations in term three.
One of the most interesting things at Ashburton was the current LOTE program. They have had difficulty getting a teacher and are in the process of deciding which language would be the best to go with. In the mean time they have "World Wide Frenzy with Dr. McEnzie" which has the students "travelling" around the world investigating the culture of countries all over the world.
Again there was an emphasis on providing joint planning time for teams.
There was also a recognition that homegroup teachers do need time alone with their particular group each week to build relationships.
We also discovered some new contacts which will help with our investigations in term three.
Mt Ridley College
Mt Ridley College opened in 2009 with 150 students, in 2010 they had 500 and 1040 in 2011. It is currently P-8 but grows by one year level each year, they will be P-12 by 2015.
The 5-8 Learning Community worked as one group for Numeracy, Literacy and "Neighbourhood" (An integrated program with Inquiry Based Learning). All other subjects operate as 5-6 and 7-8. Once again this is successful because of a large number of adults in the classrooms. They have a large number of graduate teachers which gives them extra funds in the budget to employ extra support staff.
This year they have a TPL team working on planning curriculum for next year's year 9's. They will be a stand alone Learning Community with many of the activities based around careers etc that are traditioanlly done in year 10. The idea is that they will be better prepared for starting some VCE studies when in yr 10.
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They have made a clear distinction in their leadership structure to separate Curriculum planning etc from Student management.
The 5-8 Learning Community worked as one group for Numeracy, Literacy and "Neighbourhood" (An integrated program with Inquiry Based Learning). All other subjects operate as 5-6 and 7-8. Once again this is successful because of a large number of adults in the classrooms. They have a large number of graduate teachers which gives them extra funds in the budget to employ extra support staff.
This year they have a TPL team working on planning curriculum for next year's year 9's. They will be a stand alone Learning Community with many of the activities based around careers etc that are traditioanlly done in year 10. The idea is that they will be better prepared for starting some VCE studies when in yr 10.
Berwick Chase Primary
Berwick Chase Primary is exclusively Open/Flexible learning Spaces. It opened in 2009 with 160 students and ended the year with 200. They currently have 415 students 83 of those are in grade Prep. The layout of this school has the Library centrally located with the other open spaces branching off from there.
They have flexible "streaming " in Prep to grade 2. This means that a prep student reading at grade 2 level would be given the opportunity to read with other students at that level and vice versa for students who are struggling. Each morning there are 2 hours of literacy and one hour of numeracy with no specialist classes in the first few hours of the day. The Principal believes firmly in planning time being crucial to the success of these open learning spaces. Each team is given one full day to plan every 5 weeks. He believes it is not possible to plan further than 5 weeks at a time.
The open learning spaces are successful partly because of the large number of adults in the spaces. Many of these are parent helpers but there are also quite a few aides.
Sunday 19 June 2011
Sunday 15 May 2011
Visits to P-12 schools
We ahve already visited a couple of P-12 schools. Laverton was our first visit which is purpose built with open learning spaces. They are operating with three learning communities; P-4, 5-8 and 9-12. At the moment only P-8 are working in the open learning spaces as the building for the 9-12 has not been completed yet. They are due to move in within the next couple of weeks.
At Laverton the 5-8 learning community operates more on a primary school model as they believe the 5 & 6's are not yet ready for a secondary style education. This was reinforced a couple of weeks later when we visited Narre Warren who have this year started operating more as Primary and a Secondary school on the same site. They originally had a 5-8 learning community operating on a secondary style format but they found the younger students just weren't coping.
This is in the 5-8 learning space at Laverton. Students are encouraged to work where they feel comfortable in the space. They have deliberately not put in enough chairs and tables for every student so they do move around the open space.
At Laverton the 5-8 learning community operates more on a primary school model as they believe the 5 & 6's are not yet ready for a secondary style education. This was reinforced a couple of weeks later when we visited Narre Warren who have this year started operating more as Primary and a Secondary school on the same site. They originally had a 5-8 learning community operating on a secondary style format but they found the younger students just weren't coping.
Survey Results
We started our TPL investigation by surveying the staff from both schools. We were quite pleased witht the results with all people looking forward to the merger and the new facilities. It was obvious that many peple are still unsure about how open learning spaces will work. Check out the graph with the results of all the multiple choice questions.
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