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.