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.
Sunday, 4 December 2011
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.
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