Catalyst Update

Six of our teaching staff are undertaking the second wave of teacher instruction with Teach Well and this week they began filming a “Daily Review”. This means that they planned a lesson that started with a review of prior learning. Daily reviews may require students to re-engage with information already taught during the “re-teach” phase of the review. Students then engage with a “retrieval” task that demands they recall what they have learned and then begin to “apply” the learning so that it becomes automated and in time, embedded into long term memory.

The filmed lessons focus only on the teacher and students are not identifiable. This footage is reflected upon by the teacher who identifies areas they are performing well in and areas for improvement. The footage is then sent to the Teach Well team for professional coaching and feedback. This filming occurs twice within the year and is an effective tool that provides participants with an opportunity to reflect deeply on their practice.

Thank you once again to our 2022 participants for engaging with what is a very demanding, yet highly rewarding, program: Karen Ashby, Wayne Foster, Sandra Harris Louise Ibbett, Emma Kenna and Jason Szkwarek.

Reporting Period

Whilst your children have no doubt been busy working on assessment tasks and class task, staff too have been busy marking and moderating this work ready for feedback. With marking wrapping-up, the task of report writing begins. Year 11 Reports were sent out last week and it was wonderful to read through the many positive comments and recommendations provided to students and parents.

Year 7-10 Reports will be sent home toward the end of Week 10. Writing comments is an enormous task. When reports are sent home, staff will have written, proof-read and edited thousands of individual comments. In speaking with the staff about the need to write informative comments I gave them the following breakdown:

• Year 7 - 684 comments (6 comments per child)
• Year 8 - 873 comments (9 comments per child)
• Year 9 - 736 comments (8 comments per child)
• Year 10 - 712 comments (8 comments per child)
• A total of 3,005 comments written, proof-read and edited across Years 7 to 10

Providing feedback on our students is a great privilege and an essential part of our job. We take it seriously and know how important it is for students to receive feedback. Reports, however, are only one way to provide feedback. Students receive verbal feedback during lessons, written feedback in books and on class tasks. Detailed written feedback is provided on assessment tasks and marking rubrics also provide information related to how a task was graded. A child’s end of semester report is the summing-up of this ongoing feedback.

I congratulate students on their efforts at this busy time of year, especially those who worked hard to submit tasks on the due date. I wish staff well as they prepare reports. Fortunately, the holidays are just around the corner.

Erica Drewsen

Assistant Principal, Learning and Innovation

Religious Education Coordinator