HCC4 Network of Schools

Welcome back !

Welcome back for Term 4 !  It will certainly be a busy one, but there will be some interesting things happening.  

No doubt a number of local Principals will be attending the Annual PPA Conference in Sydney next week.  Secondary colleagues would know just how valuable these collegial conferences are in terms of providing access to high quality speakers and to build a level of interdependence.  The theme this year is “Pushing the Boundaries” and it would seem that this provides some exciting prospects.  

The time is right for an exploration of ideas which work.  We have access to a world of ideas and have the capacity to analyse and assess the level of risk inherent within any proposed idea.  If we couple this with an intuitive sense of wanting to do it better, and add an ability to point to real outcomes: to be able to describe the value and values we have added or developed, then we are seriously in the business of optimising the opportunity for our young people.

In this sense, it was great to hear the Director General, Andrew Cappie-Wood speak at our term Schools Portfolio day in Sydney on Friday;  pointing to the need for innovation, and an acceptance that the best ideas may not always work perfectly first time.  He spoke of the work we share in which  we need to continue to build a culture where we see innovation through a move away from blame cultures and a sustained focus on the growth of students.

The need to be right all the time is the biggest bar to new ideas. It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong than to be always right by having no ideas at all.~ Edward de Bono

The Minister, Carmel Tebbutt,  also attended and spoke to the group which included all SED’s from across the State, all State Office Directors, General Managers, Principal Liaison Officers, Regional Directors etc.

Minister Tebbutt spoke about the great work which had been done in schools.  She also spoke about student reports and of the changes which had been announced at the end of last term.  In outlining the extent of the Federal intervention in the States education agenda, the Minister was clear in her view that the latest changes represented the limit that the Government could extend to in terms of still meeting the needs of both State level commitments for Reports which gave clearer information to parents and the need to comply with the Federal Regulations to the quadrennial funding bill.

Coincidentally, on the same day, the Minister was in print in the SMH.  You can read what she had to say about the Federal minister, but particularly about the quality of the NSW Curriculum by clicking here

Reporting Software

The reporting software for schools who will be using A-E Report formats will be ready on 16 October as promised.  In view of the fact that the announcement that schools could choose to use single word descriptors in place of A-E only came at the end of term, the hope now is to get that modification to the software implemented and available by the end of October, or early November at the very latest.  We will be aiming to ensure that all schools get as much support as they need in implementing the new report formats.

Cultural Change

Deputy Director-General, Schools, Trevor Fletcher spoke of the good things which have been achieved in 2005 and 2006.  He provided feedback from a summit attended in Toronto, Canada, where he and Northern Sydney Regional Director, Deonne Smith presented a case study from NSW, which was able to show positive growth toward the objective of developing a culture which is less about “us and them” and more about shared commitments to the same moral purpose: enhanced student outcomes; improved expectations and a bridging of the gaps in outcomes between sectors of our student population.

It is a massive undertaking, this process of reculturing, and one which needs to happen while we are still steaming at full tilt, with stretch targets for our performance !  For that is the way of the world in which we live these days.  There is no hope that we be laid up for a refit while we enact our reculturing.  We need to do it as we go.  This is a process which is not without risk but one which also provides exciting possibilities.

We can't wait for the storm to blow over. We have to learn how to work in the rain.
- Author unknown

Positive signs

Trevor was able to point to the recent state-wide survey of Principals which shows some very clear signs of improvement on the good outcomes in 2005.  For example the percentage response grew from 50% of Principals in 2005 to a state-wide average of 62% this year with New England Region gaining a response rate of 70%.  Well done to everybody who responded, as this gives a sound basis for comparative data and is taken as a very valuable indicator in tracking progress to system wide change.

Very positively, most elements of the survey trended upward, and no doubt there will be a sharing of the results in more detail in publications or presentations coming up.

Local Management Groups

We’ll be having a day with representatives from all of the Local Management Groups in week 3 of this term. There will be discussion about what has been achieved and more planning of a good evaluation of work so far.  There will also be the opportunity for some thought about the ways that schools may work together in the future, and of the positive outcomes which have been generated and innovations which are on the drawing board or within the conceptual stage.  I look forward to the chance to work with this group of Principals.  More information and links to readings and resources in this area is available on the blog set up for the associated Regional Strategic Priority area: "building collaborative, interdependent schools and communities."  You can see it by clicking here

I'll also be getting around the network informally as soon as possible.  Look forward to catching up with you and hearing where things are up to.  We have a Regional Consultants' Day on Tuesday and I have to be in Sydney on Thursday and Friday for the once per term briefing in the Student Services area.  If there are particular things you would like to discuss or run past, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Welcome

To Peter Hall, welcome to Merewether High.  And, to Janelle Newman, welcome to a long term relieving stint at Kotara.  We look forward to working with both of you.

We also welcome Alan Irving, Principal from The Entrance PS as relieving PEO, Student Services, in Rick Frost's role while he is in Vietnam for the next year.

HCC4 blog

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Sorry that this is a bit of a novel.  Hope you have a great week.

Cheers