From the Acting Deputy Principal

Taking the pulse on learning

At MLC School we value the girls having a voice in their learning. We encourage and value feedback as a two-way process as we work together to help them achieve their best. While much of this happens informally, we do have in place some more formal processes. One of these is the semester Pulse Surveys. Each semester we ask the girls to answer three questions about their learning in relation to specific subjects.

On a scale of agree to disagree students respond to the following questions.

• I am able to stay focused during lessons in this class.
• My teacher makes lessons interesting in this class.
• I feel like I am coping with learning in the class.

They also have the opportunity to make a comment about any other aspect of learning in a subject if they wish. This is the third year of running the surveys and they continue to provide a valuable snapshot of how the girls are feeling about their learning. Heads of Department use this data in the evaluation of teaching programs and to help identify areas where we may be able to better support the girls.

The responses from the girls are overwhelmingly positive. However, the comments also highlight the astuteness of our girls in being able to provide constructive feedback about their learning. I have shared a few of these below.   

• My teacher is always open to catch up and help out which I find really helpful, especially when leading up to exams.
• I’m always receiving help from both peers and teachers I always feel as if there is a fun and enjoyable aspect to it.
• I enjoy this class as we are allowed to be creative, but I would like if we had a larger all year focus on apparel.
• My teacher is a very good teacher, and she makes me want to learn and makes me feel comfortable to ask lots of questions.
• I like the content we are studying this term (the human body) and I like the split of practical lessons into fun and games as well as some theoretical applications to practicals.
• I enjoy Commerce, but I feel that the lessons move slightly slowly at times. However, I still find the lessons fairly engaging!
• The teachers are prepared to answer any questions they have a very good portrayal of instruction and bring a good energy.
• The lessons can sometimes be fun but there is a lot of work to do in the lesson and sometimes I get overwhelmed.
• My teacher checks in with me and I am not afraid to put my hand up in class.
• I find that most lesson contents are written and completed on OneNote. I believe it would be beneficial to occasionally alter this as it often becomes repetitive and tedious.

We have quite deliberately chosen to make the responses to these surveys anonymous so that the girls can be honest in their feedback. As always if there are specific concerns relating to your daughter, I encourage you to contact her teacher in the first instance if it relates to a specific subject or her Luminary if it is a more general concern. We will continue to use the broader feedback to nuance the learning journey and further develop the quality of the programs delivered at MLC School.

– Linda Emms
Acting Deputy Principal