Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning

Welcome back. I hope your family had a restful break. Our teachers had a productive day of professional learning on 24 April. A majority of the time was set aside to work on their Action Research projects in collaboration with the experts from UTS  Professor Nick Hopwood and Dr Tracey-Ann Palmer. We also currently have six teachers studying for their Master’s in Education through various universities, and they had time to research and prepare a presentation to staff. Please see Kate Corcoran’s report below.

From an academic perspective, so much has already occurred for the students this term. The Year 7 and 8 students attended a Mathematics Day on Friday of Week 2. The students rotated through three activities from problem-solving to maths games and challenges, such as the mathematics behind barcodes. Gioia House had a visit from the author Jacqueline Harvey. Year 8 Geography students explored Strathfield for their project on Place and Livability. A select group of Year 10 and 11 Enrichment Students participated in the first round of the Ethics Olympiad. Year 9 and 10 Student/Parent/Teacher Conferences have taken place. We held an HSC Information Evening for students in Year 11, 2024 and their parents. The Year 12 Biology students visited the Museum of Human Diseases at Sydney University, and the Year 10 Career interviews continue. 

Last week the NSW Government announced changes to the Curriculum Reform timeline. Schools must implement 100 new syllabi over the coming years, and the timeline is very tight. The government has reevaluated the dates, which is welcome news. Priority has been placed on implementing the K-10 English and Mathematics Syllabus.

Jacqueline Pugh
Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning

Action Research Professional Learning Day – time to make some changes

For the first day back this term, teachers involved in our action research projects spent the day working in their teams to move their projects forward to the intervention stage. The day started out with a presentation by our UTS project partners, Professor Nick Hopwood and Dr Tracy-Ann Palmer, to illustrate the many forms that changes of practice can take as well as the ways to measure the impact of these changes based on the success criteria. 

Groups then gathered in the senior school library to complete the planning phase and begin developing strategies to respond to the problems of practice they have identified. Whether it was through further analysis of the baseline data or another look at the relevant research literature, the professional conversations that came out of the creative thinking and critical analysis that followed allowed all groups to get to the point where they were ready to design and plan for their intervention. 

With a wealth of experience and expertise amongst the teachers and academics in the room, the peer collaboration activity provided an opportunity for all involved to view and provide feedback on other groups’ ideas (see examples below). From this process, teachers now have a better sense of the various topics their colleagues are working on and will hopefully continue to share ideas across groups and faculties to further add to the success of individual projects.

By the end of the day, most groups came away with a detailed plan of what changes they will make to their practice to address their identified problem and the methods they will use to observe and measure the impact of these changes. Given the reflective nature of action research, teachers will be constantly on the lookout for any signs that new strategies are not having the desired effect and will be ready to adjust these strategies accordingly. 

While this will be a busy term of moving through the trial-measure-adjust-measure cycle of improvement, it will be the breakthroughs, professional learning and ultimately the improvements in student outcomes achieved from this process that will make it all worthwhile.

Kate Corcoran
Action Research Coordinator