Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning

We are now approaching the time of year when Year 8 students decide on their electives for stage 5 and the Year 10 students decide not only their pathway of the HSC or the IB Diploma but their pattern of study within the program. It’s essential to consider how these choices can shape the opportunity to explore their interests and talents, providing a foundation for their senior studies in the Higher School Certificate (HSC) or the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme. 

Both the HSC and IB offer rigorous and comprehensive curricula that prepare students for university and beyond. Unlike many schools around us, we design our subject lines based on the interest of the majority in the cohort. Each year the lines will be different as we endeavour to offer as many options as possible with the resources we have. 

Research Invested Schools

As we progress through the second year of our whole school Action Research initiative, teachers are able to make sense of their findings in order to identify, consolidate and build upon the teaching and learning strategies that have proven most effective. Later in the year, all groups will be given the opportunity to present snapshots of their projects to their colleagues in order to share their learning, invite feedback and evoke professional discussions about the broader application of their successes.

This evidence-informed and evidence-enriched approach to professional practice was the focus of the recent Research Invested Schools Annual Conference attended by our Action Research Coordinator, Kate Corcoran. Bringing together academics and educators from across the country, the conference workshops demonstrated the many ways that schools like ours are using research to improve our professional practices and the student outcomes they aim to achieve.  As a member of this national organisation, we look forward to further building partnerships and connections with member schools and universities where the ongoing sharing of current research will ensure our continual professional growth and improvement.

Jacqueline Pugh
Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning