Respect ~ Perseverance ~ Growth

Deputy Principal Matters by Nathan Lawler

Week 6, term 4.

It is hard to believe that students have only 3 weeks and 3 days left of school for 2020. With the restrictions easing this term students have enjoyed a greater variety of activities. At the midway point of term 3 excursions seemed like a distant memory. We have an exciting end to the term with lots of activities planned such as:

Year 10 Work Experience (30 Nov -4 Dec).

Year 7 Water Awareness Week at Balmoral Beach (30 Nov -4 Dec).

Duke of Edinburgh students walking trails across greater Sydney and the Blue Moun-tains (Dec 7-9).

Presentation Day (11 Dec)

Raging Waters Excursions - Year 8 (15 Dec) and Year 9 (14 Dec)

- SRC Team building activities

Peer leadership training for our Year 9 students who will mentor our incoming Year 7 students.

We look forward to keeping students engaged until the last day of term, which is Wednesday December 16. School Planning and Parent Involvement We believe that a strong partnership between students, staff and parents is important in bringing about the best educational outcomes for students. At present we are developing our next school plan and at the end of this term we will provide a detailed update. There will be opportunities for parent input so please keep an eye out in the

newsletter. Our school is committed to ensuring that how we teach your child is based on what we know makes the biggest difference to their learning. In our school, we have a focus on using the ‘What works best’ eight practices for effec-tive teaching. These practices will guide our planning.

These practices are:

Having high expectations of your child.

Using explicit teaching in the classroom.

Giving effective and timely feedback to your child on their learning.

Using data to inform how we teach your child.

Using regular and effective assessments so we know how your child’s learning is progressing.

Supporting the wellbeing of your child by looking out for their mental, physical and emotional health.

Managing the classrooms well so they are safe, positive and stimulating environments for learning.

Making sure our teachers collaborate with each other and experts outside the school, so teaching practice con-

tinuously improves.

Term 4 Week 6 20 November 2020

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In addition, research shows that greater levels of support and engagement from parents and carers are associated with better student academic and wellbeing outcomes. We also understand that it is not always clear how you can help. The Department of Education has now released a ‘What works best’ resource for parents and carers, which provides tips for having conversations with your child about their learning. You can visit the department’s Parent Hub where you’ll find other tailored resources for parents and carers. https://education.nsw.gov.au/parents-and-carers/learning/what-works-best-2020-update

Year 11 Sleep Workshop In response to student survey data, on Friday one of our School Counsellor’s Emmy Druce facilitated a sleep workshop for all Year 11 students. The focus was on how to build healthy routines around sleep and why this is important. As we know a healthy balance between study, exercise, leisure and SLEEP is important for over-all wellbeing. In my experience, those students who work hard but still prioritise enough time for sleep, perform best academically and are much calmer throughout the day. We hope that Year 11 students will implement some of the tips from Mrs Druce and we plan to run this presentation with other year groups in 2021.

Girls Day 27 November Over the last 2 weeks our current Head of Girls, Mrs McGurgan, has advertised an upcoming incursion in the newsetter. This day is open to girls in years 8 to 10 and will focus on self-appreciation. There are only 50 spaces so students are encouraged to return their note and money ASAP to secure a place. There are only a couple of places available at this time. Please see last weeks Newsletter for the permission slip and payment information.

Raising Boys A recent focus on SchoolTV addressed ‘raising boys’. In this edition of SchoolTV, adult carers should gain a better understanding into some of the more complex issues relating to raising boys. Societal beliefs about how to raise boys can sometimes influence their adult carers. Although we are not determined by our biology, it is a factor. It is important to support boys in their natural tendencies and nurture their strengths and abilities. At school we encour-age boys to respond to incidents calmly and respectfully.

Here is the link to this month's edition https://stives-h-schools.nsw.schooltv.me/newsletter/raising-boys

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Year 7 Survey Reminder – closes on 21 November. The survey window closes very soon! The Year 7 survey is designed to capture your input and insights to important areas such as communications, school programmes and the experience of your child at our school to date. The School and/or P&C only will access and use the data gath-ered from this survey. The results will be used to inform our decision-making on issues affecting students, staff, parents and community, as well as improve and streamline the services we offer to current and future Year 7 students and families. The Year 7 Parent Survey is a valuable opportuni-ty to have real input, so please take advantage of this to make suggestions and tell us what it is we are doing well and where we could improve. We have almost reached a 50% response rate – we just need one final push to get there. The survey link was sent again this morning at 9:30am so please check your inbox.

Yearly Reports

Next week: Year 9 and 10 reports are published for parents on Friday.

Week 8: Year 8 reports are published to parents on Friday.

Week 9: Year 7 reports are published to parents on Friday.

If there are any changes to the above dates we will notify you via email. All reports are accessed via the Parent Portal.

Best wishes Nathan Lawler Deputy Principal

9T SCIENCE

9T Science enjoyed designing and creating earthquake proof buildings during their studies of natural disasters. Stu-dents were to design a building that was at least 30cm tall, used 15 or less marshmallows and included a square and triangle in their design. The products were then tested on a shaking jelly tray. No buildings broke, a couple toppled and one would have had the walls falling on you! All the designs, along with the winning design, are pictured.

Georgia Margalit Science Teacher

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STUDENT TRANSPORT & TRAFFIC CAMPAIGN

Update #1 - November 2020

To date over 1,250 people have participated by taking a survey, writing an email or com-pleting an online outreach form.

The St Ives High Transport and Traffic Campaign is a uniting force across schools and commu-nities. We have built a campaign network across the St Ives High Drawing Area, which stretches from Mt Ku-ring-gai to St Ives and beyond.

This campaign demonstrates an unprecedented level of co-operation between P&C Associa-tions. Thank you to the following P&Cs who are actively working together to promote our cam-paign:

Asquith Public P&C Association Hornsby North Public P&C Association Mt Colah Public P&C Association Mt Ku-ring-gai Public P&C Association St Ives Public P&C Association St Ives High P&C Association Waitara Public P&C Association

SIHS P&C Student Transport & Traffic Working Group

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Our Actions to Date

February 2020

St Ives High P&C Association formed a Student Transport and Traffic working Group to investigate the scale and nature of the problems reported by the St Ives High School Community relating to student travel and traffic congestion around the school. With the support of the St Ives High School Executive, we held meetings to workshop the issues

We established guiding principles The St Ives High Student Transport & Travel Plan should: Be Fair and Safe for all students – students should not be disadvantaged by the suburb they are travelling from or by participating in the school transport scheme. Travel arrangements should not compromise student safety (whether as a traveller or pedestrian)

Be sustainable – provide a service that encourages students to make sustainable travel choices by offering a reliable service with sufficient capacity

Aim to minimize congestion in the area around SIHS – enable students to make transport choices that do not add to traffic congestion and impact upon pedestrian safety.

We gathered data and community feedback

We wanted to gather data and feedback to support our bid for increased public transport services to the St Ives High Precinct, improved pedestrian facilities (such as footpaths and crossings) and a review of traffic management around the school.

St Ives High P&C Student Transport and Traffic Working Group worked to create and run the following four campaign elements over an eight month period:

1. 26th

August – 5th

September 2020 St Ives High P&C Student Transport & Traffic Survey

This survey was sent to every St Ives High family and had a 46% response rate. It gathered data on how students travel to and from school (pre-COVID) and collated feedback from participants about any issues they face for lobbying purposes. 400 families completed the survey, representing 517 students.

2. 2nd-20th

September 2020 Northern Draw Primary P&C Association Petition for Improved Student Transport to St Ives High The Asquith, Mt Colah, Mt Kuring-Gai, Hornsby North and Waitara Primary School P&C Associa-tions worked together with the local community to petition for improved public transport options from the Northern Draw Catchment of St Ives High School to their in-catchment co-ed high school, St Ives High. This action was coordinated by Rob Peacock, President of Asquith Public P&C Asso-ciation and supported by St Ives High P&C. 495 signatories from ten primary schools and families living in nine suburbs in the Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai areas want improved student transport to St Ives High School. 164 families also provided written feedback.

3rd-18th

October 2020 Local St Ives Community Outreach

St Ives High P&C Association wants St Ives High to be a good neighbour. Our transport issues go hand-in-hand with local traffic issues around St Ives High. We used an online form to collect feed-back from local residents regarding traffic (volumes/flow/management), pedestrian safety and ex-perience, and public transport services to the area. We received 135 responses from concerned local residents.

13th-24th

October St Ives Public P&C Association Traffic & Pedestrian Survey

This survey is gathered data from from St Ives Public school community about how students are travelling to and from school and what the SIPS community concerns are regarding the pedestrian experience and traffic in the local area. 227 families responded to this survey, representing ap-proximately 58% of families at the school.

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Our lobbying challenge The St Ives High Draw Area spans three state electorates:

Matt Kean, Member for Hornsby Alister Henskens, Member for Ku-ring-gai Jonathan O'Dea, Member for Davidson

And two local government areas:

Hornsby Shire Council Ku-ring-Gai Council

26th October 2020 Lobbying Commences

Liz Paul (Convenor of the St Ives High P&C Student Transport & Traffic Working Group) and Rob Peacock (President of Asquith Public School P&C and Petition Coordinator) collate the four re-ports into a campaign pack. This pack is sent to Matt Kean MP, Minister for Energy & Environ-ment, Member for Hornsby.

As well as detailing the campaign outcomes we would like to see, we sought Mr Kean's assis-tance on working across three state electorates and taking our campaign to the Minister for Transport, Andrew Constance MP.

5th November 2020

Letter received from Matt Kean MP's office confirming:

the preparation of a representation to the Hon Andrew Constance, Minister for Transport & Roads, providing a copy of our campaign pack and requesting further investigation into the specific points raised in our campaign.

Matt Kean's liaison with Jonathan O'Dea and Alister Henskens, providing

them with a copy of our campaign pack, and altering them to our campaign issues and the action Matt Kean has taken to date.

2021 and Beyond

2021 is going to see yet another increase in St Ives High student numbers (estimated to be just over 1,200), so is critical we keep campaigning to meet our student transport needs and put measures in place to keep them safe on the roads in the St Ives School precinct!

What's Next? Following on from Matt Kean's initial liaison with Jonathon O'Dea and Alister Henskens regarding our campaign: We sent a follow-up email to their respective electoral offices on Friday 13th November. We

invited Mr O’Dea and Mr Henskens to meet with us to discuss the issues we are campaign-ing about and find a way to work towards solutions.

At the time of writing, we are still pending a response. We will be following this up with a phone call.

We are reaching out to Hornsby Shire Council and Ku-ring-gai Council, including Councillors and Mayors regarding our campaign and their role in addressing our issues.

We will keep you posted!! In the meantime, if you would like to get in touch with our campaign team, please email: mailto:transport.traffic@stivespandc.com

CLICK HERE to request a link to our Campaign Reports, including a copy of the email sent to Matt Kean MP.

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APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN FOR THE NSW PUBLIC SCHOOLS VOCAL ENSEMBLES. The NSW Public Schools Junior and Senior Singers are two of the premier student vocal ensembles in Australia. Stu-dents from NSW public schools from Years 4 to 12 are welcome to audition.

Apply here: https://www.artsunit.nsw.edu.au/state-junior-and-senior-public-school-singers

NSW Department of Education

education.nsw.gov.au

What works best: 2020 updateOverview for parents and carers of primary and secondary school students

NSW public schools are committed to ensuring that how we teach your child is based on what we know makes the biggest difference to their learning.

In March this year, the NSW Department of Education released an update of some of the most significant research into effective teaching. This report is called ‘What works best: 2020 update’ and outlines eight evidence-based practices that teachers can use in their classrooms to support improved student learning. It is likely that the ‘What works best: 2020 update’ will inform the teaching and learning in your child’s school.

Below is a summary of the eight ‘What works best’ practices for effective teaching, including some conversation tips to help you support these practices at home. We suggest that you use just one set of questions at a time with your child.

You can find the ‘What works best: 2020 update’ publication, together with other evidence-based resources for schools, at www.cese.nsw.gov.au/publications-filter/what-works-best-2020-update

1. High expectations

Students learn best when teachers have high expectations. Having high expectations means that teachers work hard to gain students’ interest, encourage them to learn new things, provide help when they need it, are clear and consistent about how they want students to behave and learn, and vary the way they teach to meet students’ needs.

2. Explicit teaching

Students learn best when teaching is explicit, especially when learning something new. Explicit teaching involves teachers clearly explaining to students why they are learning something, how it connects to what they already know, what they expect students to do, how to do it and what it looks like when they have succeeded.

3. Effective feedback

Students learn best when teachers provide them with effective feedback. Feedback that is effective is constructive, detailed and specific. It focuses on how students performed on a particular task, and is clear about where mistakes were made and what needs to happen to improve in future.

Check in with your child

For primary school students: Did you try something new today? What was it? How did you go? How do you feel when you’re learning something new?

For secondary school students: When you are asked to do something in class, how do you know what standard of work the teacher expects?

Check in with your child

For primary and secondary school students: Tell me about something you learnt today. Did you find it easy to learn, or did you need to ask a few questions? How could you tell when you ‘got it’?

Check in with your child

For primary and secondary school students: When you’re learning something new, how do you know if you’re on the right track? How do you know what you can do to improve next time?

NSW Department of Education

education.nsw.gov.au

4. Use of data to inform practice

Students learn best when teachers use data to confirm where students are up to in their learning and to plan what to teach next. Data is any form of information that helps teachers to do this. Data can come from a range of places, including class quizzes, student answers to teacher questions, samples of students’ work and formal exams.

5. Assessment

Students learn best when teachers use high quality assessment. Assessment refers to the range of activities that teachers use to evaluate where students are up to in their learning. It includes formal activities such as exams and surveys, as well as more informal activities such as asking students questions and evaluating samples of their work.

6. Classroom management

Students learn best when teachers manage their classrooms well. Classroom management includes the broad range of things that teachers do to encourage a safe, positive and stimulating learning environment for their students.

7. Wellbeing

Students learn best when they have a high level of wellbeing. Student wellbeing is a broad term that includes good mental, physical and emotional health, feeling supported in learning, building healthy relationships and having a strong sense of meaning and purpose. Teachers can support students’ wellbeing by:

creating a safe environment

helping students to feel that they belong

valuing their opinions and perspectives

encouraging them to be interested in learning

helping them to manage their emotions

helping them to develop positive relationships with teachers and other students.

Check in with your child

For primary school students: How do you show your teacher what you know and what you can do?

For secondary school students: Your teacher needs to understand where you are up to in your learning, so that they know what to teach next. How do you show your teacher what you know and what you can do?

Check in with your child

For primary school students: Are there rules or expectations you need to follow in your classroom? Can you tell me a few? What happens when you work hard to follow them? What happens if you don’t follow them?

For secondary school students: Does your school have school or classroom rules or expectations? Can you name a few? What happens when students follow them? What happens if students don’t follow them?

Check in with your child

For primary and secondary school students: How do you feel about school at the moment? Are there things that you find hard or challenging? Do you know what to do or who you can speak to if you’re having a bad day or have a problem? Does someone look out for you at school?

NSW Department of Education

education.nsw.gov.au

For example …

High expectations at Aldavilla Public School

Aldavilla Public School attributes much of its success in improving outcomes for students to a focus on high expectations. The students are constantly reminded that they can be whatever they want to be. One way that high expectations are encouraged at Aldavilla Public School is through setting goals. Students are expected to be working towards learning goals that are achievable, and staff are constantly encouraging students to push themselves to reach their next goal.

The school also encourages high expectations by taking a whole-school approach. For example, every class follows exactly the same behaviour management system. Student-teacher relationships are also a priority. All teachers make an effort to get to know students and show that they care about them. This can be achieved by doing things as simple as asking what students did on the weekend, or knowing who a student’s brothers and sisters are.

For example …

Use of data to inform practice at Concord High School

The mathematics faculty at Concord High School studies their HSC data each year and uses the results to plan their teaching programs in Years 7-11. The head teacher of mathematics explains: “We have a really good look at the questions students got wrong and we try to re-program based on things that the kids have got wrong. For example, our students were struggling with ‘significant figures’ in the HSC so we’ve now brought significant figures into Year 7. That means they have six years where they can see that they can round to significant figures, and now it hasn’t been an issue.”

Sometimes the re-programming involves changing the order of topics during the year so that students have more opportunities to apply their knowledge and understanding of these concepts throughout the year. The head teacher of mathematics continues: “Our students were doing really badly with probability. We had a look at our programs and probability was something we were doing at the end of every year, so we’ve moved it around a little bit so they are seeing it earlier in some years.”

8. Collaboration

Students learn best when teachers collaborate. Collaboration involves teachers working together with other teachers and experts from outside the school to improve their teaching. Effective collaboration is likely to include teachers planning lessons and teaching programs together, observing each other’s lessons and giving feedback, and discussing and thinking about issues related to their work.

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