KVS Annual Report - Koonwarra Village School KVS Annual... · 2018-08-14 · KVS Annual Report 2017...
Transcript of KVS Annual Report - Koonwarra Village School KVS Annual... · 2018-08-14 · KVS Annual Report 2017...
School No. 2082
Annual Report 2017
KVS Annual Report 2017
2
Contextual Information
Koonwarra Village School (KVS) opened its doors on 13th February, 2012 in the former Koonwarra
Primary School buildings – 20-26 Koala Drive, Koonwarra. The school is an Independent primary school
offering enrolment for children in Foundation-Grade 6.
Profile of the Student Body
At the time of the Federal 2017 School Census, 17 boys and 32 girls were enrolled at the school.
None of the 49 students had Language Backgrounds Other Than English, were indigenous or had a
disability.
In 2017, the school’s Socio-Economic Score remained at 94. This score is calculated from the residential
addresses of KVS students which corresponds to a per-capita funding amount of 58.7% of the average
Government School’s recurrent cost figure.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Foundation Grade 1 Grade2 Grade3 Grade4 Grade5 Grade6
Boys
Girls
KVS Annual Report 2017
3
Koonwarra Village School Board
It gives me great pleasure to report on the work of the KVS Board for the 2017 Annual Report.
The role of the Board is one of strategic direction, policy review/development, oversight and acts as a
liaison between leadership, staff and parents/community members. The board is governed by a Board
Governance Charter and informed by the constitution of the school. We have also used the guiding
standards for governing by Australian Schools Board template to undertake a range of self-assessment
exercises to improve and guide the work of the board over time.
The Victorian Registration and Qualification Authority (VRQA) visited in April for the 5-yearly scheduled
review of our school. The review looked at the minimum standards and requirements for school
registration as well as how our academic programs are delivered. We then worked through the report
and updated any area requiring review with all items completed by the end of June. We found the
process very positive and encouraging.
As part of our board policy review process, we made some minor changes to several policies as well as
developed two new policies:
• Behaviour Management Policy
• Student Welfare Policy
• Bullying and Harassment Policy
• Reporting Policy
• Mandatory Reporting Policy
• Critical Incident Plan
• Anaphylaxis Management Policy
• First Aid Policy
• Privacy Policy
• OH&S Policy
• Off-site Student Supervision Policy
• On-site Student Supervision Policy
• Attendance Policy
• Working with Children Policy
• Digital Technologies Policy
• Emergency Management Plan
In 2017, we also finalised our strategic plan which informed the direction and priorities of KVS over the
year, which was welcomed by our board members.
Reports are provided by the School Coordinator and the Leader of Teaching and Learning and align to
our Strategic plan. While the work of the board is primarily policy driven, these reports give insight into
operational matters that inform our decisions.
The Board also adopted a wage-banding and allowance structure for KVS mentors and Rachel
Carruthers undertook the Grounds Master plan, completing the stakeholder requirements gathering
phase and presenting a visual concept of the many elements.
In 2017 our KVS board members included Fiona McKenzie, Alyson Skinner, Rebecca Cooke, George
Dimitropoulos, Rachel Carruthers and from September 2017, Jamie Sutherland. During this year, we
accepted Moragh Mackay’s resignation. I would like to acknowledge the contribution that Moragh
made to the KVS board during her term.
KVS Annual Report 2017
4
It is wonderful to see the achievements of KVS detailed in our annual report and it continues to be a
pleasure to contribute to such a wonderful and inspiring independent school.
Alyson Skinner, KVS Chairperson
KVS Annual Report 2017
5
Program Highlights
Koonwarra Village School uses the Victorian Curriculum as the basis of its academic program. The
school’s Philosophy and Guiding Principles outline the broader framework in which teaching and
learning occurs.
The Village School Curriculum is a series of additional programs and elements integrated across all the
features of school life and overviewed on our website
Learning Contracts
At the heart of our teaching and learning
model is a comprehensive (KVS-created)
framework that allows incremental
development of the skills and attributes
to become an Effective Learner.
Learning Contracts provide a framework
for teaching and learning at KVS. The
intention is to support children to
become independent and effective
learners.
Contracts include a range of core
numeracy and literacy tasks that can be undertaken by each child independently. The Foundation level
contracts are simple in nature and aim to develop children’s awareness of their ability to make choices
which lead to success. As the children’s skills develop, the complexity of the contract increases and
they begin to share the decision making with their mentor about the order and timing of their work
tasks (Guided Contracts). Over time, the level of guidance from the mentor reduces until children are
working as Autonomous Learners.
Learning Contracts
integrate with a
structured daily
timetable which
includes periods of
small group direct
instruction and whole
group activities.
Sample contracts and
the contract pathway
are on our website.
KVS Annual Report 2017
6
Playgroup & Foundation Transition Group
Held each Friday morning, the KVS
playgroup allows families who are planning
on joining the KVS community to become
familiar with each other, the school’s
philosophy and routines. Jenneke Kijlstra-
Shone facilitated the program at Nirvana
Park, Koonwarra, with the group joining
the KVS community for morning tea.
Nature Journaling
Nature Journaling is the regular recording of
observations, perception, and feelings about the natural
world from first-hand experience. The intention for
including regular nature journaling sessions in our
program is to expose children to the value of the
connection between people and their environment. We
have found that it also helps to develop stillness in the
children as they tune in to the sounds, sights and smells
of nature.
In 2017, students visited Mossvale Park with a focus on perspective and produced journal entries of a distant scene and a detailed close-up. As part of an exploration of how built structures can sit in the natural environment, Level 2-6 students visited the Victorian Desalinisation Plant and the Bald Hills wind turbines.
Other field trips were to the Cape Liptrap lighthouse for the sensational views of the Bass coast and closer to home, the Koonwarra Nature Reserve, to participate in the Aussie Backyard Bird Count. In just over one week we counted 43 different bird species and a total of 309 individual birds.
KVS Annual Report 2017
7
Personal Learning Projects (PLPs)
PLPs are a series of sign-up classes where students have the opportunity to learn and practise skills
beyond those offered through regular curriculum activities. Generally, two PLPs are offered to Triskel
students each cycle.
In 2017, the children signed up for a wide range of PLPs.
The year kicked off with a snorkelling PLP visiting
Inverloch Pier and Harmers Haven. Also offered at this
time was skateboard deck art which saw our students
design, draft and then paint their designs onto a
skateboard deck.
During the Firefighting PLP, student learnt all about fires,
fire safety, protective equipment and procedures. The
hands-on elements, including wearing fireman hats, using
the fire extinguishers and high-pressure hose were very
well-received.
The ‘Rolling with Dan’ PLP was popular and students got to
hone their skills on skateboards and scooters at both
Leongatha and Inverloch skate parks.
As the year progressed, a Group
Facilitation PLP was offered for students
who are interested in running the whole
school morning meetings and weekly
Parliament sessions. As facilitators,
students need to call on a wide range of
skills, from
problem
solving and
decision
making, to
group
management
and communication. The PLP concentrated on building skills in voice
control, public speaking, maintaining focus, body language and following
procedures.
Nearly all of the older years students signed up for the Terrarium PLP
which involved students creating individual terrariums with their own clay
figurines and beautiful miniature plants to personalise their miniature environments.
KVS Annual Report 2017
8
For the first time, our younger years students (Foundation and
Level One) participated in PLPs. This included a Ukelele PLP as
well as offering a student-led PLP program where they took on
the role of Mentor and led their fellow students through an
activity they were particularly ‘sparked’ by. These included art
projects using a wide range of
mediums, Irish dancing, whistling,
marimbas and four-square.
A 2017 highlight was the Billy Cart
PLP where students from Levels 1-6
worked over a number of Cycles to
see their designs come to life.
One Act Plays
Each year, KVS participates in the One Act Play Festival in Foster. In 2017, older years students worked
throughout lunchtimes, at home and on camp to ensure they created and performed in two truly
fantastic One Act Plays which were performed at the KVS Mid-Winter Gathering (a whole school
community event) as well as the One Act Play Festival in Foster, held on Saturday 19th August. The
costumes and set design won an Outstanding Achievement Award as did Siera for her role as Liliana
and Indigo for her role as Moonshot. A Crown Does Not a Princess Make took out the Most Enjoyable
Production Award.
KVS Annual Report 2017
9
Kitchen Garden
KVS’s extensive kitchen garden
continued to thrive in 2017. The
KVS kitchen garden curriculum
incorporates the Victorian
Curriculum and the Village
School Curriculum. It involves
garden and kitchen activities for
all the year levels and builds on
the skills and knowledge
acquired in the previous year. Many activities are related
to growing, harvesting and cooking as well as delving into
the world of food production and processing. Older
students set about building their own food processors – a
solar dehydrator for the Level 4s and 5s and a solar oven
for the Level 6s.
Resource Smart Schools
The ResourceSmart Schools initiative is delivered by Sustainability Victoria in partnership with the
Department of Education and Training. Schools work their way through five modules which take action
towards minimising waste, saving energy and water, promoting biodiversity and reducing greenhouse
gas emissions. The ongoing monitoring of our actions works towards both reducing school costs and
lessening our demand for natural resources.
KVS’s
involvement in
ResourceSmart
Schools is
showing great
results,
helping the
school
document and
display
achievements in resource efficiency. In August, ten students from KVS
attended the Do More With LESS conference (the “LESS” being an
acronym for Leaders in Environmentally Sustainable Schools). The event
was run by CERES from Melbourne and hosted by ResourceSmart
Schools at Wonthaggi North Primary School.
KVS Annual Report 2017
10
KVS students spent the day with a student from four other schools, exploring key issues in
environmental sustainability, participating in a range of hands-on activities, and discussing what could
be done back at school to implement sustainability initiatives.
Over the next Term, students established Green Club with most of the
older years students signing up. Green Club then formed two groups,
Level 2-3 ‘Evergreen Team’ and Level 4-6 ‘Peregrinus’.
The Evergreen Team chose three sub-groups, looking at increasing habitat
at KVS for kookaburras, frogs and owls. Peregrinus (named after the ring-
tailed possum - Pseudocheirus peregrinus) had a focus of waste
management at school. With the help of Alison Taylor – Resource Smart
Coordinator, an audit was conducted of the school bins.
We also had the opportunity to attend the
ResourceSmart School Awards. KVS, for the second
year running, was a finalist, this year in the Energy
category for our solar dehydrators / ovens project.
Over six hundred schools from across Victoria
participated in the program. Six students from KVS
travelled to the Melbourne Museum for the Awards
ceremony.
Camps
Throughout the year there are
several camping excursions to
support personal learning
projects (PLPs) as well as
develop student’s
independence, confidence and
resilience.
An annual event that kicks-off
each year is the larger
community Family Camp
(FAMP). All students, their
parents and siblings get
together over 3 days for a mix of
structured activities and
connection as a community. In
2017, FAMP was held at the
Yanakie Caravan Park.
KVS Annual Report 2017
11
The camps continue to be as diverse as
the interests of the students and in
2017 included snorkeling at
Mornington Peninsula, hiking at
Wilsons Prom and for the first time, a
Camp exchange with Fitzroy
Community
School. In the first
half of 2017, a
group of ten
students and two
teachers from
Fitzroy Community
School (FCS)
joined in with class presentations and other activities. FCS camped in the
Art Shed and experienced the KVS-way as well as sharing some of their
favourite activities. This was the beginning of a collaboration with a like-
minded alternative school and a chance for some city-country sharing.
Some lovely friendships were forged as well. In the second half of 2017,
ten KVS students visited Fitzroy Community School.
The 2017 camp program wrapped up with our Grade 6 camp. Grade 6
students celebrate their final year together by firstly choosing a
destination for their camp and then fundraising. This year they chose
Walhalla.
Honey Harvest Day
KVS has its own beehives and as part of our Kitchen Garden
Program, students learn why bees are important to the environment
and how to care for them. In 2017 we had our inaugural Honey
Harvest Day to celebrate the annual harvest of honey from our
hives. Students and mentors dressed as bees, flowers, pollen and
pots of honey. Students spent the morning in a range of honey and
bee-based activities after a costume parade accompanied by honey
and bee tunes. Older students tasted a wide range of honey, tested
their bee-wisdom in a bee quiz and crafted pom-pom bees. The
younger students sang bee songs and played bee hoop games.
KVS Annual Report 2017
12
KVS Film Night
This year KVS older year students entered the ACMI Screen It! competition.
This involved students creating stop motion or live animation movies
around the theme of Time. Groups started off by looking at basic
techniques, photo angles and inspiring examples. The groups then created
a storyboard of their ideas, developed sets and characters and wrote
scripts. There were three filming stations set up and each group spent
several hours creating films. After the filming, students edited their work
and added a soundtrack or voiceovers. All the films were showcased at our
school community Film Night.
2017 Graduates
Five students graduated in
2017. Students will attend
Korumburra High School,
Leongatha High School, Foster
Secondary College and Chairo
Christian College in
Leongatha. One student is
attending a secondary school
in Melbourne following their
family move at the end of the
year.
The group was sent off with a
rousing Graduation Ceremony
and dinner at the school.
Staff
Five teachers were employed for classroom duties in 2017. Sarah Maclean (B.Sci, Grad. Dip. Ed.
(Primary)) worked part-time with children in the Grade 2-6 group, Sandra Mayne (B. Ed, Grad. Dip. Ed.
(Teacher-Librarian)) worked full-time with children in Foundation-Grade 1 for Semester 1 and Jasmine
Wales (B.Ed (Early Childhood)), worked part-time for the 2nd Semester. Daniel Rosen (B. Arts, Grad Dip.
Ed. (Primary)) held the role of specialist teacher, working across the school in PE, Humanities and
Digital Technologies for Semester 1. Marni Speed (B. Applied Science, Grad. Dip. Ed. (Secondary)) held
the role of specialist teacher, working across the school in Science and Nature Journaling and Brad
Kijlstra-Shone (B. Sci, Grad. Dip. Ed. (Secondary)) as a specialist teacher focused across the whole
school on our Kitchen Garden program and for Semester 2, PE. Brent Crowley (Master of Teaching
KVS Annual Report 2017
13
(Primary), B. Design (Multimedia)) joined us from Semester 2 and delivered Digital Technologies and
Specialist Maths.
Children in both classes were supported during the year by classroom assistant – Dinah Brownfield.
Fiona McKenzie (B.Com, Grad. Dip. Ed. (Primary)) was responsible for administration activities and
facilities and was assisted by Philippa Lloyd, Belinda Gray, Shannon Letcher and Natasha Rhodes. The
kitchen was coordinated by Kylie Box at the beginning of 2017 and Jacqui Haysom for the remainder of
2017, and Jenneke Kijlstra-Shone coordinated the KVS playgroup.
None of the staff identified themselves as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent
.
L-R: Shannon Letcher, Brent Crowley, Fiona McKenzie, Belinda Gray, Lizzie Price, Sarah Maclean, Brad
Kijlstra-Shone, Jasmine Wales, Marni Speed, Dinah Brownfield, Scott Egan, Natasha Rhodes.
Absent from photo: Philippa Lloyd, Jacqui Haysom
Staff Feedback
All teaching staff participated in Professional Conversations during the year which provided a formal
opportunity to provide feedback to the School Coordinator and Leader of Teaching and Learning about
their work experience. Mentors discussed issues such as work-life balance, timing and number of
planning days during the year.
During 2017, Mentors employed in the second half of the year were involved in a feedback session
about their Induction and our Induction checklist has been adjusted to reflect recommended additions.
All Mentors contributed to the information gathering for our Master Grounds Plan.
In October a Staffing Questionnaire was distributed which enabled Mentors to directly state their
preferred teaching levels, learning areas and days of work for the following year. This information was
used to prepare the timetable and spread of teaching responsibilities in 2018.
KVS Annual Report 2017
14
VRQA Review
The Victorian Registration and Qualification Authority (VRQA) visited in April for the 5-yearly scheduled
review of our school. The review looked at the minimum standards and requirements for school
registration as well as how our academic programs are delivered. We then worked through the
reviewer’s report and updated any area requiring modification by the end of June. We found the
process very positive and helpful.
Grounds Master Plan
KVS has been enjoying the great new facilities from our 2016 building project and during 2017 we
began the design and consultation planning for a Stage 2 building project to extend the Triskel learning
space as well as an improved kitchen and kitchen garden spaces. We also undertook the requirements
gathering for our Master Grounds Plan which involved consultation with students, staff and families.
This has been led by Rachel Carruthers (Board member and parent).
Community Feedback
Parents and students have various forums in which to feedback their level of satisfaction on the
programs and operations of the school. The weekly whole school parliament allows students the
opportunity to input suggestions into the development of school activities and programs.
In June and December, parents were involved in formal meetings (20 minutes) with a panel of staff
members to discuss their child’s academic performance. This is also an opportunity for staff to receive
parents’ response to the semester’s activities. A presentation night is held in conjunction with the
distribution of Triskel students’ written reports. The activities on the night showcase learning activities
from the curriculum areas of Art, Science, Digital Technologies, PE and our Kitchen Garden program.
The aim of the evening is to give families a more experiential understanding of the skills their children
have developed during the semester. For Sun Room students, a presentation afternoon was held on
the last Friday of each cycle where children presented their work as a group and then showed their
parents their portfolios which include photos and work samples and teaching information including the
learning intention and skill development for each child.
Teachers maintain regular contact with parents via email, phone calls or direct contact after school
throughout the school year to ensure the flow of information between home and school is timely and
frequent. In the first week of Cycle 2, a Triskel Orientation session was held for new Triskel parents.
The purpose of the session was to overview how the Triskel space works and to give parents an insight
and understanding to the thought and consideration that goes into how the room is resourced,
structured and set out. It also allowed a chance to overview the contract pathway and to discuss the
strategies that were in place to support all students to develop their effective learning skills.
The first Friday of each school cycle a whole school parent meeting is held to cover a range of topics
and for parents to feedback any queries or concerns.
KVS Annual Report 2017
15
Student attendance
The attendance rate of all full-time students who were enrolled at KVS for the whole year was an
average of 91.71%. Some students were absent for longer than usual periods of time due to overseas
and domestic travel and with a small cohort of students this can affect the overall percentage.
When a child is absent, parents are expected to notify a staff member by phone call, email, text
message or direct contact. If no contact has been received from parents, and a child is away for more
than one day, staff contact the parents to determine the cause of the absence.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Foundation grade 1 grade 2 grade 3 grade 4 grade 5 grade 6
Boys
Girls
KVS Annual Report 2017
16
Student Outcomes
Written reports relating to student academic progress were provided to parents in June and
December, covering all learning areas as well as Self-Directed Learning and Social and Emotional
Learning. These reports were accompanied by a parent/teacher/student meeting, scheduled for all
families.
NAPLAN testing
Student Participation Withdrawn from Test
Grade 3 100% 0%
Grade 5 100% 0%
All students in eligible grade levels were prepared for the testing in the weeks prior to NAPLAN which
was held in May, 2017.
The small number of participants in some year levels means that results fall below the reporting
threshold therefore no data is available for comparison with previous years testing. KVS will continue
to support NAPLAN and other types of outcomes testing to ensure student achievement in all areas of
the curriculum.
Income by Funding Source
$172,460
$476,794
$133,589
$12,582
2017 Income
Tuition Fees (22%)
Commonwealth Govt.Recurrent (60%)
State Govt. Recurrent (17%)
Other (2%)