Education Director Statement for 2008

KamaroiRudolfSteinerSchool

Annual School Report

2008

Table of ContentsPage No

Message from Board Chairperson 3

Message from Education Director 4

Student Performance at State-wide tests 6

Professional Learning and Teacher Standards 7

Teacher Attendance and Retention Rate 8

Enrolment Policies and Profiles 9

Student Population 9

School Policies

• Policies for Student Welfare 10
• Policies for Student Discipline 11
• Policies for Complaints and Grievances Resolution 11

A Safe and Supportive Environment – Overview of Policies 11

School Determined Improvement Targets 13

Initiatives Promoting Respect and Responsibility 14

Parent, Student and Teacher Satisfaction 15

Summary Financial Information

• Recurrent/capital expenditure represented by Column Chart 16
• Recurrent/capital expenditure represented by Pie Chart 17

Chairperson’s Report for 2008

2008 was another successful year for Kamaroi.

Funded student enrolments were 203 in 2008 (an increase of 3%) and our waiting list remained lengthy (150 students). The school remains financially successful with a net asset of $3 823 760 (an increase of 9.2%).

Kamaroi started the year with the launch of our website. This has been an efficient and effective communication tool with current and prospective Kamaroi families and the wider community.

We also installed a demountable building which is currently being used as a craft room. This room has been aesthetically enhanced with a lovely garden and has provided the school with much needed teaching space.

Kamaroi continues to enjoy a high quality of teaching with committed and competent staff ably led by our Education Director, Virginia Moller and Leadership Team, David Rodely and Lisa Smith. 2008 saw the introduction of Spanish in the curriculum to classes 1-3 and also the introduction of a new Drama Specialist/Master Teacher position.

Bruce Foley was employed as Business Manager throughout 2008. A new software administration package, School Pro, was introduced to Kamaroi and implemented during the year.

Much discussion was held at board level on updating our Constitution to comply with good governance and the Corporations Act. Stephanie Williamson (Board Member) worked tirelessly on the content of this update. The new Constitution will be introduced in the second half of 2009.

Discussion continued throughout 2008 regarding the purchase of additional land for Kamaroi. It was decided to wait until the adjacent property at 222 Forest Way becomes available at market value.

Tim Arrowsmith was Board Chairperson until July and was then replaced by Deputy Matthew Leigh-Jones for the remainder of the year. I would like to thank Tim and Matthew for their leadership and commitment to this role. I would also like to thank and acknowledge all Board Members for their continued commitment and support throughout 2008.

In 2009 the Board will continue to work in partnership with the staff, PAFA and school community to ensure Kamaroi’s ongoing success. We look forward to a number of capital works projects on our current site and the introduction of our new constitution.

Kate Jenkins

Board Chairperson

Education Director Statement for 2008

2008 proved to be another successful year at Kamaroi.

High quality teachers and teaching, supported by sound leadership and management, efficient and capable administration and a supportive parent community helped to ensure continuing strong and stable enrolments with healthy waiting lists.

The leadership and management structure, incorporating the Education Director , Leadership Team and Business Manager, established as part of the 2007 management review, also continued successful implementation.

At Kamaroi, leadership is about relationship. It is about developing a rich learning environment and building professionalism and management capability. Most importantly, leadership inspires leadership actions and aspirations in others as together we protect and nurture Kamaroi’s Steiner education, philosophy and practice into the future.

In the broader educational environment, a newly elected government has an ambitious educational reform agenda – and is fast tracking the formulation of a National Curriculum. 2008 also saw the introduction of a national testing program and there are even more stringent accountability requirements, both financial and educational, around the corner.

One of the keys to Kamaroi’s success lies in the ability to take into account these political realities at the same time exercising informed choice as to how the school tells its own story.

Within the above context, many consolidation and expansion of activities were undertaken during 2008, including:

• Our recent program initiatives - speech and drama specialist program, ‘Talk That Works’ , Spanish and our ‘Master Teacher’ position - have all embedded into the school very well indeed , serving to enrich our Steiner curriculum and its focus on development of a ‘living thinking’.
• A major professional development focus for 2008 was in mathematics. Teachers were led by an AIS consultant, in a series of sessions, on implementation of the ‘Learning in Numeracy’ program. The PD involved collaborative activity, team teaching and trialling of the LIN assessment program with students experiencing difficulty in mathematics. This is a ‘mainstream’ standardised assessment procedure which has large congruence with the core values of the school. It is individualised and has a growth over time, developmental basis, also reinforcing the relationship between teacher and student. Its implementation has been highly successful.
• Another major PD focus was the inspiring sessions with staff from Steiner researchers and academics, Jennifer Gidley and Gary Hamsden - looking at Jennifer’s research on Steiner’s evolution of consciousness concepts - contextualising and critiquing Steiner’s work within the work of current thinkers/ academics on this topic. This provided a solid foundation and evidence based context for staff to re examine core values and this work will be continuing into 2009.
• Aboriginal perspectives across the curriculum was also a theme for 2008, with Aboriginal parents, Charles Davison and Jenni Ridley working with staff on the development of a whole school policy on story protocols, as well as incorporation of Aboriginal perspectives into our Steiner curriculum. This will be continuing in 2009.
• Our class 5 and 6 choir and string group participated in the Independent Schools’ Music Festival – a first for Kamaroi. It was an outstanding success on many levels. It was wonderful for Kamaroi to be represented in the wider educational community. The performances were superb and were a great advertisement for what Kamaroi values and represents. This will hopefully be a biennial event.
• A new Band program was trialled – with a small wind and brass ensemble initiated to complement the existing string program – helping to ensure that students have increased musical opportunities at Kamaroi. It is envisaged that this program will be reviewed with the intention of expanding during 2009.
• Our strong PAFA funded parent education program continued , with well attended and inspiring sessions from Horst Kornberger on storytelling, John Cunningham and Shari Macree on NVC, beginning literacy with Barbara Baldwin to name a few. Within a whole school ‘learning community’ approach, parent participation in such evenings does serve to strengthen the parent /teacher partnership and enhance the work we are doing at Kamaroi to provide a ‘foundation for life’ for the students.
• ‘Cultural Evenings at Kamaroi’ – targeted for the wider community - continued strongly, with well attended evenings of storytelling with Ashley Ramsden and Horst Kornberger. These evenings are part of a strategy to strengthen our reach and influence in the broader community.
• After a long wait, the new craft room was finalised, providing a much needed dedicated craft teaching space. This extra space has also allowed a dedicated music room to be created in the Meadow room.

We have an exciting 2009 ahead, with the key theme of ‘Imagination’ driving our activities and plans for professional development and parent education.

I would like to thank the Kamaroi Board of Directors, PAFA and all staff of Kamaroi for their continued enthusiasm for and commitment to our school.

Kamaroi is able to respond creatively and generatively to the many challenges and changes emerging from the future, in large part due to the commitment to working together within a commonly held vision and willingness to see challenges as opportunities for growth.

Virginia Moller BEd MEd (Leadership) Grad Dip. Teacher (L’Ship) MACE MACEL

Education Director

Student performance in stage wide tests

Student performance in 2008 NAPLAN

2008 marked the first year of national literacy and numeracy testing (NAPLAN).

There were no Year 3 students who sat the test.Parents chose to withdraw students from the testing, this being congruent with Rudolf Steiner developmental philosophy and curriculum. All students from the Year 5 cohort participated.

Kamaroistudents scored well above both comparison groups in all areas of the curriculum. They were well above the national benchmarks for state schools and also comfortably above other‘like’ independent schools as a whole. In addition, 2008 results build and improve on those of 2007 across all areas of comparison.

The numeracy results for this group of students are particularly sound, with a sharp incline on the trend graph from the previous year. A contributing factor to this is the implementation of the LIEN/LIN Numeracy program instituted as staff development during the year. Our focus for 2009 will be on spelling as this is the only area in the literacy curriculum where our scores, although above national averages, are below other areas of literacy.

Overall Literacy

-56% of our students were placed in the top two Bands (7and 8) in overall literacy compared with 32% state wide.

-The highest percentage of students from this cohort were placed in Band 7 for overall literacy.

-Only 2 students scored below Band 6 for overall literacy, both students being more recent arrivals at our school and none below Band 4.

-The median score was Band 7.

Reading

- As part of our approach to child development and emphasis on development of imagination and creativity as the basis for later academic achievement, students begin their formal reading program in Year 2.Within this context, it is interesting to note that 84% of students scored Band 6 or above compared with the state average of 56%.

Writing

-The creativity that is nurtured in our education system is reinforced by writing results in which 48% of students score in Band 7 and 8 compared to the national average of 30%.

Grammar and Punctuation

-All students scored in Band 6 or above with almost half of our students in Band 8 for this category.

Spelling

24% of students were in Band 7 and 8.

The median score was Band 6.

Numeracy

-92% of our students scored in Bands 6 - 8 compared with the national average of 52% in those bands.

-The median score in overall Numeracy was Band 7.

-35% of students scored in Band 8 for Number, Patterns and Algebra.

Summary of year 5 NAPLAN results for 2008 - percentages in skill bands

Band 4 – 5 / Band 6 / Band 7 -8
Overall Literacy / School State
8% 33% / School State
36% 31% / School State
56% 32%
Writing / 24% 30% / 28% 35% / 48% 33%
Overall Numeracy / 8% 42% / 35% 26% / 57% 26%

In Year 3 standards based assessments in mathematics79% of students were achieving at stage level, with 42% of these students in the high/outstanding achievement bands.

In English, 86% of students were achieving at stage level, with 37% of these students in the high/outstanding bands.

Professional Learning and Teacher Standards

Details of teaching Staff qualifications

CATEGORY

Teachers who have teaching
qualifications from a higher education
institution within Australia or as
recognised within the National Office ofOverseas skills Recognition guidelines
(AEI-NOOSR)
Teachers who have qualifications as a
graduate from a higher education
institution within Australia or one
recognised within the AEI-NOOSR
guidelines but lack formal teacher
Education qualifications. /

NUMBER OF TEACHERS

15
1

In 2008 a teacher registered with the NSW Teachers’ Institute as a Transition Scheme teachersuccessfully completed a Bachelor of Education degree.

Details of professional learning undertaken by teachers

During 2008 a key focus of professional development was Learning in Numeracy. This was a 6 month, in-house course for all teaching staff, also involving team teaching and follow up meetings withan AIS consultant.

The 0.6 Master Teacher/ drama specialistposition continues to work very effectively. Teachers receive support in the form of mentoring, team teaching and extension possibilities for more able students. The Master Teacher also has a supervisory role and coordinates the New Scheme Teacher program.

Non violent Communication (‘Talk That Works’) also continued throughout the year. There was a week long in- house consultancy from an NVC educator, who conducted staff, student and parent education sessions. In addition, sessions occurred each term in staff meetings. This has been an integral component of the school’s values education program. The whole school focus has helped ensure successful implementation.

During 2008, 4 staff members were involved in post graduate studies, including Masters in Special Education, Masters in Art, Masters in Creative Arts and Graduate Certificate in Professional Development Education.

Kamaroi has 4 class teachers who are New Scheme teachers. Two of those teachers have now gained accreditation at professional competence. The remaining 2 teachers will gain accreditation during 2009.

Professional development attended by teachers (both in house and external) and which was followed up by whole staff were:

Description of professional development activity

/ Number staff participating
Non Violent Communication course (occurred over the entire year) / 18
Steiner education and current academic research / 18
Steiner intensive course for classes 1 , 2 and 5 / 4
6 month Learning in Numeracy assessment program with AIS consultant / 14
Aboriginal perspectives in the curriculum –developing story protocols / 18
Mentoring in art ( over the year) by specialist art teacher / 3

• Information Technology :

-AIS conference: Digital storytelling
-Teacher librarian Mentoring/networking re information technology with LorienSteinerSchool/other local primary schools (year long). / 2
AIS New Scheme teacher courses / 3
AIS Mentoring New Scheme teachers / 2
National Curriculum consultation sessions / 2
RSSA Governance and Leadership course / 3
AIS Leadership conference / 1

The average expenditure per teacher on professional development in 2008 was $6020.

In 2008 the average teacher attendance rate was 96%.

The proportion of staff retained from 2007 was 88%.

Enrolment policies and profiles

KamaroiRudolfSteinerSchool is a non-denominational co-educational K-6 school providing an education according to the principals as espoused by Rudolf Steiner and operating within the policies of the NSW Board of Studies.

When enrolment applications exceed available spaces, priorities may include the following in whatever order is determined:

Families with connection to the philosophy of the schoolConnection with philosophy of Steiner education is evident:

• During initial interview with class teacher/member of Enrolment committee
• When applicant is transferring from another SteinerSchool
• If parent(s) undertaking anthroposophically-based course

• If child(ren) have previously attended Steiner playgroup

Siblings of current students

• In classes k-6, siblings do not automatically have priority on the waiting list for a class.

Order of applications

Transfers from other Steiner schools

Behavioural considerations

• An ability to work with self-discipline. (This is ascertained through school reports, recommendations, previous schools “checks”, etc)

Procedures

1. All applications should be processed within the school’s enrolment policy.
2. Consider each applicant’s supporting statement/interview responses regarding their ability and willingness to support the schools ethos.
3. Consider each applicant’s educational needs. To do this, the school will need to gather information and consult with the parents/family and other relevant persons.
4. Identify any strategies, which need to be put into place to accommodate the applicant before a decision regarding the enrolment is made.
5. Inform the applicant of the outcome.
6. Continuing enrolment is subject to the student adherence to school rules (see behaviour support policies) and payment of all school fees.

Student population

KamaroiRudolfSteinerSchool has 210 students from kindergarten to Class 6.

It is a co-educational, non denominational school with students coming from a range of backgrounds, including students with a language other than English and a number of students with special needs.

School policies

To ensure that all aspects of the school’s mission for providing for a student’s welfare are implemented the following policies and procedures were in place (or developed) during 2008:

Policy / Changes in 2008 / Access to full text
Child Protection Policy encompassing
• Definitions and concepts
• Legislative requirements
• Preventative strategies
• Reporting and
investigating “reportable
conduct”
• Investigation processes
• Documentation
Security Policy
encompassing
• Procedures for security of the groundsand buildings
• Use of grounds and facilities
• Emergency procedures
• Travel on school-related activities
Supervision Policy
encompassing
• Duty of care and risk management
• Levels of supervision for on-site and off-site
activities
• Guidelines for supervisors
Codes of Conduct Policy
encompassing
• Code of conduct for staff and students
• Behaviour support
Pastoral Care Policy encompassing
• The pastoral care system
• Availability of and access to specialServices
• Accident procedures
• Critical incident policy
• Homework policy
Communication Policy
encompassing
• Formal and informal mechanisms in placefor facilitating communication betweenthe school and those with an interest inthe student’s education and well-being. / Revision and update of all
Child protection policies occur annually.Updated in 2008 with changes to legislation.
In 2008, Flowchart of Complaints Process revised and updated.
Emergency procedures updated annually.
Supervision policy revised
and updated in 2008.
Behaviour Support Policy
revised in 2008 to include revision of levels and use of administration software to record /track incidents.
Full review/ update in 2008 of learning support policy and procedures and pastoral care policy.
Full update in 2008. / Issued to all staff and members ofSchool Board
Parents may request a full copy by contacting Education Director
Excerpts in Parent Handbook andadvertised in weekly newsletter fromtime to time.
Full text in staff handbook
Bushfire procedure advertised each term in newsletter. Excerpts of policies in Parent Handbook.
Full text in Staff Handbook
Excerpts in Parent Handbook. Copy of full text available from Education Director.
Full text in Staff Handbook
Excerpts in Parent Handbook.
Full text in staff handbook
Text of health and homework policy in Parent Handbook
Learning Support guidelines in Parent Handbook
Critical incident in Parent Handbook
Full text contained in Staff handbook.
Excerpts in Parent Handbook.
Copy of full text available from the Education Director.

B. Policies for Student Discipline

Students are required to abide by the school’s rules and to follow the directions of teachers and other people with authority delegated by the school. Where disciplinary action is required penalties imposed vary according to the nature of the breach of discipline and a student’s prior behaviour.