Annual Improvement Plan

Sacred Heart Central School, COOTAMUNDRA

2018

School Context:

Sacred Heart is a co-educational K to Year 10 Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn situated in the Riverina town of Cootamundra, NSW. The school is known for its strong community spirit and commitment to families. Parents are always welcome at the school and are actively involved in their child’s school life. The school has a rich history in the traditions of the Mercy Sisters and De La Salle Brothers. Our school motto 'Faith and Knowledge' challenges us to be a community who serves others, provides academic excellence and to nurture relationships.

Identity Statement

At Sacred Heart Central School, we celebrate our faith and live with hope, teach to inspire and learn with courage.

Mission

At Sacred Heart Central School, in partnership with parents and caregivers, we are committed to educating students who…

Live a vibrant faith

Act with kindness, compassion and justice

Serve with wisdom and integrity

Build an inclusive community

Learn purposefully and think critically

Embrace opportunities

Lead to make a difference

Vision

Learn, Lead, Live: Bunbgang, Yalmambirra, Winya - Learn as a way of life, Lead to make a difference, Live with hope.

Our school has a Religious Education curriculum that enhances Christian life in a contemporary world; fosters a personal relationship with Christ and ensures the history of the past informs the future. Every student has the right to feel happy and safe within the daily life of the school.

The school is well resourced and committed to the integration of technology in the curriculum. School achievements are celebrated in all areas including academic and extracurricular.

Many of our Year 10 graduates become leaders in their new schools in Stage 6 and excel in the Higher School Certificate. Our school believes in developing independence, pride in community and resilient young minds that can rejoice in success and have the skills to cope with challenges.

With modern teaching and learning facilities, the learning experience for all students includes iPad technology. A newly refurbished Infants Building provides a state of the art learning environment, along with an Administration and Library Centre completed in 2011.

Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn Strategic Plan Overview 2018-2020

School Review Process

The School Improvement Framework seeks to integrate the statutory requirements for the Registration of Archdiocesan schools with a cyclical model for school development. The program operates within a cycle and has a focus on schools being engaged in a model of self-review, using the National School Improvement Tool.

Internal School Review (ISR) is an evaluative process for regular reflection and review of the school. The ISR process is coordinated by the School Leadership Team, with input from staff and members of the school community. It is underpinned by evidence and making judgments about the school’s capacity in 10inter-related domains.

The 10 domains are1.An explicit improvement agenda 2. Analysis and discussion of data 3.A culture that promotes learning 4.Targeted use of school resources 5. An expert teaching team 6.Systematic curriculum delivery 7. Differentiated teaching andlearning 8.Effective pedagogical practices 9. School-community partnerships 10.Catholic identity and faithformation

Verification of the self-review will be provided by personnel from the Catholic Education Office.

TheAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan is a national plan that commits all schoolsto a unified approach to close the gap in education outcomes between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. The plan contains six principles and from, these principles the following outcomes are most significant for our school. The outcomes are achieved by implementing a school improvement plan that is based around the National School Improvement Tool.

• All compulsory school-aged Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people are enrolled in school and progressing through schooling at the same rate as non-Indigenous students.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are engaged in and benefiting from schooling.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and communities are empowered through the promotion of theiridentity, culture and leadership in community partnerships with providers of early childhood and school education.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are meeting basic literacy and numeracy standards and overall levels of literacy and numeracy achievement are improving. •High performing principals and teachers are effective in supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to become successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students benefit from school leaders who have a strong understanding of their students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

National Safe Schools Framework

The National Safe Schools Framework provides Australian schools with a vision and a set of guiding principles that assist school communities to develop positive and practical student safety and wellbeing policies.

The vision is supported by guiding principles for safe, supportive and respectful school communities. These guiding principles emphasise the importance of student safety and wellbeing for effective learning in all school settings.

Australian schools:

commit to developing a safe school community through a whole-school and evidence-based approach
affirm the rights of all members of the school community to feel safe and be safe at school
acknowledge that being safe and supported at school is essential for student wellbeing and effective learning
accept responsibility for developing and sustaining safe and supportive learning and teaching communities that also fulfill the school’s child protection responsibilities
encourage the active participation of all school community members in developing and maintaining a safe school community where diversity is valued
actively support young people to develop understanding and skills to keep themselves and others safe

These guiding principles are achieved by implementing a school improvement plan that is based around the National School Improvement Tool.

Annual Improvement Plan 2018

Improvement Area 1 / Principles of Pedagogy / National Reform Directions
7. Differentiated teaching and learning / 5. Holding high expectations of all learners is a commitment to justice / ☒ Quality Teaching
☒ Quality Learning
☒ Empowered School Leadership / ☒ Meeting Student Needs
☒Transparency and
Accountability
Key Improvement Goal 1
What do you want to achieve?
What change do you want the see? / The school maintains and enables an environment reflective of its high expectations that ALL students will learn successfully K to 10.
Success Measures/Targets / Strategies / Evidence
What is the specific, measurable target you want to meet? / What specific strategies will be used to achieve Improvement Goal 1?
Who are the key personnel? / What types of data will be collected as evidence?
(student learning; demographic; perceptual/observational; school process)

Teachers are using a combination of curriculum and learning progressions to implement learning tasks
All students make a minimum of 12 month’s progress.
Teachers explicitly teach social and emotional learning to encourage students to access learning in all classes.

In Primary, restructure timetable to allow for all stage teachers to meet during RFF time at least once per week to foster collaboration and team planning. (AP, Primary Coord)
In Secondary, English and Mathematics classes timetabled at the same time to allow for team teaching and more effective input from LNAP project officer. (AP, Sec Coord)
Professional learning teams to have fortnightly, timetabled meeting times to plan, monitor student data collection and evaluate effectives of planned learning. Student data discussed in learning teams to inform teaching and learning and targeted goals. (LNAP, Coordinator, Teachers)
Surveys of students to determine levels of engagement and student perception. (Principal, LNAP)
A range of data to indicate student growth and achievement as per assessment schedule. (Teachers, Coordinators)
Teachers plan differentiated learning practices that respond to the learning needs of students to achieve more than 1 year’s growth in literacy and numeracy. (Teachers)
Use a combination of the curriculum and learning progressions to develop targeted assessment tasks and identify students at different stages to implement learning tasks to explicitly ensure that students in all bands make 12 month’s progress (particularly the upper bands). (Teachers)
Classroom interruptions kept to a minimum. (Teachers)
Develop knowledge and skill to use the NSW Learning Progressions and their links to syllabus documents. (LNAP, Coordinators)

Time is prioritised for improvement in teaching and learning – timetabling and collaborative structures in place.
Learning baselines are established for 100% of the students. These will include feedback from students and colleagues.
Teachers’ planning documents explicitly identify how students have access to learning that allow for more than 12 months growth in literacy and numeracy (or subject area).
Teachers are able to identify 5 critical strategies that they use to challenge/enable learning growth for all students.
Classroom data tracking of interruptions to classroom (beginning and middle of term).
Learning tasks and assessment tasks which indicate clear links with syllabus documentation and NSW Learning Progressions.

Review
What processes will be used
to review the results?

Focus Area: Wellbeing Project ☒ NSW State Literacy and Numeracy☒

Annual Improvement Plan 2018

Improvement Area 2 / Principles of Pedagogy / National Reform Directions
6. Systematic curriculum delivery / 2. A deep understanding of curriculum provides content and context for learning / ☒ Quality Teaching
☒ Quality Learning
☒ Empowered School Leadership / ☒ Meeting Student Needs
☒ Transparency and
Accountability
Key Improvement Goal 1
What do you want to achieve?
What change do you want the see? / Teachers have a deep understanding of curriculum content and NSW learning progressions for literacy and numeracy which is embedded in classroom practice.
Success Measures/Targets / Strategies / Evidence
What is the specific, measurable target you want to meet? / What specific strategies will be used to achieve Improvement Goal 2?
Who are the key personnel? / What types of data will be collected as evidence?
(student learning; demographic; perceptual/observational; school process)

The school has a coherent, sequenced plan for curriculum delivery that ensures consistent teaching and learning expectations and a clear reference for monitoring learning across the year levels.
Teacher Clarity

Teachers know exactly what they want students to understand and what they want them to be able to do. Students are equally clear about what they must learn and how they can prove they have learnt it. /

Fortnightly Professional Learning Team meetings.
Shared, collaborative planning and assessment tasks with clear links to curriculum and learning progressions.
Focus at staff meetings for professional learning to analyse the curriculum and learning progressions.
Pedagogical content knowledge in literacy and numeracy K to 10 for all KLAs (LNAP, Coordinators)
Provide students with feedback and self-reflection opportunities that are linked to assessment and learning.
Instructional learning walks, discussion with students about their learning.

Priority is given to constructing learning experiences that are accessible, engaging and challenging for all students.
Professional Learning Team minutes/notes.
Assessment processes are aligned with the curriculum and are designed to clarify learning intentions, establish where individual students are in their learning, diagnose details of student learning and monitor learning progress throughout the school year.
Differentiation in learning and assessment tasks.
Student conversations about learning (notes).

Review
What processes will be used
to review the results?

Focus Area: Wellbeing Project ☒ NSW State Literacy and Numeracy ☒

Annual Improvement Plan 2018

Improvement Area 3 / Principles of Pedagogy / National Reform Directions
3. A culture that promotes learning / 1. Everyone can learn / ☒ Quality Teaching
☒ Quality Learning
☒ Empowered School Leadership / ☒ Meeting Student Needs
☒ Transparency and
Accountability
Key Improvement Goal3
What do you want to achieve?
What change do you want the see? / How do teachers explicitly plan, implement, monitor and evaluate learning experiences to enable all students to make a minimum of 12 months growths progress? (Inquiry question)
Success Measures/Targets / Strategies / Evidence
What is the specific, measurable target you want to meet? / What specific strategies will be used to achieve Improvement Goal 1?
Who are the key personnel? / What types of data will be collected as evidence?
(student learning; demographic; perceptual/observational; school process)

To raise the percentage of all students in the top two bands in the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) by 8% by 2019.
To increase the proportion of Aboriginal students in the top two NAPLAN bands for reading and numeracy by 30% by 2019.

Develop Professional Learning Teams to develop understanding and build efficacy to support active collaboration
Provide time in the timetable for Professional Learning Teams to meet, collaborate, analyse data and plan.
Instructional Leadership in Literacy and Numeracy K to 10
Differentiated teaching and learning in all classrooms, providing targeted access to learning for all students.
Capacity building and providing professional learning opportunities for teachers, to further develop and refine their understanding of pedagogy as it relates to student data and Literacy and Numeracy provision to enable a minimum of 12 month’s growth for all students
Develop strategies for delegating administrative roles away from Principal to allow time for instructional leadership.
Analyse school’s data and facilitate conversations regarding implications of the data for teaching and learning (Professional Learning Teams).
Analyse stage data at leadership meetings.

Professional Learning Team Meetings taking place (minutes).
School instructional coaches are used to improve instructional practice. Regular meetings evident.
Teachers collaborating, shared learning and assessment tasks.
The ‘tone’ of the school reflects a school wide commitment to purposeful, successful learning.

Review
What processes will be used
to review the results?

Focus Area: Wellbeing Project ☒ NSW State Literacy and Numeracy ☒