There are numerous reasons that motivate people to enrol at the Melton campus of Heathdale Christian School. Among the most common mentioned to me are our Christian orientation, our safe environment and our academic reputation. Maintaining high standards in each of these requires consistent application.
In this newsletter, I am outlining some recent initiatives in our academic culture.
We commence from a foundation of qualified and capable staff who have content knowledge, skill in shaping learning and a commitment to growing children and young people. These teachers express the curriculum into action. Importantly, we invest in building the capacity of our staff through consistent professional development.
Last year, we established a strong emphasis on building the Executive Function of students. Without these skills and attitudes (seen below), the full intelligence of a person is trapped within them and remains only as potential. There is credible research that improving the elements of Executive Function in students has twice the impact on student achievement as the traditional emphasis on learning. These elements have entered the language of the classroom. You will readily hear reference to ‘working memory’, ‘cognitive load’, ‘planning’ and ‘impulse control’. We have developed an assessment instrument that assists students to understand their personal profile in this regard.
Too many children falsely equate their results to their intelligence. Consequently, we have moved the language of studying and performance in two specific ways. The first is to emphasise measuring results achieved against the effort made. This shift is critical in focusing on personal responsibility and creating the imperative of building skill. Students will readily acknowledge that they do not work to their capacity either in class or at home.
The second is to deliberately build the skill set of students to study and revise effectively. These skills are relevant in their classroom and at their desk at home. This initiative is entirely consistent with the intention of making independent and life-long learners. They are also the skills favoured by industry leaders in the future economy and workforce.
We have just released a Guide to Study and Revision. This was being distributed to students this week. I expect that you have received an email regarding this. The document was designed partly in response to an extensive survey last year of the study habits of Secondary students. Homeroom teachers and subject teachers will be supporting students to internalise and employ these strategies.
These elements also find convergence in our emphasis on students recording their homework in the student diary. Student organisation and application is imperative for success.
These are some of the key strategies that we have employed to further deepen the culture of teaching and learning at Melton.
Lastly, I wish to acknowledge that today our Year 12 students undertook the trial examination for the General Achievement Test. This is a compulsory assessment within the VCE program. Many of you will be unfamiliar with the nature of this test. The test draws on the skills and knowledge of the Years 7 to 10 curriculum; however, the knowledge is placed in questions that require careful analysis.
Educational outcomes have altered in many ways. I have included one part of a question from a previous paper in order to assist you approximating these changes and to foster empathy for our senior students.