Shining a light on MACS

As I grow and learn in my new leadership role, I aim to shine a light on the truly remarkable and inspiring work carried out by passionate and dedicated MACS staff who, together with the schools, leaders and communities that they serve, ensure all learners "reach their potential and be the best version of themselves" (MACS manifesto). 

The light of the new MACS logo and the accompanying manifesto "lighting their path" (see below) could not be more apt. 

MACS logo - I acknowledge the source of the image located at this link

MACS Staff Seminar October 2022

The dining room at the Catholic Leadership Centre was full to capacity with almost 600 staff from all Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) offices (Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western offices and James Gould House headquarters).

This was the first in - person gathering of its kind post Covid; a golden opportunity for me to be immersed into a system undergoing deep change since the transformation from CEM (Catholic Education Melbourne) to MACS 24 months ago.

The purpose of the staff seminar was to provide a platform for staff voice in relation to the recently launched MACS Strategy 2030.

MACS 2030 Forming Lives to Enrich the World 

Purpose “why we exist” Forming lives of faith, hope and love in the light of Jesus Christ

Vision - “the impact we want to have” Every student is inspired and enabled to flourish and enrich the world.

You can access full details about the strategy at this link 

The energy in the room was tangible as colleagues from across Melbourne reconnected in person. Faces glowed with beaming smiles no longer hidden behind Covid masks.

Being invited along with 100 other newcomers (staff who joined MACS in the past few months) to stand up and be warmly welcomed to our first staff seminar was indeed a privilege. This was my first experience of interacting with all staff who contribute to Catholic education at the system level. Together MACS staff serve nearly 300 schools and 100,000 students from across Melbourne.

Three months into my new role as Regional Leadership Consultant (RLC) has meant a shift in mind set and culture for me. I have moved from leading one school to being responsible for supporting, coaching and mentoring principals & leadership teams across 15 schools. Together with my 4 RLC colleagues, our Regional General Manager and all 40 of the staff based in the Southern Regional Office (SRO), we support almost 80 schools.

Although I can draw from a toolkit of 25 years of leadership experience across 4 countries, I am still a novice in this exciting, new role. I am passionate about learning and keen to understand how I can adapt, develop and nuance my skills to best suit the diverse contexts of the schools and the MACS system. I am constantly asking questions as I continue to develop and grow in my role. I am fortunate to work alongside 40 talented staff where no questions is too difficult to answer.

During the seminar, we formed mini groups of staff from a wide variety of roles and were given the chance to discuss the questions below. Here is a summary of the responses from our mini group. All groups were invited to share with the wider group and were very appreciative of the chance to provide feedback and staff voice.

What do you find most exciting about MACS 2030 ? The strategy is fresh and broad enough for our diverse personnel to relate to. The timing of the strategy works well with the restructuring and change to the MACS governance model. The strategy connects and aligns the work for all of our groups through a shared vision and it encompasses all elements though such themes as flourishing learners, building capabilities, building relationships and a sense of community. The strong faith focus underpins our mission. Being given time today to focus on the strategy and understand it further, helps all of us to connect with it.

What changes do you want to see by 2030? We would particularly like to see equity for all learners so that they can all flourish. We want to retain high quality learning environments for every student and close the gap between privileged and underprivileged students. We want all students to become critical thinkers to prepare them to be active participants in the world beyond the classrooms.

How do we need to change by 2030 ? We want to see greater clarity for schools as a whole entity about the role that all MACS staff play for the greater good of our system. We want to ensure that we will work collaboratively across our offices and share consistent messages to all schools.

To help us achieve our Purpose and Vision, what suggestions or next steps do you have ?  The value in having more opportunities to collaborate like today where all MACS staff across regions & central offices can learn together and align their work would be beneficial. In summary, we conclude with the C's: role Clarity, Communication, Collaboration, Connection, Consistency and Courage for all of us going forward.

Following on from this activity, we were invited to celebrate mass together with Father Mark Reynolds. Fr Mark is the Episcopal Vicar to Catholic Schools. You can learn more about Father Mark's role at this link. Fr Mark reminded each of us to be God's flavour in the world. 

In November, after the annual thanksgiving mass for principals led by Archbishop Peter A Comensoli at St Patrick's Cathedral, Fr Mark presented the recognition awards to to new and retiring principals. 

At the Principal Celebration evening, Fr Mark Reynolds 
presented me with my certificate of recognition for principalship

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the MACS system and be able to shine a light on the positive impact that passionate and dedicated MACS staff, together with the schools, leaders and communities that they serve, ensure all learners "reach their potential and be the best version of themselves"(MACS manifesto) so that we can all flourish.

The manifesto

Light is a powerful thing.

It can lift you up. Guide the way. Help the world flourish.

That’s why we shine a light on each and every one of our students.

One that fills them with knowledge, skills, care, respect and experience.

Our guiding principles helping them reach their potential and be the best versions of themselves.

Because when we do, it leads to brighter futures.

Those in which our students can become a guiding light themselves.

Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools. Lighting their path.

Acknowledgements

MACS system leaders and staff for their contribution to the staff seminar

MACS Manifesto and Strategy 2030 sites for the links

SRO staff for their leadership, guidance and constant support for the leaders and schools across the region and for myself as a new team member

4 key survival tips for a school community forced into Covid quarantine ; survive or thrive ?

Believe in yourself, your team and your networks of support. Know that others will look to you for clarity and guidance. Be decisive and stay focused on a clear pathway forward. Then you will ensure that you will not only survive but support you community to thrive during the toughest of challenges.

During 2020, Melbournians more than any other Australians became experts at living, adapting and working through lockdowns. 

Little did we know that those lockdown experiences would pale into insignificance when our school community was unexpectedly forced into 14 days of quarantine.

On the 15 July 2021, four days into a new 10 week school term, a call from the Department of Health informed us that a trip to the MCG to watch a football game, caused one innocent St Pat's student to test positive to the highly contagious Delta variant.

We were advised to close the school immediately.

At 10:40am, we sent an urgent notification to parents and carers to collect all children. The school was classified as a Tier 1 exposure site and all children and staff were instructed to be tested for Covid 19 and to isolate in their homes for 14 days.

That was 9 weeks ago. 

Fourteen days of quarantine was an extremely challenging time for every one of our families and staff members. Some families were forced into longer quarantine periods as further positive cases emerged.

Fortunately, we all survived and we are currently teaching, learning and living in lockdown.

As we approach the final week of an exceedingly long term, our leadership team have resorted to transforming into Star Wars and Toy Story characters, hoping to lift the spirits of children, parents and colleagues.

This poem by one of our Year 3 students, sums up how all children currently in lockdown are feeling.

What are 4 tips from our experience that would help others survive a similar situation ?

1. Support each other. Offer support to others and be willing to take support yourself. 

Our wider community were outstanding. Support included :

• Deliveries of food parcels (many from ex St Pat's families) to our families
• Offers to walk pet dogs as families were housebound
• Local cafe & supermarket offered free deliveries
• Glen Eira Council set up a special St Patrick's TV guide with interactive links to online activities  in the afternoons eg. magic shows, endangered animals, play groups for younger siblings
• Carnegie Library couriered books to our families
• Local gym set up online exercise classes for families
• An uplifting video from Australian singer and songwriter, ex St Pat's student Vance Joy.

Some of our staff separated from their families and went to live on their own so that their families didn't have to quarantine. Support for colleagues and their wellbeing was vital. Half way through the quarantine period, our social committee organised a staff team building evening to give everyone a much needed boost.

2. Daily open and honest communication. 

Be available and willing to listen to everyone and follow up answers for every question (we were able to forward many questions directly to DH contacts). My wonderful Deputy Principal and I encouraged our whole community to email or ring us at any time with their questions, worries or concerns.

I sent out a total of twenty Covid Update Comms to the school families during the 14 days.  Most of these comms are blog posts and are accessible via our school newsblog.  Maximum views for regular posts across the year average 300 views. One of the Covid Update posts had 886 views ( You can access Covid Update #6 on the Parent as Partners Tab of this blog). Community engagement was strong. Families felt connected and informed during isolation. They focussed on every word in every message. Clear, succinct and timely comms were vital.

I sent separate staff comms before the community comms and held online briefings with staff to keep them informed and connected too.  During our first staff briefing, I clarified the dedicated roles that we all held and our responsibilities during  isolation. This was a timely reminder to put our energy into the areas that we could control (teaching and learning, connecting with the kids and families, checking on each other) instead of worrying about everything else beyond our control (covid, quarantine, limited resources, no opportunities to leave our homes ). 

I reminded our staff that we are all leaders at every level across the school and that we will help our community and each other to get through together.

The Regional General Manager and Leadership Consultant from (Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic schools MACS ) were in touch with us from the very beginning and provided media advice, sample comms and contacts for the school's deep clean. We were advised to ensure important comms were cleared through MACS.

3. Be guided by the professionals

Expert communication from the Department of Health (DH), provided step by step daily advice and guidance for the community. 

Recommendations for community testing were advised; four Covid tests for each member of the community across the 14 days. Contact tracers were thorough and professional and reported to me that our community were positive and respectful despite the challenges that many families faced.

The Monash Health Team offered to run two online parent forums which were well received by our community. Every question was answered. We found that a separate google doc for parent's questions worked better than a live chat box during the forum. We averaged 300 participants per forum.

During the quarantine period, some families required exemptions for a number of reasons. Every one of their requests was legitimate. The Monash health team encouraged us to forward all requests and that every query would be dealt with.

The DH advised us around the safest way for the children to return onsite ( See the post on Parent as Partners Tab  Covid Update #13 of this blog). Naturally, parents were anxious and needed reassurance that everybody was cleared to return to school following their final Covid test.

4. Stay positive

Despite the challenging circumstances, the thank you messages from the community came through incessantly.
The positive messages of support helped all of us to get through and gave us the energy as leaders and teachers to forge on.

Hi Jenny

We wanted to say a big thank you for the coffee today! What a lovely surprise to order a coffee and it was paid for.
It’s such a difficult time for many including yourself and we appreciate the constant communication, support and updates
It was so wonderful to see the teachers ready to do remote learning today with their students with a smile and ready to take on the next couple of weeks with enthusiasm.
The out pouring of support from the local community has been heart warming also. What a great community to be part of.
Take care and if there is anything we can do to help under these circumstances don’t hesitate to ask.
Thank you and take care.
(School parents)

Local Heroes
As a local resident I just wish to thank the school community, staff, parents and children of St Patricks.

Thanks to you all for the sacrifices made to keep everyone safe. I am sure it was not easy. Your efforts are appreciated. And we are happy to hear so many have emerged from isolation and are now back at school and work, and children are once again out and about in our neighbourhood.

I heard high praise from parents for the support offered by the school (“They were wonderful”).

I also heard IGA provided free deliveries to families and friends of St Patrick’s did coffee runs. What a terrific community!

Best wishes for a speedy recovery for those who are still ill and again, gratitude for and thanks to our local heroes!

You can read further messages of community support on the Parent as Partners Tab of this blog ( Community Update # 3.3 Local Heroes)

I am proud to be part of a caring and supportive community at St Pat's.

Part of our school vision says:

 ..A healthy mindset, coupled with resilience and well-developed social skills ensures all learners are equipped to deal with life’s challenges...

Staying positive and supporting each other, helps to hold us in good stead as we - leaders, parents and teachers, model resilience for our children.

Acknowledgements:

• To our staff, students and parents who all went the extra mile to get though quarantine
  
• To all members of our wider community who reached out and supported us 
• To the Monash Health Team: I have a deep admiration for the contact tracing teams, leadership and staff from the South East Public Health Unit at Monash. Their advice and guidance for our school was swift and clear and they continue to support our community
• To the MACS staff for their support
• To Charlotte from 3L for her poem
• To our own family members for their love and support

Believe in yourself, your team and your networks of support. Know that others will look to you for clarity and guidance. Be decisive and stay focused on a clear pathway forward. Then you will ensure that you will not only survive but support you community to thrive during the toughest of challenges.

Addendum:

Little did we believe that we would end up with another positive student case onsite only 10 weeks later. Fortunately, everyone is safe and well after 42 of our families including 15 staff members isolated for a 2nd time during the school holidays. This was a huge challenge for everyone involved and we thank the families and staff who suffered a 2nd quarantine period during their holidays. We continue to hope and pray that as vaccination rates increase, we will all experience and appreciate the joy of reuniting and reconnecting with each other, our families and friends in the coming months.

Vision & Core Values 3 Years After Inception

How do you respond when a school parent sends you an email and states This is not reflective of the St Patrick’s vision statement or policies ?

Towards the end of 2020, during the unprecedented challenges of COVID and when the students were back onsite, I received such an email.

Clearly there was a concern, however, direct reference to and a quote taken from our school vision statement were a joy to behold. We received "open and honest" feedback (one of our core values) aligned to our school wide vision. A member of the community was indicating that they related to our vision and were holding fast to it come what may.

Where did our vision narrative, core values and mental model originate from ? In preparation for a day of reflection with the staff, let me put our vision and core values into context ; three years on from commencing the Schools That Deliver professional learning process.

THE WHY

 Students become the leaders of the future through internally driven change 21 Nov 2017

PHASE 1

THE HOW

Empowerment, passion and unified purpose  (staff feedback about the process) 16 April 2018

Staff Generate Future Focussed Vision & Core Values for ALL Learners (27 April 2018) Summary of shared vision and values.

Disruption, Creativity: Innovate 2 flourish 22 July 2018 

Active participation and deep reflection stimulated by the Edward's and Martin Delivering Innovation Conference (June, 2018) led to the creation of a video. The personal challenge was to succinctly capture two full days of powerful learning in a three minute animated video to share with others.
This sums up the approach we are taking as part of the Schools That Deliver Process.

PAUSE & REFLECT

2020 Covid ?   Disruption? Comfort zones ? Creativity ? Innovation ?

Conference to reality ; shift happens together  17 Aug 2018 4 Research teams and practice fields

Practice Fields Lead to Quick Wins for Learners 11 Nov 2018. Shared outcomes of Practice Fields

PHASE 2

Storming to Norming; Multiple Voices Co Design Quality Actions to Propel Our School Forward 20 April 2019

Reflection of Phase 1 - Outcomes of staff research and recommendations during the first year lead to draft long term plan going forward.

Specific Focus Review Through a Core Values Lens  2 May 2019

Using the core values as a focus for the School Review. How will we gather evidence for our review ?
We will use the core values as the lens through which we gather data for the review. The values were chosen by staff in 2018 as the five key ways to treat each other at our school. The values link to the CEM (now Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools MACS) Horizons of Hope curriculum with a clear focus on honouring the sacred dignity of the human person. If we concentrate on the human element, we will build a sense of belonging and increase student wellbeing data whilst contributing to a natural lift in academic standards.

Archaeological Dig Unearths Invaluable Treasures. 7 Sep 2019

TEAMS

Recommendations from the review led to our staff and leaders developing a new leadership model at St Patrick's school that encourages everyone to take ownership and contribute collectively. It is a team based approach to growing leadership capacity and capability across our staff and was implemented at the start of 2020. 

The team based approach is a shift from silos of learning led by independent leaders to collaborative learning teams. Every staff member is part of an equitable team and together take responsibility within three areas developed and agreed on by staff: Faith and Community; Faith, Wellbeing and Diversity; Faith and Curriculum.
Just as all schools include Child Safety on every meeting agenda, we agreed to include the word "faith" in all of our teams. We want to ensure that the Catholicity of our school is kept at the forefront of all that we do. We are ALL responsible for the Catholic faith at St Patrick's. 
The first sentence of our shared school vision states: St Patrick's is a school where our Catholic identity underpins all we do. Our new School Improvement Plan reflects this innovative approach. Once a week after school, two POL leaders from within each team work alongside staff to achieve the annual actions developed by teams from the School Improvement Plan.

POST REVIEW FEEDBACK 

Twelve months on from the review and during the first week back onsite for our staff and children following on from the 100 day COVID lockdown, the leadership team met with Maree Homes (Regional Leadership Consultant), Brittany Ford (Religious Education Consultant) and Donna Anderson (Learning Consultant School Effectiveness). We had a forty five minute conversation in which all leaders contributed. Here is 3 minute excerpt of the feedback given to us by the MACS ( Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools) leaders from the Southern Regional Office.

All of the COVID posts during 2020 focused on our core values. "Throughout the challenges of the pandemic, holding tight to our core values with faith filled hearts enables our community to thrive".

Our core values are now aligned to the House Awards (daily) and Assembly Awards (weekly) and we continue to embed them in all that we do. 

Our values are a way of living and working together and our agreed mental models remind us of what is important to us in our work as we realise the vision for our community.

Our Mental Models

• Source evidence based research.

• Work in practice fields and trial innovations and interventions.

• Action authentic cycles of deep inquiry. 

• The knowledge is in us all.

• Slower is faster and less is more.

• Move forward and deeply through powerful questions. 

• Listen, listen and listen.

• Be outward facing through active participation in the following networks and collectives: RE Network, RE Collective, STEM Network, SWIF (School wide Improvement)

Strengthened and enriched as a committed staff team, we will continue to propel our school forward with renewed energy, quality, passion and purpose to ensure "learners leave St Patrick's self motivated ready to make a positive impact on their world".

Action without vision is only passing time, vision without action is merely daydreaming, but vision with action can change the world (Mandela & Barker, 2013)

                                        

COVID -19 (Part 5) Surfing the Second Wave during the Longest Lockdown in the World

Coronavirus Update

As the rest of Australia began to recover from the impact of the pandemic, community transmission in Victoria increased dramatically and on August 2 we moved to Stage 4 lockdown. On August 5 we reached our peak of over 700 new cases. Fortunately, after months of extreme lockdown which included an 8pm curfew, compulsory face mask wearing and an inability to travel further than 5 kilometers from home, on October 3 there were only 8 new cases. Melbournians wait in anticipation for October 19 when the debilitating Stage 4 restrictions should be eased to enable people to return to work and inject much needed hope and life into the economy. Importantly, the delicate emotional wellbeing of those with elevated levels of stress and anxiety caused by physical distancing, isolation and job loss during lockdown will receive a much needed boost. Sadly, there have also been 805 deaths in Victoria, with many families losing loved ones, especially the elderly. We continue to keep all families in our thoughts and prayers.

Australians are recognised for their resilience and optimism and adhere with determination to the core value of supporting each other to get through the most challenging of times. Just as a surfer repeatedly gets back onto their board, we refuse to be wiped out by the second wave.

Flexible Learning and the Second Wave

In the previous two posts, I shared the proposed changes we made to remote learning based on feedback from all stakeholders and the Flexible Learning guidelines and expectations going forward. That was early in July, when we we were reeling from the shock of 288 coronavirus cases. Little did we know at the time that due to the dramatic increase of coronavirus cases, our renewed Flexible Learning practices would continue for the full 10 weeks of Term 3 and the first week of Term 4. We eagerly await the return to onsite learning for all primary school children on October 12.
I described my experiences with remote learning during the first lockdown as running on the Covid Treadmill. This is definitely not the case as we come to the end of the current lockdown.
We finished Term 3 with passion, energy and profound belief in the quality of the Flexible Learning programme offered across the school. Our Term 3 second wave experience more closely aligns with surfing ; catching a pipeline, skilfully guiding the nose of the surfboard through the barrel of the gigantic wave whilst balancing with ease and confidence as the wave carries you safely to land on the shore.

Amidst the many challenges of the Stage 4 lockdown restrictions, we are extremely satisfied that the combined efforts of students, staff and parents enabled all learners to achieve to the best of their ability. Student interaction weekly reports from staff developed during the course of the term to include a record of parent communications and online social opportunities for different year levels. We received numerous emails of thanks from the parents and are grateful for the overwhelmingly positive feedback shared with us all. Feedback included:

" ...We appreciate the teachers have gone above and beyond to support us and the kids.." Prep and Yr 2 parent
"..A big thank you to the wonderful staff at St Patrick's...they keep the kids busy whilst providing regular positive feedback..." Year 3 parent

" ....is so energised and happy to log on each morning..the home schooling has been a great experience because of how well prepared and energising you were each day." Yr 6 parent
"..Thank you for your commitment, support and care..I am certainly seeing growth, resilience and maturity...thank you for the key role you are playing..." Yr 6 parent
"..we are loving your work in the school assemblies absolutely fantastic to watch. Shows so much passion for what you do thank you.." Yr 1 parent
'' .. thank you for all your great work....is flourishing under your direction and support..." Yr 5 parents
".. we really appreciate the time you take to review each piece of work, the feedback and messages you write back... feel connected, stay accountable and be motivated..." Yr 4 parent
"..can I once again thank you and your team for the selfless and supportive way in which you have helped us. .. we appreciate everything you are doing to support our children..."

Our student SRC leaders represent their classes and they met with me via Zoom on a weekly basis during term 3. We created some wellbeing videos to share with the community. The focus on wellbeing with tips to encourage us to express our gratitude and remain positive were ideas that came directly from the students. The video below is a reflection of the highlights of Flexible Learning for the students from Year 1 - 6.
You can access further videos by the Semester 2 SRC leaders at these links -

 Wellbeing Tips #1 - Gratitude

 Wellbeing Tips #2 Stay Positive

 Wellbeing Tips #3 After Lockdown

   

Virtual Assemblies continued to evolve and feedback from families in relation to the "transformations" seemed to give everyone a much needed lift. At this point in time we have uploaded and shared 15 virtual assembly videos. Below is one of the videos that included a senior leadership sing along and bloopers too!

Throughout the challenges of the pandemic, holding tight to our core values with faith filled hearts is enabling our community to thrive.

As we continue to ride the second wave with passion and purpose, the emphasis on faith and wellbeing is regenerating the hearts and minds of the community.

Family engagement is strengthening, staff capacity is surging and student agency is flourishing; further deepening the culture of inquiry, "the archaeological dig" that was part of our school wide review in 2019.

Underpinning all of this is the realisation that we are actioning our long term goals as articulated in the School Improvement Plan 2020-2023. We are living out our vision to ensure learners leave our school self - motivated to make a positive impact on their world.

Seven months of lockdown hasn't deterred us..... imagine what we will all achieve together post lockdown.

Acknowledgements:

• To our SRC students and young leaders for their contribution to the SRC and virtual assembly videos
• To our hard working staff who responded to the challenge to "raise the bar" and make Flexible Learning truly count for every learner
• To our students and parents who continue to work together, give and receive feedback and keep learning despite the unique challenges that we are all experiencing in these "unprecedented" times.

COVID -19 (Part 4) From Home Learning to Flexible Learning

In light of increasing pandemic cases due to community transmission, the Victorian premier gifted all school staff with five student free days to prepare for Phase 2 of remote learning. Each and every staff member at #stpatsmbna fully participated in reviewing feedback (see previous post) and redesigning a Flexible Learning program with a number of key changes for our community. 

At our school, we are committed to teaching a consistent high-quality and engaging curriculum with one to one and small group student support, a focused wellbeing program, opportunities for enrichment and extension and access to specialist expertise. 

Every student is unique. In the coming weeks, we believe we will support every student to flourish during this next phase of remote learning.

Staff maintain social distance and work in triads to review practices

All staff presented and shared their knowledge, research and tips for improving remote learning practise

Key Changes to Home Learning
"We value rich, regular and quality feedback.." St Pat's Shared Vision
Teachers have a reputation for actively seeking feedback on their practices and making adjustments for continual improvement. Some of the key changes that we have made include:

• Home Learning will now be referred to as Flexible Learning

We will now refer to the learning that takes place as Flexible Learning. Based on feedback, we have made a number of changes to our Flexible Learning program and this time around we will all be more flexible.  Flexible Learning can take place in your homes or at school. Either way, the staff, students and families are making adjustments to learning and in doing so are being extremely flexible. The ability to make adjustments and be flexible is a valuable life skill.
The Home Learning tabs on the #stpatsmbna Learning Community Site have been renamed to Flexible Learning.

• Children will be expected to wear their school uniform both at school and at home for Flexible Learning.

This time, we wish to ensure we treat everyone fairly and show that we are all serious about learning onsite at school or offsite at home. All children will wear their school uniform for Flexible Learning.

• Specialist classes have been moved to one full day to allow for continuity of class teaching on other days.

Specialist teachers will be available on that day. However, class teachers will still take the daily Zoom roll call. The children can wear their sports uniform on the Specialist day.

• Times removed from the Flexible Learning planner to accommodate flexibility for families. 

The suggested maximum time will be listed for each Flexible Learning activity instead of expecting families to complete an activity at a set time. The two 40 minute morning and lunchtime breaks will reflect the timing of breaks onsite at school.

• Teachers availability has increased (see the Expectations of Teachers below)
• Extra small group sessions and 1:1 or 1:2 sessions will take place (see below)
• Wellbeing and Catholic Identity times have been prioritised

Dedicated wellbeing teaching focus sessions are planned into the Flexible Learning program along with opportunities to develop our Catholic identity.

Core Values

Our school Core Values guide our behaviours. In order to be open and honest about how we can all support our children fairly, the following expectations for teachers, students and parents will contribute to the success of Flexible Learning @stpatsmbna

Flexible Learning Guidelines & Expectations for staff, students and parents

Expectations of teachers
Face to face interactions and availability

• Classroom teacher is accessible 9 -1.30 every day (except student/teacher break times - 2 x 40 mins). Afternoons will be for teachers to ring parents / respond to emails / provide feedback to students.
• Every child is involved in a whole class Zoom every day and a small group instructional session at least once a week.
• Needs based 1: 1 or 2: 1 sessions will occur with the teacher (parents will be notified in line with child safe requirements)
• Zoom sessions on the Specialist day will be limited to a 10 minute roll call.
• Emails to teachers will be responded to between 8am and 5pm Monday-Friday.

Teaching Instructions

• Teachers will upload the weekly Flexible Learning plan to the Learning Community Site by 2pm every Friday
• Teachers will upload at least one spelling video each week, plus one teacher directed maths and one literacy/reading/writing video or Screencastify each week.
• Instructional time will be kept short and concise (7-10 mins).
• Where possible, teachers will use slides to break down tasks. Students can reference videos or slides multiple times to reinforce strategies, concepts or skills.
• One day each week will be a specialist focus day

Feedback to students

• Timely and specific feedback will be provided to every student twice a week. This will be specific to success criteria. One for literacy, one for maths.
• Fortnightly specific feedback to students around specialist areas from specialist teachers
• Link to assessment rubric provided prior to teaching where applicable.

Expectations of students
At Home and Onsite
Students will:

• Wear their school uniforms each school day unless it is their birthday or have won a casual clothes award
• Be expected to be “in class” and present at roll call or parents will be notified immediately.
• Be notified when their weekly group and 1:1 or 1:2 meetings will be and are expected to participate.
• Have their videos on and their full name displayed when in Zoom sessions.
• Wear headphones whenever possible to minimise background noise, as appropriate.
• Follow the ICT User Agreement.
• Only engage in the chat or drawing functions on Zoom when directed.
• Follow year level guidelines of work to be submitted each day.
• Contact specialist teachers via email for any questions regarding those subject areas.

Onsite
As well as the above points, onsite students will:

• Bring resources needed for onsite learning, such as headphones, pencil cases, sheets from take-home packs, chromebooks fully charged (Years 4-6).
• Stay at home if they are unwell.

 Expectations of Parents
Parents will:

• Arrange for students' names to appear when logging into Zoom meetings.
• Arrange a learning space that is suitable for learning (minimal background noise).
• Ensure children are wearing school uniforms and are ready for learning.
• Support our Core Values of being respectful and positive in their interactions with children, school staff and other parents. Any concerns should be raised directly with the school.
• Understand that emails to teachers will be responded in a timely manner between 8am and 5pm Monday-Friday. At times, teachers will be involved in Zoom meetings or onsite Flexible Learning and planning sessions.
• Check emails and Flexischools announcements daily to ensure you are receiving necessary communications.
• Understand that the learning program delivered onsite will be the same as the learning program delivered to students undertaking remote learning.
• Keep their children home from onsite Flexible Learning if they are unwell.

"The knowledge is in the room"
We are truly blessed at St Pat's with a talented and dedicated team of staff.
During the week, the staff shared presentations around the programs we currently provide and will continue to offer during Term 3. These include:

• Fine motor skill program
• Oral language program
• Innovations in IT eg Screencastify, video modelling
• Supporting students with language disorders
• Extending tasks for our highly able students
• Differentiated spelling programs
• Personalised Learning Plans and adjustments for students for Term 3
• Assisting parents to read with their child 
• Classroom Feedback 
• To Know, Worship and Love online RE resource
• Wellbeing practices to alleviate student anxiety
• F-2 Maths - Place Value research and findings to support multiplicative thinking and the importance of place value in the early years

"Our teachers are excellent, dedicated teachers and our children benefit from the interaction with them...  My hope is that what was untried, but has now been tested, may be improved for everyone’s benefit. We are all in this together, as the sign on the front fence says, and it is my sincere hope that we can learn from the trial of Term 2 to make Term 3 a more positive experience for ALL our children and families " St Pat's Parent

At our school, we are committed to teaching a consistent high-quality and engaging curriculum with one to one and small group student support, a focused wellbeing program, opportunities for enrichment and extension and access to specialist expertise. 

Every student is unique. 

In the coming weeks, we believe we will support every student to flourish as we transition from Home Learning to Flexible Learning.

Acknowledgements:
To the staff from #stpatsmbna for their commitment to developing a Flexible Learning program and a willingness to share their gifts and talents with each other and our children

COVID -19 (Part 3) Responding to Feedback and Rising to the Challenge of the Second Wave

On July 8, a second phase of Stage 3 lockdown restrictions were implemented for 6 weeks in Melbourne. School holidays due to finish on July 13 were extended for our primary school students until July 20. During this time, all staff were expected to return to school for five student free days to review teaching plans and prepare for the potential of remote learning for Term 3.

On July 10, Victoria recorded 288 coronavirus cases, its highest number of cases to date.

Just as the daily coronavirus cases have risen, the staff of St Pat's will rise to the challenge and support our students and community to flourish during this second wave of coronavirus.

Time for Action
The day after the new restrictions were announced, I met with two of my school leaders at school for several hours to begin to draft plans for our student free week. We had to prepare for the potential of remote learning (as I write this post on the eve of our return to school, the Victorian premier has confirmed home learning will commence from July 20). This time, we have the opportunity to learn through our experiences during Term 2 and make positive changes based on feedback from staff, students and parents. Two days later, on the last day of the school holidays, we met again for several hours to ensure that we were fully prepared for the student free week.

"We value rich, regular and quality feedback.." St Pat's Shared Vision
Teachers have a reputation for actively seeking feedback on their practices and making adjustments for continual improvement.

Whilst running up a sharp incline on the COVID treadmill (see previous post) we responded to feedback, adapted and improved our home learning practices last term. This time we have the benefit of learning from our experiences and making the most of five student free days to refine and improve our practices further.

If any of our students or parents expected our teachers to automatically follow the Term 2 pattern of remote learning practices, then they will be pleasantly surprised. Naturally, some aspects will remain the same but other elements will be adjusted so that we can offer a better programme.

Why? Because that's exactly what expert teachers do with their teaching all the time.

"We identify needs ... and build professional capacity and capability... to ensure our students will be engaged and motivated." (St Pat's Shared Vision).
Based on the feedback from students and parents (see below), some of the adjustments will include a review of:

• the frequency of small group and whole group Zoom meetings and teacher interactions
• the modelling of explicit teaching concepts and strategies
• the presentation of the learning template and access on the Community Learning Site
• the inclusion of extra wellbeing opportunities 
• the focus on our Catholic identity and opportunities for social justice connections
• the gathering of assessment data to inform further teaching. 

Ultimately, we wish to develop guidelines to ensure consistent home learning practices for all year levels across the school. The improvements we make will be utilised for both offsite and onsite learning practices going forward.

Student Feedback
Fortunately, at the end of Term 2, I met with some of our students to capture their responses to the pros and cons of Home Learning.

SRC # 7 End of Term 2 Feedback
In this video, the #stpatsmbna SRC reps share their views on the pros and cons of Home Learning and the best part about being back at school.

Parent Feedback. 
Do you wish to offer any further feedback ? 
During the Term 2 home learning phase, we continually invited parents to share their feedback via telephone conversations and email. Here is some of the feedback. If parents wish to offer further feedback, please email principal@spmurrumbeena.catholic.edu.au

Positive
Just wanted to send a note to say thank you for the time you take to send ...a recorded message on Seesaw for his work completed. It’s really appreciated during these times which I’m sure you are extra busy (Year 3 parent).
I'm sure you are both super busy today preparing for a return to onsite learning but I just wanted to send you both a quick email to say thank you for all your hard work over the last month and a half.
The take home packs you prepared were so organised and well thought out, it certainly made for a more efficient and smoother at home learning experience for all involved. The class zooms were a real highlight -the boys looked forward to seeing you and their friends each morning .
We always talk about what a fab choice we made in selecting St Pats as our school and our experience over the last few weeks has only served to reinforce that! (Year 1 parent)

I just wanted to drop a quick email so say a huge thank you for all the support, encouragement and patience given to the students (and parents!) whilst learning from home. The continued all round support and guidance especially from the teachers has been outstanding, a credit to their teaching skills (Year 3, Year 6 parent)

I was just watching the video from the SRC reps. They did a great job. Well done.

We have been very impressed with .. during these challenging times. I've been listening into the zoom calls and ... been brilliant. Very pleased overall with the home learning. For two full time workers it's actually worked better than we expected. (Year 1 parent)

Constructive

Thanks for your email and reaching out. This weeks (W2) more structured home-learning has been working well for ... He’s definitely found it more challenging and there is more work for him to complete. A big improvement from last week. I think next weeks detailed planner will also work well for him. Is it possible to email the planners out when they become available? We don’t have Google chrome so it’s not easy to print out and format from the Home Learning site (Year 6 parent).

Given the stage 3 restrictions announced today I was hoping you could give some thought to having the teachers at St Pats available more often throughout the school day in Term 3 in a more structured way ( Year 2, Year 6 parent)

I would hope to see more interaction throughout the day from the teachers. A morning check in to set up the day is great, but I know that further check-ins, group learning or email contact with required response in a limited time frame would be extremely beneficial... perhaps a solution to this problem is for the teachers to be checking in more frequently with the students. Our teachers are excellent, dedicated teachers and our children benefit from the interaction with them. (Year 4, Year 6 parent)

What will the staff do during the 5 student free days ?

During the week, the staff will reflect and respond to feedback (see above), review and redesign learning plans, film instructional teaching videos, prepare resource packs, arrange the distribution of resources and readjust teaching plans to prepare for the potential of remote learning. We will also prepare to loan chrome book devices if required, issue the expression of interest forms for onsite learning for families of essential workers and vulnerable children.

Amidst all of this, we will continue to hold tight to our  St Pat's Core Values, in particular, these two:

We are all in this together and will continue to work to meet the needs of each of our students to provide the best opportunity for everyone to improve both with their learning and with their wellbeing during these challenging times. We understand that each and every one of our families has their own unique set of challenges and we will do our utmost to support all of you as we rise to the challenge of this second wave.

COVID-19 Part 2 (18 May - 5 July 2020 ) Turning Point: Transition back to school & the COVID Treadmill

After 6 weeks of Home Learning, it was time to prepare to welcome back our community

The Victorian Government announced that Monday May 25 would be a staff closure day where all staff are expected to return to work onsite. Initially, the Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 students would recommence school on Tuesday May 26 followed two weeks later, by the Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 students. After 6 weeks of working full time onsite at school, with a supportive team of staff, whilst most staff and students were based at home, it was time to welcome back all of the staff and the junior students.

It was during that final week, the sixth week of remote home learning, that Mary Wilson, Schools That Deliver Network facilitator contacted me from New Zealand.
We set up a Zoom meeting on Friday 22 May. My meeting with Mary, gave me a chance to reflect on how to make the most of the staff closure day and prepare for the transition back to school.

19 May 2020

Dear Jenny

....The world has certainly changed in the last two months and life will be changed going forward.  Hopefully we can put all the great things we learned during lockdown into our ’new normal’.

How are you going in Melbourne?  Are schools back as yet?  Our NZ schools went back for all children yesterday and there was about an 80% attendance across the country.

What have you learned about yourself as a person and as a leader during this unique experience?  What has each of your staff learned about themselves?  What about the students?  The families?  What are you planning to do with all that learning? ........

Ngā mihi mahana

Mary Wilson 

21 May 2020

Hi Mary,

......Yes, what an experience we are having ! Thank goodness for our core values. I started a blog piece weeks ago but not much time at the moment to finish it.....

Finally on Monday, all staff will come together onsite for a closure day (we haven't seen 80% of staff face to face since March) and then our Foundation, 1 & 2 children officially return on Tuesday. Yeah !!

Are you free to Zoom tomorrow Mary ?

Thanks

Jenny

Following the Zoom meeting with Mary, I went on to prepare for the closure day and ensured that I maximised our staff time together. 

Here are the slides from the day.



Staff reflections

What are you most proud of ? Summary of key responses from staff:

• The way we (staff and students) adapted to change and kept on top of all of the work
• Focussing on the positives especially the positive feedback from students and parents
• Ability to up skill as needed and use technology as a great learning tool
• The calm reassuring and supportive atmosphere we created for our families 

What have you learned about yourself during this time ? Summary of key responses from staff:

• I value relationships with family and friends
• Persevering with challenges is rewarding
• Change can be stressful but by keeping calm we can adapt 
• Positivity, perseverance, patience and confidence are valuable life skills

What do you want to hold onto going forward ? Summary of key responses from staff:

• keep a more balanced lifestyle, switch off and prioritise exercise and walks
• being flexible and creative with technology as a teaching tool
• maintaining calm under pressure and letting unimportant tasks go
• keep the team spirit alive and continue to support one another

Staff working in the school hall to maintain social distancing

Bringing the whole staff back together for the first time in 8 weeks called for a celebration. We organised a delicious morning tea and lunch to show our appreciation for the staff. Due to social distancing and hygiene practises, we set up the hall as our meeting room for the day as sadly we could no longer use the staffroom as a gathering place.

Sandra and Kellie used gloves and tongs to serve staff for health and safety

COVID -19 Staff Wellbeing Bags

How do you show your staff how much you appreciate them, especially when there are about 40 of them ? This called for some staff well being bags, in fact extra special COVID -19 wellbeing bags. Inside the bags were:

a face mask; hand sanitiser; hand cream; Coffee voucher ; lollies ; chips ; rubber gloves and a beautiful sunflower to brighten their day

After I presented the staff with their bags, the staff presented me with a beautiful card and gift too. It certainly wasn't necessary but gave me time to stop and reflect.

COVID Treadmill Reflection
I can liken the past few months to exercising on a treadmill with very little control of the speed. Let's call it the COVID treadmill.

Once you turn on the treadmill, you choose the walking speed. Generally, you gradually increase  your pace and gain momentum whilst balancing on the running belt.

The speed of our COVID treadmill increased rapidly. We had to support each other to stay on the running belt as we quickly learnt to adapt to new and unfamiliar online teaching expectations. Some of us were fitter than others and could maintain a fast walk or a jog but none of us could sustain a running pace. We were coached by colleagues and learnt to create videos and improvise when Zoom meetings failed due to poor internet connections. When gentle inclines became hills, we had to learn to pace ourselves.

As time went on we became fitter than we had ever been. Our new found fitness will hold us in good stead for any future treadmill challenges.

The principal on the Covid treadmill !

I can't express how excited I was to have all of the staff back together at school.  Reconnecting with each other and being physically present after a couple of months of communicating online was energising. Planning the get together, ensuring there was the right balance of showering staff with appreciation and gently preparing for the safe transition back to school for the children as well as
providing reflection time by slowing down and pausing the treadmill of change.
Student Reflections
Survival Tips #4 Home Learning Reflections After  6 Weeks (29 May)

SRC share the ways that they have improved with their learning and organisational skills during Home Learning. How have you improved ?

SRC Survival Tips #5 Coming back to School (5 June)

Remote learning has come to an end. In this video, the SRC students share what they are looking forward to when they return to school.

SRC #6 Safety Tips at School (4 June)

The SRC students onsite prepared this video with some helpful safety tips for all of the children at school.

Our children were very happy to return to school. Staggered start and finish times and different entry points all contributed to the COVID -19 safety protocols.

St Patrick's Murrumbeena Virtual Assembly #6

It's the beginning of Term 3 2020. Find out about the weekly awards, nude food and the special guest award presenter !

Virtual assembly #6 was prepared at the end of Term 2 in readiness for Term 3. Our assembly videos improved over time and the whole school watched the videos on a Monday morning. I enjoyed dropping into classes to present the awards.

During the last week of Term 2 Victorian coronavirus cases began to increase and 50 to 60 of our students were absent each day.

7 weeks later (July 5)
As I write this post during the school holidays, Victoria is labelled as a "Covid hotpsot" 38 Melbourne suburbs are in lockdown including 9 public housing towers with the potential of more suburbs being closed. Other states are on alert across Australia. It looks like there might need to be a COVID -19 Part 3 post. This time we will be fit and ready to step back onto the COVID treadmill.

Acknowledgements:

• To Mary Wilson from the Schools That Deliver Team for an uplifting coaching conversation just before the 8 weeks came to an end
• To our SRC students and Year 6 leaders for their contribution to the SRC and assembly videos
• To Sandra and Kellie in the front office who helped to source and prepare the staff well being bags
• To our wonderful staff who presented me with a beautiful card and gift
• To our students and parents who keenly supported the transition back to school