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.

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

St Patrick's school is committed to a positive, proactive three year professional development plan to shift us from being a great school to an outstanding beacon of excellence that delivers optimum results for the whole community (Hawkins, 2018).

The above quote is taken from a reflection entitled Empowerment, Passion and Unified Purpose which includes valuable feedback from staff after Phase 1 of our Schools That Deliver professional learning journey in 2018. At the time, all staff articulated a shared vision and identified the core values needed to bring the vision to life. 

When one staff member stated, "... Let the ruckus storm journey begin..." little did we comprehend the enormous challenges we would encounter during the storming phase of our journey.

Edwards and Martin's definition of the storming phase based on the work of Tuckman

The April 2018 to April 2019 research year resulted in deep storming. Storming is the outcome of tension between where a group is at and where it needs to go; in our case to align with the shared vision. Weathering the predicted stormy seas during the action research year was challenging for many staff. Eventually, every voice contributed to outstanding research presentations and in doing so grew as educators ready to embark on Phase 2; the norming part of the lifecycle of a healthy, collaborative group. 

Slide from presentation Day 1 Schools That Deliver Conference

How did we get to where we are at now ?
Here is a link to the process that led to the Schools That Deliver professional learning journey. Students become the leaders of the future through internally driven change.
Here is a link to our shared vision and core values as voted by the staff in April 2018. Staff generate future focused shared vision for all learners.
The slide below from the Schools That Deliver presentation shows the forming and storming part of Phase 1 of our professional learning journey.

Phase 2 April 2019 - Staff Share Powerful Presentations
Staff are to be commended for the research they carried out as evidenced in powerful and creative  presentations (including treasure hunts, quizzes and dance) shared on the first of two days of our personalised Schools That Deliver Conference.
After a school term that highlighted the resilience and collegiality of our incredible staff, every research team member gave of their best when presenting the culmination of twelve months of learning. Staff shared analysis of rich survey data and professional readings to support their recommendations.
The four research teams focused on key areas that staff had collectively agreed were vital for realising our shared school vision. The four areas are prayer, well being, feedback and inquiry.

Here is an outline of the key recommendations from each research team and the connection the teams made to our shared vision:

Our Faith Community
"St Patrick's is a school where our Catholic culture underpins all we do. Our staff teach and model Catholic values making our faith real and relevant to the students. We practice daily prayer and promote fluidity between our parish, school and parent body..."

• We have a Catholic culture that invites all to prayer, enabling deep encounters between faith and contemporary life.
• To enable this encounter with God through prayer, all staff and students learn about the different forms of prayer and make them a part of our daily practice.

The Faith Community team present their research to staff.

Social and Emotional Wellbeing for ALL Learners

" A healthy mindset, coupled with resilience and well-developed social skills ensures all learners are equipped to deal with life's challenges, and have the skills to positively resolve conflict and communicate their ideas and emotions... Learners leave St Patrick's self-motivated ready to make a positive impact on their world."

Students leave St Patrick's with a sense of belonging, self-motivation and ready to make an impact on their world...Sense of belonging. This will happen through:

• A well being programme that targets the needs of our learners and builds their "sense of belonging'
• A whole school Wellbeing program created and owned by all stakeholders at St Patrick's
• This program would be a working document that evolves and can be adapted/customised to meet the needs of our learners.

One of the slides from the Social and Emotional Wellbeing for All presentation 

The Power of Feedback

"We value rich, regular, quality feedback..."

• We have a feedback culture where staff, students and parents receive rich, timely, regular feedback.
• All staff have a clear understanding of feedback strategies

Inquiry based learning

" Ongoing data tracking leads to learning that is differentiated therefore optimising engagement...Both students and teachers are excited about learning, involving themselves in rich, open ended tasks both inside and outside the classroom...Learners leave St Patrick's self motivated and ready to make an impact on their world."

• We access a comprehensive Prep to Year 6 Inquiry Planner that follows a "good fit" model,
• Our inquiry planner reflects student voice which is collected in the early stages of the unit of work

Staff Co Design Actions in the Norming Phase 
Following the staff presentations, a facilitative questioning process (Butler & Edwards), was used to determine agreed mental models (values and beliefs that drive behaviours) to guide future actions. Then design teams contributed recommendations towards the sequence for a school improvement plan. The plan addresses the priority work needed for the next five years to drive the school vision forward and ensure we make a positive impact for all learners.

The School's That Deliver facilitators used this approach to draw out staff mental models

The principal was given the challenging responsibility to creatively merge diverse staff recommendations into a concise school improvement plan. Then staff teams worked to unpack the immediate, short term actions in great detail. As a result, a whole school community renewed focus on our core values and the official launch of SeeSaw will commence immediately.

Draft plan presented to the staff by the principal in response to staff recommendations

Special recognition is given to the Schools That Deliver Network for the inclusion of their slides in this reflection. In particular, our heartfelt thanks go to Mary Wilson, Bill Martin, and Teresa Edwards for facilitating the conference with great wisdom and expertise; involving the active participation of our team of forty staff over two full days.

Teresa, Bill and Mary 

Bill Martin shared with staff, "If you action your staff research recommendations, with great quality over time, there won't be many Catholic schools like you in the world. You will be the best there is."

Strengthened and enriched as a committed staff team, we are eager to propel our school forward with renewed energy, quality, passion and purpose to ensure we make a positive impact for every learner in our care.

Michael Carr-Gregg - 10 Ways to Optimise Well Being

Fortunately, one of our local Catholic school principals is a friend of the well respected Dr Michael Carr - Gregg. Dr Carr-Gregg gave a presentation to twenty principals at our first network meeting for 2019. I have to admit, having been away from Australia for many years, I wasn't familiar with Carr-Gregg's immense portfolio of work. "Michael is one of Australia's highest profile psychologists working in all form of media..." You can read more at this link.

Here are ten research based steps for supporting leadership, staff, student and community well being. Let's all find time to action this valuable advice.

Michael Carr-Gregg presents to the South Eastern Catholic Principal Network

Carr-Gregg commenced by sharing a number of recommended resources:

• The first one focused on exercise and brain function in Brain Rules by John Medina. Spending time with family & friends is valuable for managing stress.
• K10 test is a screening instrument and it can be downloaded from the Beyond Blue website. It only has ten questions and takes two minutes to complete. It is great for all of us. You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge. We all need to recognise this.
• Mental Health First Aid Australia Each year 1 in 5 Australians will experience a mental illness. Many people are not knowledgeable or confident to offer assistance. Physical first aid is accepted and widespread in our community, however most do not cover mental health problems. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) teaches people the skills to help someone who they are concerned about. 
• A starting point for us to take back to schools or workplaces is to think about our current life energy as  psychological eggs in a basket. We have 30 eggs and 3 baskets. One basket is for life/self, a second for family and the third for school/education/work. What’s the distribution of our own eggs ? If too many eggs are in the work basket - it is a disaster for us and our health.

Image from  FreightWaves

The optimal balance is: 15 eggs for self, 10 eggs for family and 5 golden eggs for work. If we function at our optimum level, then the quality and output of work is very high. It's time to start thinking about how we can put eggs into our own baskets.

Here are 10  research based proactive strategies for an optimum work life balance:

1. We can change the way we think about things by reframing what’s happened to see the positives. Change your thinking by Sarah Edelman is an excellent read. Online e couch (effective for many/ researched and approved) developed by Australian National University - free online Australian therapy, valuable for everyone.

This Way Up (Victorian) therapy

2. Gratitude: See life as it is and focus on the good bits. Three blessings technique. Free app. Three Good Things - A happiness technique. Research has proven that we can rewire our brain for the positive. We can be quantifiably happier and have a higher level of well being (16 years of research has shown it is sustainable). The more positivity in your life, the more it expands - you sleep better, have an effective immune systems and this reduces any anxiety or depression.

Gratitude Journal app

Three Good Things app

3. Why Kindness is good for you. The more volunteering we do the longer we live. Supporting and helping others sends feel good endorphins through our bodies. Feel good, do good. Apps for classrooms - The Kindness App 

The Kindnes App

4. When we’re together, everything is better. Greatest predictor of well being is a rich repertoire of friends. We need to support and encourage the importance of socialising and doing things together.

5. Be active - 10,000 steps is beneficial. Relax with mindfulness, meditation and prayer. We require eight hours sleep. Sleep hygiene is vital. Ted Talk Professor Russell Foster - Prof Sleep Studies - Oxford. Include link for staff. This video is a crash course on the science of sleep and suggests to dim the lights half an hour before bed to prepare for a good night’s sleep. Reading with a lamp is much better than looking at a device. The room needs to be cool, quiet and dark so that the body temperature drops and melatonin is produced.
Couch to 5K app is a great challenge for staff, a 13 week challenge. It is a gentle exercise programme. You can lose weight and oxygenate the brain. This gets the endorphins flowing. Exercise means less anxiety.

Couch to 5K app

Relax App is the mental health app of the year. It helps you to get a better night’s rest

Relax Melodies: Sleep Sounds

6. Mindfulness App - the favourite one is smiling minds. It has developmental stages and has revolutionised the whole practice.  We can all benefit from 10 mins of mindfulness per day. It will lower blood pressure. If students practise in schools, there are lower levels of bullying and mental health for children

Smiling Minds app

7. Find time to lose yourself in something your love. Learning new stuff - research shows the more you learn the higher your level of wellbeing.

8. It helps to know what you are looking forward too. Have a bucket list. Bucket List app
We benefit psychologically by creating our very own bucket list.

9. Don’t compare your insides with other people’s outsides. Accept your own strengths and weaknesses. Focus on the good bits of us. Good Blocks 

Improve your mood, self esteem and body image

10. The meaning of life  Finding a sense of connectedness that transcends the material world is beneficial to our wellbeing. We cannot underestimate the benefits of spirituality. Findings from psychological literature have proven the value of this form of connectedness.

Image from Spiritual Healing

As leaders, modelling these 10 ways to optimise well being will help ensure that we put more eggs into our self basket.

I wish to acknowledge Dr Michael Carr- Gregg for the material shared above. Anyone wishing to contact Carr-Gregg can do so directly through his website at this link.

Practice Fields Lead to Quick Wins for Learners

Staff are currently working in action research teams to help bring the St Pat's vision for our community of learners to life.  In the midst of a twelve month initial research period, self-motivated staff are trialling smaller projects to further engage and motivate learners.

Based on the work of theorist Edgar Schein as shared at the Schools That Deliver Innovation Masterclass, the trialling and testing of new ideas is vital for organisations to progress and succeed. Self-motivated action learning projects by staff are referred to as practice fields. The current St Pat's practice fields are resulting in quick wins for St Pat's learners.

Taken from the Schools That Deliver Innovation Masterclass June 2018

Seesaw Practice Field (Link to the St Pat's vision narrative.. We utilise technology to communicate learning and strengthen home school partnerships).
Year 1
Seesaw is a way to share children's learning in real time with parents and family members. This leads to opportunities for authentic learning conversations. Year 1 started with Seesaw to communicate the children's reading goals. There was immediate positive feedback from families and the children loved it. Now the app is used to share work problems and engage the parents in the children's learning. Other classes are very interested in exploring the use of the Seesaw app for 2019 and will talk further with Anne, Kim and Jacinta, the Year 1 teachers.

Acknowledgement @syliviaduckworth for this image

Flexible Furniture Practice Field Year 5 & Year 1 (Link to the St Pat's vision narrative Both students and teachers are excited about learning).
Year 5
The Year 5M class are the senior pilot classroom for flexible furniture. They have been trialling the furniture for three school terms since the start of the year. Feedback from students and challenges for the teacher were shared with staff. Together, our Year 5M teacher and the children made a recommendation going forward. The flexible furniture gets the big green tick with both the students and the teacher excited about learning in a classroom with flexible furniture. Thanks to Lisa Maraschiello for sharing the slideshow. As a result of the success of this practice field, the other Year 5 class and two Year 6 classes will start the 2019 year with flexible furniture.


Year 1 
The Year 1W class are our junior school pilot class for the flexible furniture. Like the seniors, the juniors don't sit on the same seat. They can choose which space to sit at. By allowing the children to choose, the teacher is relinquishing a form of control or management of the children. This is not easy for a teacher to do. However, as with the senior class, the junior children respond by making positive choices about where they choose to learn. This contributes to a genuine excitement for learning. Kim Wilson's recommendation is to give the children choice in your classrooms, with or without the flexible furniture.

Mental Toughness Practice Field (Link to the St Pat's vision narrative.. A healthy mindset, coupled with resilience and well-developed social skills ensures all learners are equipped to deal with life’s challenges, and have the skills to positively resolve conflict and communicate their ideas and emotions).
Year 3
The Year 3 classes have been participating in a Mental Toughness Pilot. They are about to complete a final assessment to understand the success of the programme. This practice field has taken place over two terms. Based on the initial benchmark assessment, our children scored high on the Mental Toughness scale at the start of the pilot programme. Staff believe that we already have programmes in place that contribute to a high level of "mental toughness" for our St Pat's learners. Once the post assessment is complete, a recommendation or otherwise of the programme will be made.

Collaborative Planning Practice Field (Link to our vision narrative...Ongoing data tracking leads to learning that is differentiated therefore optimising engagement).
Year 5
The Year 5 teachers are trialling a different form of planner. The new planner was in response to a staff meeting exploring ways to show evidence of adjustment in teaching for NCCD (Nationally Consistent Collection of Data). The goal was to show additional support and explicit teaching strategies thereby indicating differentiated teaching and to do so efficiently and effectively. The newly designed collaborative planning document is an adaptation of other models. Teachers can contribute to the document and use different colours to indicate special events and specialist programmes as well as include digital links to resources. The Year 5 teachers have found the new collaborative planning document invaluable.
An Emergency Teacher who came into one of the Year 5 classrooms was able to follow the planning document and felt confident and well informed with teaching the class.
Based on the outcomes of this practice field, the collaborative planner will be explored further with staff at the next planning day with a goal to use it across the school for 2019.

Acknowledgement to St Pat's teachers Lisa Maraschiello and Paul Jones

Spelling & Grammar Practice Field (Link to the St Pat's vision narrative.. Ongoing data tracking leads to learning that is differentiated therefore optimising engagement).
Spelling (Year 1, 3, 5) 
Analysis of student data led to research around a consistent, differentiated approach to spelling and grammar across the school.
Our Teaching and Learning Leaders and colleagues are using The SMART Spelling approach as part of a practice field in Years 1, 3 & 5. Teachers are finding that the children are successfully transferring their learning to reading. Language such as 'diagraphs' is being used by the juniors along with hand gestures for spelling rules. The new school timetable for Term 4 which includes two equal play breaks during the day, lends itself well to a two hour block for literacy including a 15 minute daily spelling slot. Children are responding positively to this explicit and personalised learning approach. A final review is planned for the end of Term 4 and a recommendation for 2019 across the school will be made.

  Grammar (Prep, Year 2, 4, 6)

Grammar matters and should be taught differently is a research article that clearly captures the need for a grammar revolution within all schools. Our DP Liz Hills worked with teachers to explore the Victorian Curriculum and develop a Scope and Sequence to trial and potentially replace the current reliance on text books. The new approach to grammar is driven by an emphasis on learners reading quality literature.

Being proficient with spelling and grammar will make our learners better writers and readers and will strengthen outcomes, ensuring the curriculum has a positive and meaningful impact ( linked to the St Pat's vision narrative).

The St Pat's Practice Fields lead to quick wins for our learners.