W ELCO M E F RO M T H E D EP U T Y P RIN C IPAL
STAFF AWARDS The following staff members received an award at the Board of Governors Dinner in May 2019: Going Beyond Award Lisa Broad (Communications and Publications Manager) Jasmina Hazrolaj (Laboratory Manager) Sonia Brennan (Director of Foundation and Community Engagement) pressure on teachers, I wanted to make sure that my professional development was relevant and could be easily adapted to busy teaching lives. I also wanted to build the teachers’ confidence and inspire them to explore technology further. Before the TeachMeet, I’d pre-recorded instructional videos and created a series of templates, which I emailed to participants. It was rewarding to receive feedback afterwards about how useful they’d found these resources, enabling them to confidently prepare and distribute digital worksheets that were easily accessible by students. Because I already used a ‘driver face-to-face’ model of blended learning in my classroom, it was easy to ‘pick and lift’ my resources and techniques into the ALP. Also, my students were already used to working in this way, so we lost very little momentum in our units of work. However, remote learning helped me to understand that having students physically present does not equal engagement and progress. It forced me to examine the ways in which I collect evidence of student participation and progress. And it also prompted me to explore how to make my Canvas navigation clearer and more visual. While I might be technically-minded, I am not aesthetically-minded! I have since devised a new visual framework for my courses that I can build on moving forward. One of the more thrilling aspects of this journey has been transforming assessment in Stage 4, moving away from scored summative assessments to a grade scale. This has made the day-to-day work more meaningful for students. It has reduced their anxiety (and mine!) because we can focus on what demonstrating success truly looks like in languages. It’s not a single point in time on a test, but rather the growth and skills they exhibit in class through their ongoing speaking, writing and comprehension tasks. It supports a growth mindset by helping students to strive towards an end goal rather than a meaningless score out of 100.
Commitment to Improvement Award Stephen Colyer (English Teacher) Rolfe Kolbe (Digital Learning Leader) Mark Devine (TAS Teacher) Stepping Up Award Linda Macqueen (Science Teacher) Reza Jalili-Baleh (Director of ICT) Behind the Scenes Award Amani Rdiaan (Senior College Team Administration Assistant) Andrew Leake (Chief Operating Officer) Yvonne Grisaffe (Quality Assurance Manager) Ann-Marie Osborne (Head of Sport K-12) Outstanding Commitment to the Teaching Profession Award Kimberley Peck (Junior School Teacher) Andrew Douglas (Languages Teacher) Nicholas Amato (Junior School Teacher) Bridie O’Mahony (Junior School Music Coordinator - Acting) Commitment to Staff Development Award Patricia Davis (Director of Studies) Joshua Clark (Assistant Head of Science) Graeme Hutton (TAS Teacher) Promoting a Culture of Care and Support Award Michelle Bollard (Teaching Assistant) Leadership of Learning Award Justin Newall (Head of Mathematics) Janet McNally (Head of TAS) Equanimity of Spirit Award Wendy Wickham (PA to the Principal) Ut Prosim Award Catherine Seale (Director of Community and Service Learning)
Page 11 Page 11
