It was with much dismay that I received a phone call on Thursday morning advising me of a positive COVID case in the School. Indeed, we hold dear to our hearts the wellbeing and care of all community members and I remain hopeful our swift action on Thursday will work favourably for the health of the community and young children in our care.

With rising case numbers in metropolitan Melbourne, families are advised to respect and follow the health advice of practising good hygiene, maintaining physical social distancing, wearing a face mask and getting tested if exhibiting any signs of illness. Community members are strongly urged to get vaccinated. With an alarming increase in case numbers in the under five years age group and the highest case numbers occurring in the 20-29 years bracket in Victoria, we all have a role to play in keeping our young people safe and well.

The timeliness of R U OK? Day, scheduled annually on September 9, was not lost on me yesterday. It was a welcome question by a close friend after my day had been somewhat derailed as we navigated the School through a positive COVID case. R U OK? Day is our national day of action dedicated to reminding everyone that every day is the day to ask, “are you ok?” and support those struggling with life’s ups and downs. This very simple question hopes to inspire and empower everyone to connect with people around them and lend support when they are struggling.

As lockdown six challenges so many in our community, I encourage our students and family members to reach out with this question to their friends. Whilst we cannot necessarily fix everyone’s problems or know the best way to help and support, we can listen to what a friend is saying, let them know you care and tell someone, like a trusted adult, if you are worried about them.

The COVID Lessons: John Hattie Reflects

Earlier this week, I enjoyed the opportunity to participate in a conversation with Emeritus Professor John Hattie. Hattie is globally renowned for his mega-data research on visible learning that defines the impact of teaching methodologies by an effect size on student achievement and growth. He is currently interested in the nationwide lockdowns across Australia owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and has focused his attention on the effect of school campus closures on student performance. To date, there is a paucity of meaningful research about the consequences of frequent lockdowns.

In recent weeks, schools have received results data from NAPLAN testing that occurred in May this year. Interestingly, Victoria continues to lead the country in performance despite the past 12 months experiencing more restrictions to on-campus learning than any other state.

Hattie is of the belief that COVID-19 has provided the greatest teacher-led revolution to ever exist. Hattie believes the evidence from a U.S study is showing teachers ‘talked less’ when teaching online, with 60% less teacher questions and they moved more to a triage pattern of listening more to what the students were thinking, what they were understanding and what they were not understanding, in addition to more management on how the individual students were progressing with their learning.

Most powerfully, during online learning students were much more willing to liaise with their teachers via chat rooms about what they do not know and did not understand. Many teachers in this research were saying, “we got to know our students differently.”

Hattie is notably supportive of the Gradual Release of Responsibility as an approach to teaching self-regulatory behaviour and for students to understand their own progress. In recent years, the Gradual Release of Responsibility, adopted in Barbreck, and the implementation of the Independent Learning Tutorials providing Flexi-Tute and Masterclasses in our Senior Years Learning Model, has placed students in the driving seat of their learning engagement and self-regulation. Such lesson formats do not allow the students to be passive in their attendance or engagement, nor does it allow them to simply listen to teachers delivering content. The lockdown period has shown students they can work independently, seek help when they need it – with self-agency key to their own growth and progress.

As Term 3 draws to a close, it is also clear that social-emotional supports will be increasingly significant for improvement of students’ wellbeing and connection. At St Catherine’s, we remain focused on creating a sense of belonging, a respect for every individual, a level of trust and a place where we understand each other, whether online or not. As we return to campus next term, we must focus on schools becoming the most inviting place in town!

Staff Information

Across the month of September, the School seeks to finalise the staffing matrix for the forthcoming year. Commencing in 2022, I have invited our Deputy Principal, Mr Robert Marshall to lead key strategic activities connected with our Towards 2025 Strategic Plan, focusing predominantly in the Years 5 to 9 academic and co-curricular programs. Rob’s experience leading Wesley’s Year 9 Clunes residential programs and research conducted during his time at ACER, enables him to provide a significant level of expertise to conduct this important work in our School.

With this new appointment for Mr Marshall, it gives me much pleasure to announce Mrs Ceri Lloyd as a new member of the Senior Leadership Team, taking on the Director of Teaching and Learning position, commencing in 2022. Ceri has shown exemplary leadership of the English Faculty over many years, consistently exceeding with VCE results and rigour across the program. She has also recently been appointed by VCAA to the VCE English and EAL Study Design Review and has flourished in her work as the Project Leader – Senior Years Learning Model this year. Ceri has recently completed study through Harvard University – Exercising Leadership: Foundational Principles and is looking forward to shaping the direction of our academic programs more broadly across the School.

In the coming months we will also farewell the following teachers from St Catherine’s:

Mr Fiachra Barry, an inspiring Physics and Science teacher, will be relocating to the UK with his wife taking up a position at Manchester University.

Ms Kirsten Wiley, our Dean of Academics and Further Mathematics teacher is relocating to Singapore with her husband.

And Ms Pauline van der Poel, member of the Senior Leadership Team and renowned Careers Practitioner will be commencing in a new role at Xavier College. Ms van der Poel will be fondly remembered by many St Catherine’s Old Girls for her invaluable advice in navigating their choices for tertiary selections.

Over the course of the past week we have been finalising our recruitment for the Mathematics, Physics and new Barbreck STEM roles commencing next year, along with commencing interviews for the Careers Department and importantly a new Head of Faculty (English).