Cindy Sheridan

Yvette Swaalf

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Well what an interesting year for Valley View Secondary School was 2019! Staff changes, upgrades for wheelchair access andthe successful return of the canteen to name a few positive improvements.

More importantly, GC have had greater involvement into the development of the Site Improvement Plan and the development ofour 4 values – Communication, Attitude, Resilience and Responsibility.

GC have been involved in shaping improvements in culture at the school – through the consultation and feedback sought byGC around relevant policy and procedures eg Uniform, Sunsmart, development of Parent Grievance Procedure, Bullying andHarassment Policy.

Improvements have been observed in school tone and school culture with students and parents reporting that the schoolsbehavior management processes are consistent, which has enabled a significant improvement in the learning environment atthe school.

GC was involved in the revamp of the VVSS website – the school has been responsive to feedback in this area – and the site iscontemporary and raises a professional standing within the community.

There has been a deeper focus on quality teaching and learning with the removal of breakout and moving towards supportstructures that integrate students with disabilities into the classroom with learning support SSO’s.

There have been improvements in reading in PAT R, which is aligned to the focus on reading across the school.

Budgetary alignments have been directed to learning, moving away from programs that are delivered by external providers thatdo not have a focus on learning, to put money back into the hands of learning area co-ordinators.

Observed improvements in teacher/school communication with our parents – through the interim reporting process andexpectations put in place for teachers to follow up on attendance and learning conversations with parents.

All in all 2019 was full of some well deserved changes and improvements and I’m sure we are all looking forward to seeingthese well implemented this year!

Valley View Secondary School caters for young people from year 8 to year 12. It is situated 16kms from the Adelaide CBD. Theenrolment in 2020 is 305 students. The school has an ICSEA score of 958 and is classified as Category 3 on the Departmentfor Education Index of Educational Disadvantage. The school population includes 42% of families eligible for School Card, 9%Aboriginal students, 23% with English as an additional language or dialect (EALD) background, and 13% student students witha disability. There are 2% young people in care. The school leadership team consists of a Principal, B4 Deputy, B3 Assistant,B2 Senior Leader (Well-being), B1 (FLO/House/Well-being), 6 B1 curriculum leaders and 4 House Managers. There are22.5FTE teachers including 5 in the early years of their career and 4 Step 9 teachers.

The RIA team conducted an External Review on 17 and 18 February citing that significant change in culture and conditions wasas a result of intentional and determined leadership. Collective review and renewal of traditional norms has seen expectationsof staff and students raised, whilst a respectful and unified culture is still evident. Accountability to self and others is anoverarching concept to which all members of the school community are responding positively and with pride. The deep focus onthe previous directions through the new School Improvement Cycle has ensured that the school will be reviewed in 2023.Alongside this, the school celebrates a deep focus on whole-school buy-in into the School Improvement Planing journey. Thiswas evidenced through the overwhelming positive contribution parents and staff had during the review and evaluation of theSIP in Term 4.

In 2019, VVSS celebrated the development of four contemporary School Values (Communication, Attitude, Resilience andResponsibility) in partnership with community. The Vision and Values has shaped the delivery of learning and well beingprograms - providing the language to empower students to embrace life-long learning. Strengthening the House System in2019 has facilitated a Student Leadership Model to enable authentic student agency.

Conditions for effective student learning have improved notably, which is an achievement acknowledged and celebrated acrossthe school community.

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VVSS has embraced Quality School Improvement Planning to strategically shape the development and implementation of theSite Improvement Plan (SIP). Extensive whole-school buy-in has enabled critical reflection and analysis to progress the schoolinto the next iteration of the SIP.

During term 4 of 2019, all staff were involved in the analysis of whole school, cohort and individual class achievement data todetermine evidence and impact against the 3 goals. There were opportunities to celebrate success in the improvement inhistorical trends in NAPLAN, PAT M/R which staff closely aligned to the Professional Learning embedded within the ReadingStrategy - namely the uptake of Before During and After Reading (BDA) pedagogy across all learning areas. Learning Area A-Edata showed little improvement against A-E baseline data from the previous year. However, there was a shift towards theC-band with the reduction of failing grades by an average of 5%. Whilst this remains an area for intentional focus, there wasevidence that teachers were consistently developing rigorous assessment tasks that were quality assured through collaborativemoderation processes.

Reflecting on the Goals and the Challenge of Practice (CoP) from the 2019 SIP, leaders reported observational changes withinthe classroom - a shift in pedagogy from task-driven to instructional and explicit teaching through feedback mechanisms.Students noted the changes and report that teaching is more innovative (ESR). There was a consensus amongst staff that2019 provided teachers a deeper understanding of their CoP and the imperative for pedagogical change as informed by data.However, teachers believed that the improvement goals were too dense and needed refinement (using language such as‘overwhelming’ or ‘too much’).

Staff provided extensive feedback over a number of intensive sessions, to re-define the Goals and CoP to ensure they built onprevious Professional Learning, were responsive to data and not jargonistic. Targets were closely scrutinised and ourProfessional Learning calendar and Actions were also reviewed to determine our next steps. Staff were involved in settingaspirational, SMARTAR targets and provided suggestions to leadership on how to monitor and track student achievement in2020. Explicitly defining teacher responsibilities within the SIP was absent in 2019, so staff were keen to see this clearlyarticulated for 2020. This was very encouraging to leadership and has significantly added to the buy-in.

The consistency of language across the SIP was also an area for improvement as staff noted 'several voices' across the SIP.Actions were redefined and structured to commence with a verb to provide staff with clear directions around expectedoutcomes. Timelines were planned strategically to accommodate other competing demands across the school.

Through the process of review and evaluate, leadership identified the importance of embedding accountability processes toensure evidence of impact. Organisational structures within the school will ensure a greater focus on scheduling time toimprove practice and monitor impact.

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Reading: In 2019, the reading results, as measured by NAPLAN, indicate that 54% of year 9 students demonstratedthe expected achievement against the SEA. This result represents an improvement from the historic baseline average. Year 9NAPLAN reading - the school is achieving within the results of similar students across government schools. 9% of year 9students achieved in the top 2 NAPLAN reading bands. For year 9, this result represents an improvement from the historicbaseline average. For those students in 2019 who achieved in the top 2 NAPLAN proficiency bands in reading, 29%, or 2 outof 7 students from year 3 remain in the upper bands at year 9.

Numeracy: In 2019, the numeracy results, as measured by NAPLAN, indicate that 56% of year 9 students demonstratedthe expected achievement against the SEA. This result represents an improvement from the historic baseline average.Year 9 NAPLAN numeracy, the school is achieving within the results of similar groups of students across government schools.In 2019, 7% of year 9 students achieved in the top 2 NAPLAN numeracy bands. For year 9, this result represents animprovement from the historic baseline average. For those students in 2019 who achieved in the top 2 NAPLAN proficiencybands in numeracy, 33%, or 1 out of 3 students from year 3 remain in the upper bands at year 9.

SACE: In terms of SACE completion, 39% of students enrolled in February and 84% of those enrolled in October, who had thepotential to complete their SACE did go on to successfully achieve SACE. For compulsory SACE Stage 1 and 2 subjects in2019, 86% of students successfully completed their Stage 1 Personal Learning Plan, 89% of students successfully completedtheir Stage 1 literacy units, 63% successfully completed their Stage 1 numeracy units and 93% successfully completed theirStage 2 Research Project. For attempted Stage 2 SACE subjects in 2019, 89% of grades achieved were at ‘C-‘ level or higher,2.3% of grades were at an ‘A’ level and 31% of grades were at a ‘B’ level. This result represents little or no changefor the ‘A’ and ‘B’ level grades, from the historic baseline averages. Forty-two percent of students completed SACE using VETand there were 26 students enrolled in the Flexible Learning Options (FLO) programs. In terms of 2019 tertiary entrance, 35%,or 11 out of 31 potential students achieved an ATAR or TAFE SA selection score. Average median grade band at Stage 2dropped from B- to C+.

Positive Trends:· NAPLAN writing achievement sees SEA increase 2017-2019· NAPLAN Numeracy sees High Band achievement increase 2017-2019· 2018 & 2019 NAPLAN Reading SEA is increase against historic baseline average· progression data indicates students ‘decreasing’ achievement is declining and ‘maintenance’ and ‘increase’ levels areimproving· VVSS is ‘within’ the achievement average of comparative sites

Concerning Trends:· past 4 year average of students at SEA in NAPLAN Writing is 30%· past 4 year average of students at SEA in Reading and Numeracy is just over 50%

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The school notes that attendance rates have declined for ‘all’ students and Aboriginal Learners over the past 4 years. Whilstaccountability measures have been enforced across the school to ensure follow-up of student non-attendance, a moreproactive approach through the House System is currently underway. The re-conceptualisation of our Attendance Policy willensure greater buy-in from all stakeholders. Initiatives in the well-being space will empower students resilience to learning andaccountability at school.

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The school celebrates a decline in the overall number of suspensions (including the number of students suspended) from 2018to 2019 with the number of exclusions remaining the same. This can be attributed to the positive learning culture underpinnedby clear policy and process - empowering teachers to take responsibility for behaviour management in supportiveleadership/management structures. In 2020, the Learning for Wellbeing Team through the House System, aims to improvecapacity to effect behavioural change for students to become a more positive, inclusive and welcoming school and to harnesspartnerships between school, family and community.

Feedback from parents report that that the school is improving the quality of communication to families including listening toconcerns and responding in a timely manner. Improvements in written communication, update of the website and providingadvance warning of up-and-coming events have been noted at GC. Families have noticed a shift in emphasis from 'minimalcompletion' to high expectations through a focus on quality feedback in the classroom, career development and rigorous coursecounselling processes. They have noted that the staff encourage students to achieve their potential through a supportive andcaring environment.

Families report that they would like a more consistent approach by the school around the use of DayMap to inform them of theirchild's progress. The school has responded by providing additional professional learning to staff to ensure consistency inreporting and documentation of students learning and expectations.

Parents/caregivers have welcomed the re-introduction of the diary to improve communication around homework, lateness,attendance and student movement.

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Non-teaching staff, students that need clearance for work placement, adult re-entry students, volunteers are required to havecurrent DCSI clearances prior to commencing at school, work placement or off site venues.

New applications are entered online and await approval/confirmation of clearance as required, existing staff lodge renewalapplication when current expiry date is approaching allowing enough time to ensure new clearance in time.

Regular third party providers that work directly with students are required to submit current copies of their DCSI certificates onan annual basis.

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