A big thank you to all of the parents and community members who took the time to talk to the School Reviewers that visited our school last week. The Reviewers spoke very positively about the school and left us with four affirmation and four Key Improvement Priorities to work on over the next four years. We will receive the official School Review report in about five weeks and this will be shared on our website and at our next P & C meeting.
Their first affirmation was for the Systemic implementation of Curriculum within the school. A big congratulations to Steph Ruddick for the huge part she plays in leading this work. This work, both at our school and within the cluster, is pivotal to ensuring teachers are able to clearly understand what they should be teaching. This clarity allows teachers to spend their time thinking about how they will teach the content in engaging ways. Our systems and processes are particularly important in light of the changes to Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum which will begin to be implemented next year.
The second affirmation was for our school's ability to promote a culture of learning by ensuring that interactions between staff, students, families and the wider community are caring, respectful and inclusive. It was lovely to hear comments that parents had shared with the reviewers such as " we feel like the staff are on our side". It is this team work between parents and staff, as we all strive to provide equity and excellence for our kids, that makes Depot Hill such a special place to work.
Next term, once we have received the final review, we will unpack the findings and begin writing the next four-year Strategic Plan to meet the four areas of improvement which have been suggested. We will be seeking further parent input to support us in our school improvement journey.