Annual Plan
Annual Plan 2019 - Growing
We focus on equity and excellence. We have done a lot of work in 2017-18 on equity particularly with growing our SENCO role, training teachers and teacher aides in literacy interventions and targeting learning support within the school. In 2019, in line with our strategic charter goal we are focusing on excellence. Our aim is to provide a holistic, authentic curriculum that engages all children. To do this we need to innovate and to innovate safely we need to maintain systems of structure and grounded practice which is reflected in our goals for 2019.
Goal 1: Integrated and authentic curriculum led by our special character.
Goal 2: Provision of relevant, challenging and safe EOTC within our integrated curriculum, supported by our community.
Goal 3: Full Board ownership of policy review.
Goal 1: Integrated and authentic curriculum led by our special character
Expected Outcomes:
- Teachers work in pairs over one curriculum level to plan RE in a 2 year cycle.
- Two RE Achievement Objectives are fully integrated.
- Parish and school cohesively unpack parts of the mass.
- Reading, writing, maths learning progressions have all been reviewed and approved by staff.
- Children in year 4 upwards can discuss their learning and next steps in terms of learning progressions and exemplars.
- Children in year 4 upwards can explain strategies they could use to extend/improve their learning using the SOLO model
- Evidence in teacher planning and practice that teachers are beginning to backmap authentic, holistic learning experiences into curriculum requirements*
OUTCOMES AND PROGRESS: A full report on the outcomes will be shared at the first term 4 board meeting. Progress will be reported at each board meeting in the principal’s report
ERO dimension
Tasks
Special Character
Teacher only day end 2018 unpacking the Religious Education Bridging Document (REBD).
Special character committee to work on ensuring parish/school are working together on unpacking mass.
Teachers are replacing the week’s teaching at the beginning of each term from the prayer module with a part of the mass.
Governance
Budget and professional development allocation
Leadership for equity and excellence
Principal working closely with PLD provider
Looking for opportunities for syndicate leaders to develop coaching-style leadership opportunities.
PLD provider will facilitate learning to all staff about Practice Analysis Conversations
Educationally powerful connections
Enviroschool focus on community engagement to be unpacked as we work through the year.
Responsive curriculum, effective teaching and opportunity to learn
Review and finalise learning progressions in maths and writing - fixed term unit for curriculum coordinator.
Fixed term unit for Enviroschools coordinator
Inquiry planner re-written to include the over-arching curriculum themes and our targets for 2019.
Professional and collective capacity
Principal providing practical examples of using SOLO in the context of Enviroschools throughout the year.
External professional development plan around student agency and authentic curriculum. Indicators - baseline and ongoing in our pld journal.
2019 professional development plan
Within and across school teachers in COL to be trained in peer coaching.
Evaluation, inquiry, knowledge-building for improvement and innovation
Greater focus on coaching skills for within school teacher.
More focus in our own staff development on gathering and interpreting qualitative evidence.
Business as usual to continue:
- Teachers work towards Diploma in Religious Education
- Start the year unpacking the Dominican charism.
- Continue working on spirals of inquiry with Whitestone Kahui Ako
- All staff continue to build capability.
* an example of what back-mapping could look like:
Children noticed a lot of the weeds that have grown in the school garden over the holidays are now in seed. Class discussions lead to establishing there is interest and curiosity in how plants reproduce. In the course of an inquiry into this the teaching pathway would ensure children cover curriculum goals in writing, reading, visual language, maths, nature of science, science living earth strand, and could include drama, visual art and music. How are we going to find out about this? How are we going to record what we find out? Make sense of it? Can we measure it? Graph it? Make estimates? What proportion of the garden is weeds and how can we tell? What direct teaching is needed (e.g. - how to draw and annotate a flow chart, how to measure accurately and calculate a proportion, how bees pollinate flowers) How can we present our findings? Can we use our imaginations to make something beautiful about our findings and e.g. present seed dispersal in a dance format? Are there further investigations we can carry out? Problem solving: What can we do to promote the propagation of plants we DO want? How does the teacher ensure the students use their core curriculum progressions to ensure learning is happening? E.g. do the children know their writing progression well enough to be actively engaged in writing improvement while they are writing to communicate in learning.
In this example the curiosity, student-inquiry comes first, then the teacher ensures that key understandings are encountered.
Then: as teaching staff how are we going to track what children are learning and ensure curriculum coverage?
Goal 2: Provision of relevant, challenging and safe EOTC within our integrated curriculum, supported by our community.
Expected Outcomes:
- Our staff are comfortable with the level of EOTC they are providing.
- Parent and community expectations are heard and accommodated with our EOTC provision.
- All members of our school community, are individually and communally aware that they are responsible for health and safety.
ERO dimension
Tasks
Outcomes
Governance
- Committee formed for health and safety review - fits in with this year’s review cycle.
- Take advantage of health and safety training if available.
- Risk assessment matrices and EOTC proposals shared with board early term 2 for initial agreement.
- Full proposal shared by the end of term 3 for sign off. At this stage not everything will be completed e.g. all health forms may not have been returned. Board, or a subcommittee (including principal), to make a list of extra things the principal will need to see in the final planning stages.
The change here is instead of presenting the full documentation at the end of term 3 there is a process of engagement throughout the year and a real option for the board to mitigate or question plans.
Leadership for equity and excellence
Individual crisis plans for each EOTC event.
Principal has secured a professional supervisor for extra support/debriefings in these situations.
Principal review all health and safety procedures in line with school policies (over Summer break)
Whole staff morning before start of term 1 to bring areas of health and safety to staff attention.
Educationally powerful connections
- Early term 1 - EOTC presentation evening to families.
- Present the benefits and experiences of past camps.
- Present curriculum benefits - how our full curriculum for about 1 term is integrated into EOTC - nutrition, health and safety, maths (map reading, scales, coordinates, measurement), first aid, personal wellbeing, resilience, fitness etc.
- Increased costs - extra teacher, trained instructors. Find out what the parents want.
- Give them some broad options - e.g. a back country adventure, a fully facilitated residential camp, rail trail type options, etc.
- Consider how do we build class team culture while providing for the needs of all students?
- Open discussion
- Survey forms for all families
- Decisions made after the consultation evening on what and how we are going to do camps for 2019 and moving forwards. The main decision-maker is the teacher who will be running the camp in consultation with the principal (as long as it falls within our overall policies).
Responsive curriculum, effective teaching and opportunity to learn
- Teachers to determine their level of comfort with leading EOTC and must not lead beyond that comfort level. Initial meeting before start of year.
- Consideration whether or how two teachers (principal) could/should go on camp.
- Teachers to investigate camp/EOTC options themselves - the ownership of the organisation needs to be fully with the teacher.
- EOTC to be planned in term 1 and all bookings made. By the end of term 1, the teacher presents to the principal an outline of the proposed camp and together work through risk assessment matrices. These can be shared with the board.
Professional and collective capacity
Modelling/support on camps will be provided where required.
Goal 3: Increased Board ownership of policy review
Expected Outcomes:
- Even though we use Schooldocs, we know and own our policies
- We understand the legislation behind our policies.
ERO dimension
Tasks
Outcomes
Governance
Start of year board meeting engage with the year’s review cycle and set up NAG committees to engage with areas of review.
Committees work with the principal to look at the policy, engage with the legislation behind the policy and look at examples of how procedure is meeting the policy.
Committees provide a report to the board in order to inform policy review.
Board members to take advantage of any local training opportunities.
Leadership for equity and excellence
Upcoming policy reviews and associated procedures will be brought to staff attention through Thinktank.
Principal will check in with staff regarding how procedures are working as part of review process.
Business as usual to continue:
- Review cycle
- Consult with community through newsletter
- Schooldocs board consultation feedback process.
- Principal reinforcing the importance of procedure for personal, professional and communal safety
- Close review and improvement of procedure as required.
- Full parent consultation for next 3 year strategic plan.
- Keep property maintenance up to date and finalise the 5 year maintenance plan in line with the 10YPP.