Filter Content
- President’s Report
- Principal Induction
- PSL Conference
- Executive Meeting with Minister & Secretary
- Fair Funding Now launch
- State Council
- Wagga Wagga Start Up Conference
- Sydney Morning Herald – Education Summit –ICC Sydney
- University of Western Sydney
- Central Schools Term 1 Forum
- If You Feel Pressure
- Reference Groups Standing Committees and Working Parties – would you like to be a member ?
- Teachers Federation Principals’ Conference
- From our Reference Groups
- Visiting Local PPCs
- Around the Traps
- National Scene
Gee Week 6 already !!
We certainly hope everything has settled down, enrolments are healthy , all classes staffed as you’d like and there are no school community issues to worry you.
With a State election looming, there certainly has been a swathe of promises left, right & centre, and we have to be wary of politicians and their interest in visiting your school [see Murat’s email on Conventions especially during this time of “care taker government”].
Associate Professor Phil Riley’s report on his survey on Principal Health & Well-being was a major event last week. The longitudinal study over the last 9 years has shown little improvement in the lot of our primary principals and leaders across the nation. See a section later in this Newsletter.
The long awaited release of the Disabilities Strategy also occurred last week. In light of the absolute “drubbing” our schools & system received during the Upper House Inquiry, it was great to receive this “high level” statement, with more details to follow.
Our first State Council of the year is getting closer, March 13-14. We will have all Presidents and delegates to this Council as well as our chairpersons, observers & Executive. The occasion will be great if the Presidents have completed & returned the details of their 2019 executive, the 10 principals for the selection panel and their dates & venues for their PPC meetings. Everyone can tell if they have been updated if they scroll to their PPC executive list & if meeting dates are on the calendar.
Several executive members attended the recent principal Induction spreading the good oil to the 85 substantive & Relieving principals. Following on from the theme SPC President Chris started …we welcomed them all to our family of c.1800 primary principals and discussed the role of PPA and Area Councils and the support we offer.
Both SPC President Chris Presland & I attended the Term 1 Conference for our PSLs. It was great to catch up with the new batch of PSLs who were just a few days into their term.
There have been some improvements to the workload of our PSLs now that the EV process has been spread over a longer period and I reinforced a couple of key points when I addressed them:
- Thank you for their fabulous work supporting schools
- A key part of their role is providing that “shoulder to shoulder” support when times get tough for our colleagues
- They remain principals & should automatically be invited to PPC meetings a fellow principals.
Executive Meeting with Minister & Secretary
Each term Executive members meet with both the Minister & the Secretary to discuss key issues.
With the Minister, we discussed the pending Disability Strategy; EPAC processes and the wellbeing of our principals [the Minister advised he set up an independent review into EPAC led by QC Mark Tedeschi]; Principal classification, role statement and accreditation against the Principal Standard; the SAP HR tool & improvements; NESA and our $100 fee and what it is used for; Director of Rural Education; School Community Charter; Voluntary contributions.
Our Agenda with the Secretary [Murat & Georgina were also there] included open conversations about the Disability Strategy; Teaching & Learning [EAfS will continue, feedback on Best Start]; Supporting Principals [particularly with media & social media]; principal classification; Ed Services review – where we are up to on the 16 projects [ details will be forwarded to us]; Mental Health announcement for HS; Director of Rural Education, School Community Charter & DEL meetings email [ they are not compulsory & are best when co-designed]; Finance 6100 and 6300 funds – clarification that 6300 funds will not be taken.
Chris Presland [SPC President] and I attended the launch of the next phase of the Fair Funding Now Campaign at Federation House recently. To me it’s all about fairness in our society. All children deserve fair treatment & fair funding to help them reach their potential. The original needs based sector blind philosophy of the Gonski review should be the underlying platform for Federal funding…
So if the green buses come your way, it would be fabulous to see your whole school out there supporting it.
Just a reminder to Presidents – you are all invited to attend Term 1 (March 14-15) and Term 2 (June 13-14) State Council. For Term 1 State Council there will be time to organise replacements for our Reference Groups in our Regional groups. Chairpersons will be working with Deputy President Robyn Evans to ensure you know vacancies beforehand.
There will be a slight change for our chairpersons this year. As well as the ½ day prior to each State Council & State Council, we are inviting you to attend our Term 2 Executive meeting for 1 ½ days (lunch onwards May 9 and all of May 10)….more details later.
Wagga Wagga Start Up Conference
Congratulations to Tanya Whyte President Wagga Wagga PPC for coordinating and hosting this amazing Conference. President Phil Seymour and I were delighted to join the combined conference – Principals from Wagga, Albury, Deniliquin and Griffith were in attendance for the two days.
Day 1 speakers included Murat Dizdar Deputy Secretary School Operations and Performance, Georgina Harrison – Deputy Secretary Educational Services , Cheryl Best Executive Director Teaching and Learning and Liana Downey Executive Director Delivery. On Day 2 Matthew Brown Relieving Executive Director Wagga Wagga Operational Directorate, Mark Grant, Executive director Leadership and High Performance and Deputy President Diane Robertson Principal Clarke Road presented a session – Principal in The Spotlight where she shared her professional journey. A great line up indeed.
Phil and I presented and ran concurrent workshops as well as opened up the forum for questions. We sought feedback too from the numerous Teaching Principals on the ways they were utilising the additional funding provided by the Department. This information will be directly fed back to Minister Rob Stokes and Secretary Mark Scott. This funding is critical to the operationalisation of our small schools so that the students in these schools are getting the best from those teaching – the Principal as well as keeping a healthy rein on the administrative load we all carry. Many thanks to all in attendance. It was a conference that sets these Principals up for a collegial and collaborative start to the school year.
Sydney Morning Herald – Education Summit –ICC Sydney
The Educational Summit was a line-up of key speakers representing both State and Federal Government, as well as agencies and schools. Dan Tehan , Tanya Plibersek, Rob Stokes, Jihad Dib, Briony Scott, Mark Scott, Adrian Piccoli, Tom Alegounarias, Eddie Woo and Murray Mulheron presented on the day. It was without doubt a day of rich professional learning and insight into the state of education in NSW today and for the future.
Christine Taylor Principal St Ives North Public School and John Goh Principal Merrylands East Public School were positioned on panels to offer insight and opinion. Christine on – What are the skills and attributes the teachers of tomorrow will need and John on – Student well-being: implementing a whole school culture of wellness. Look out for this event in 2020 – it was fabulous !
The SPC and PPA were invited to the Wanderers V’s Perth Glory game by the Professor Michele Simons, Dean, School of Education – Western Sydney University. Both Associations have had long standing connections to the University collaborating on programs and practicums for pre-service teachers. Whilst the game was very exciting there was rich discussion about strengthening relationships with schools and Universities and positioning the right students in Universities and schools to strengthen and grow the workforce of the future.
We encourage you to build networks with your Universities and further develop relationships to ensure we attract the best possible students to be in our schools as pre-service teachers from their first year at University until graduation. Importantly their preparedness for school life needs to shared and understood contextually with a goal of being appointed to all of our schools – regional, rural, remote and metropolitan alike.
The Central Schools Forum held this term was again well represented and I congratulate Michael Windred (PPA) and Michael Rathborne (SPC) on their leadership of this representative group. The discussion was both lively and deeply reflective about action forward in our Central Schools and the unique complexities in staffing and operationalising such schools. President Chris Presland, President Phil Seymour and I were in attendance.
Reference Groups Standing Committees and Working Parties – would you like to be a member ?
At the Term 1 State Council Meeting Presidents from all PPC’s will be in attendance. This week I have emailed Presidents the vacancies that currently exist on Reference Groups. These positions are filled by contact people in individual PPC’s. Your President will contact you if you are a contact person and if there is a vacancy for:
Aboriginal Education |
Assets |
Assessment, Reporting and Accountability |
Curriculum |
Disability Programs |
Finance and Administration |
Human Resources |
Principal Support |
Schools for Specific Purposes |
Student Wellbeing |
Teaching Principals |
Technology |
Contact people are alerted to the opportunity to join the Reference Group (and can also choose to remain the contact person only for their PPC). Presidents within the PPA Region will talk with the Chairperson and they will collaboratively decide which contact person is best positioned to join the Reference Group. For example, if there’s a position vacant on Assets from the Riverina Region, the Presidents from Wagga, Deniliquin, Griffith and Albury will call their ‘contact person’ in their PPC to see if they are interested in taking on the position. The Presidents and the Chairperson will discuss those candidates and make a decision on who will represent the Region.
Members of Reference Groups and Standing Committees are responsible for attending a set meeting in Sydney each term. They are to gather concerns and feedback from their Region and present back to the RG and SC. They are often required to follow up, contribute to tasks and attend additional meetings from term to term. The members of the RG and SC are also responsible for communicating to the contact people in each of the PPC groups in their Region. These reports are to be shared and discussed at the PPC meetings held each term.
Vacancies for Standing Committees will be advertised as EOI’s in Week 9 this term. These positions are filled by Principals that express interest to share their interest and expertise in particular areas.
Teachers Federation Principals’ Conference
This conference, held on March 4 was well attended by a mix of primary and secondary principals. President Maurie Mulheron set the scene with a passionate discussion on neo-liberalism & it’s huge impact on our schools before discussing the Federations 2019 Campaign Priorities, the Fair Funding must win campaign & NAPLAN. Pasi Sahlberg then addressed the group focusing on the types of schools that we need, before the participants broke off into workshops on Trauma informed education; leading Aboriginal Education; Supporting Beginning Teachers; Small Schools – systems & support and Difficult conversations.
Teaching Principals:
The TPRG priorities are aligned with the PPA priorities. Underpinning everything we do as a Reference Group is our vision: to professionally advocate for and support Principals who take on the dual role of Principal and Teacher.
Our three main focus points from Term 1, 2019 are:
Principal Excellence and Wellbeing: Actions from Term 1, 2019 meeting include the collection of 'good news stories' on how Principals who teach are using their additional SBAR funding to support them in their role. Good news stories include:
- Thank you PPA and DoE – actions speak louder than words. These funds are very much needed.
- Thank you PPA and DoE for providing extra funds for TP relief. This means that I am only spending one day at school on the weekend and not two!
- I’m using the additional funding to release myself off class an additional day per week to focus on Instructional Leadership and School Improvement.
* Learning and Quality Teaching: Rural and Remote - Attracting quality permanent and temporary staff to these settings is difficult in some areas (a good supply of casuals is virtually impossible). Accessing expert support from DoE in terms of curriculum for Rural and Remote and student wellbeing continue to be ongoing issues. There seems to be no reprieve from these ongoing issues which are of detriment to the students in our schools.
* Human Resources: There is an ongoing issue with staff who move from 'Western Division' to 'Eastern Division' because of the Eastern and Western School start dates. If a teacher moves from West to East they can't be employed from Day 1 Term 1, unless the Western School completes an early cessation. The teacher then, as a result, misses out on a week's pay. If the teacher is not employed for a full year, they are not eligible for beginning teacher support funds. This is likely to continue to occur given that it is feasible that staff living near the 'imaginary' Western/Eastern border could easily work in both divisions from year to year.
Technology RG and Comms & Engagement:
From both the Technology Reference Group and Comms and Engagement Standing Committee the main points were:
- The DoE has been given feedback about the functionality of the new platform for the School Website Service. While principals understood the need for the quick cutover due to security breaches, and appreciated the reduction in the hours of training needed to manage the new service, it was another example of a rollout that was not immediately functional and useful.
Principals report concerns about the complexities managing the new platform with simple actions like uploading photos taking many steps (and much time) to complete. Because of the difficulties with accessing training and archived content being uploaded at cutover, concerns have been raised that school websites appear static to communities and that NSW Public Schools aren’t looking very good at the start of a new school year. - There is a project to develop a mobile portal which will be progressively rolled out with improvements over time starting with principals as first users, followed by students, teachers and community. From the demonstrations to both groups, it looks like a user-friendly and very workable. Members of the Comms and Engagement team are included in a user testing group.
- A completely revised and mobile solution to the AMU, SMU problem was also demonstrated with roll out expected in the second half of the year. The time saving to principals will be huge. User profiles can be customised at school level and users (eg teachers, casual staff etc) can request access to the profile and the principal will only need to approve, not go into multiple applications and tick boxes.
ITD were quick to send out a formal DoE response to the safety of WiFi in a T4 L newsletter. This was requested by the TRG on Friday and the newsletter was emailed the following Monday – very quick response indeed!
Human Resources RG
Working on Principal Classification position paper in order to overcome salary inequities between primary, secondary, central, infants and SSP schools, as well as to provide incentive for promotion to principals currently at P3 level. A salary structure based on a combination of student enrolment numbers and school complexity will be discussed at Term 1 State Council.
Rural Education:
BIggest news this week is that finally the Department is moving to create a Director of Rural Education after sustained pressure from ourselves and the SPC. It would seem that the Director will have a huge role in Rural education and pathways and sit under the umbrella of Teaching & Learning. We have been part of the negotiations around the role statement.
Finance & Admin:
There is recognition that Principals need tools and support to allow them to fully expend their funding. A range of work being undertaken to improve this situation:
- Improvements to eFPT seem to have been well received;
- Face to face training for each school for budget preparation;
- New report in SAP called the "eFPT Allocation Detail Report" provides clearer information about all additional allocations received by the school. All additional funding allocations will be added to this report as the year goes on;
- Coding/descriptions against allocations will be clearer;
- Work being undertaken to give more clarity around additional allocations so Principals can plan more accurately;
- Consultation and work is being undertaken to provide Principals with clearer guidance around the carrying forward of funds in school bank accounts. Need to spend funds allocated in 2019 on 2019 students. No intention to 'take back' 6300 funds.
- New reports in SCOUT to allow 'big picture' tracking of finances.
- WBS/IO solution training being rolled out.
Pre-printed banking bags - There has been an issue with a batch of the pre-printed banking bags which has caused some SAMs a great deal of concern. The seal was damaged during the printing process. The bags will be replaced. If schools have issues with their bags they need to report the issue to EdConnect and they will arrange a new bags.
Leadership Standing Committee:
Leadership Standing committee is busy planning for the final 2 day Principal Credential in May. The focus for the conference will be supporting participants in preparation of their executive summary and evidence based on the Principal Standard. Murat and you Phil will be speaking at the 2 day conference.
Interviews will be conducted this week for our first full time Professional Learning Officer/Director….so watch this exciting space.
Facilitators for the second intake of the Aspiring Principals Leadership Program conducted by the Leadership Institute in partnership with University of Wollongong are being finalised. Applications will be reviewed over the next few weeks to determine the next cohort of participants. NSWPPA has representation on these selection panels.
Principal Support RG:
Principal Support Reference Group was provided with a summary of Phil Riley’s Principal Well Being survey by Wendy Buckley our Professional Officer. The executive raised this survey with the Secretary Mark Scott is discussions last week. The success of the Flourish program as a program specifically designed to meet the needs of our principals was highlighted during this meeting.
Disability Programs RG:
Disability Programs RG have been given an “interim” document re the operation of regional Placement Panels. Vice President Rob Walker is keen to determine how the membership are feeling about the operation of the panels. He will work on a simple survey to determine our position.
Executive members have been out and about visiting local councils, spreading the “good oil” and listening to stories & re-assuring colleagues. If you wish for an Executive member to attend your local Council meeting, please contact President Phil on pseymour@nswppa.org.au
Discussion led by Ted Dintersmith at a Gonski Forum on What Schools Could Be.
Discussion with ACER about PAI’s Certified Practising Principal work
APPA
At our Board meeting last week we had Dr Phil Riley attend and discuss the Principal Health & Well-Being Survey results which across Australia show the widening impact of violence & threats of violence. Sadly government primary school principals are bearing the brunt of this trend.
We discussed the Melbourne Declaration meeting [ with few primary representatives] and the change in PAI [Principals Australia Institute]; NAPLAN; Uni of SA survey on suspensions & exclusions and a charter for primary school leaders eg:
This National Professional Charter for Primary School Leaders establishes a common understanding of the professional practice expected of primary school leaders who:
- take responsibility for their own work and actions;
- conduct themselves in a professional manner when communicating and working with all members of the school community; and,
- encourage consultative and collaborative workplaces where people are valued and proud to work.
Connected Leader:
On behalf the Executive, Robyn Evans, Di Robertson, Rob Walker, Lyn Davis, Ian Reeson/ Trish Peters, Bob Willetts, Michael Burgess, Jude Hayman, Michael Trist, Craig Redfern, Mark Pritchard, and myself best wishes for a great first Term. Please always remember that we are here for you [details are on our webpage]…. And to look after yourself.
cheers
Phil Seymour
PRESIDENT