I presented this report as a summary of 2019 at Term 4 State Council. I’ve attempted to summarise what we have been involved in throughout the year under the 4 broad areas in our mission statement. We always remember the students are at the centre of everything we do.

“to lead, support, advocate for, and empower school leaders to enable student success”

Lead

In the leadership space in 2019 our Leadership Standing committee has offered capacity building Professional Development throughout the state. In 2019 we offered 7 x Art of Leadership courses (178 participants), 3 x Art of Leadership Master Class (66 participants) and Principal Credential based on AITSL’s Principal Standard (90 participants with 55 validated and several more awaiting validation).

We took the bold step mid-year to employ Margaret Charlton as our first permanent Professional Learning Officer. Margaret has surveyed the needs of our colleagues and is investigating and coordinating the development of additional PL much of which will be rolled out in 2020. PL being considered/ in development:

• Taking the Challenge out of Challenging Conversations
• Creating an Effective and Productive Team
• Financial Management Best Practice
• Effective Middle Leadership
• Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Leading at the Speed of Trust

We were also involved in:

• DoE’s Leadership initiative including the School Leadership Institute (SLI), with members on selection panels & as facilitators.
• Deputy President Robyn Evans & I are members of the School Leadership Support Steering committee which over views the SLI
• Leadership & High Performance Directorate’s work around capacity building, leadership modules, Principal Induction, HALT Conference, Newly Appointed & First Time School Leaders
• The Review of PL Funding and determination of the Principal Role Statement.
• Robyn Evans & I are on the PSL IAG (Principals School Leadership Implementation Advisory Group) and have worked to ease the pressure on PSLs with External Validation being spread over a longer timeline & ensuring they have time to provide that shoulder-to-shoulder support.
• Conducted our Annual Conference with exemplary speakers including Peter Baines, Gill Hicks, Darren Hill, Mark Pesce, Julie Bishop and Dylan Alcott. 620+ registrations have led us to move venues in 2020.

Support:

The Principal Support Reference Group provides broad support to our members, and is supplemented by:

• A triage system where the on-call Professional Officers, chair of Principal Support RG, chair of Legal Issues WP and President determine who best can mediate between principal and DoE senior officers
• State Council has increased to 0.8 the time available for our two Professional Officers Wendy Buckley & Geoff Scott. (93 cases supported since 2017)
• PPC structures where a designated Deputy President/ Welfare officer can provide local support
• Budgeted 100 relief days designated for support when needed. Accessed via chair of the Principal Support RG/ President.

We have also been involved in:

• The PSL IAG for Principal School Leadership (PSL) to provide shoulder to shoulder support
• Co-ordinating Well-Being programs including the “Flourish” project
• Regular meetings with Deputy Secretary Murat Dizdar of the Principal Well-Being Work Group focusing on the “pointy end” cases.
• Made a submission to the EPAC review and Robyn Evans, Greg McLaren & Geoff Scott made presentations face to face with the leader of the review Mark Tedeschi AM QC searching for fairer processes and timelines. We have organised subsequent meetings to now determine implementation priorities and requested NSW PPA membership of the group working on the recommendations.
• Robyn Evans is a member of the Principal Support WG led by SO&P Director Kathy Powzun/ Chris Charles focusing on developing support mechanisms for principals based on experiences in the field. Strategies to mitigate unwanted media, parent scenarios and social media issues are being developed to share.
• Ensuring the $50m has continued for schools for principal support
• Ensured the additional days for TP1 and TP2s has continued from 2019 to 2020.
• Executive members have visited many PPC meetings & Regional Conferences (Illawarra South East, Riverina, Hunter, North Coast, Western) throughout the year.

Advocate

We have a variety of methods & situations to advocate for our members:

• Executive meet formally with the Minister, Secretary & CEO of NESA each Term. This term’s Agenda for the Minister & Secretary included:
  - Enrolment procedures
  - Bushfires
  - Principal Classification
  - Well-Being – Staff and Student.
  - EPAC review & implementation of recommendations
  - School Targets
  - The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (Disability Royal Commission)-
  - National Architecture (ACARA; AITSL; ESA)
  - In the Auditor-General’s Report on “Ensuring teaching quality in NSW public schools” there were several key findings relating to QTSS, Quality Teaching, and PDP process.
• The Minister & Secretary present & respond to questions at each State Council meeting
• Deputy Secretaries meet each Term with the Executive and often present & answer questions at State Council
• Principal representatives on the Department’s many Project Control Groups and Working Parties
• Executive Directors and Directors attend relevant Reference Groups (12) / Standing committee & Working Party (8) meetings to present & respond to issues raised.
• PPCs submit issues and are followed up by the responsible Vice President.
• Informal meetings with Senior Officers/ Ministry staff are held between the President/ Deputy Presidents as needed
• Executive meet regularly face to face and via video conferencing.
• Stood with the SPC and Teachers Federation to fight for “Fair Funding” for our students.
• Worked collaboratively through APPA and AGPPA to ensure the needs of public school communities are foremost on the National Agenda.

Empower

We ensure every voice of the membership is heard to inform our decision making. This is achieved through:

• 43 Area Councils – consultation, two-way communication, the raising of local issues and sharing
• The 159 members of Reference Groups, Standing Committees and Working Parties and the contact people in the Area Councils.
• Identification and sharing of ‘hot spots’ of innovation and expertise
• A model of systemic and succinct communication to all members through integrated SchoolZine communication including: NSWPPA website, Szapp smartphone app, What’s Hot newsletter (with only 49% readership) and current reports from Reference Groups, Standing Committees and Working Parties.

The year has again been one of challenges, reaction, advances and lots of conversations. The services & support our Association offers our members is growing and will continue as we push the envelope to ensure the best conditions in our schools.

A huge thanks to our delegates and chairpersons for your awesome efforts during 2019. A special thanks to our Executive who have continued, even through lots of changes, to work together to be a strong voice for our principals. And to Mark Pritchard, Lisa Beare, Wendy Buckley, Geoff Scott & Marg Charlton – a sincere thank you for your commitment, advice and support.

Hang in there for those last couple of weeks which always prove to be challenging and exhausting and enjoy the Christmas/Summer break when you get there.

Phil Seymour
President

I had a meeting recently with Tom Croker and Warren Marks, both NSWPPA Life members and we were discussing how we can best service the needs of our retired members and how they can help those of us still in the service. Much of the discussion was focused on the great work the SPC co-ordinate with their retired members and their website.

We are now investigating with our website providers how we could replicate the work that Brian Ralph has done for our SPC colleagues. We will also be looking at some regular professional learning/ Updates and even asking for support to complete some research or prepare position papers. Vice President Lyn Davis has volunteered to be the conduit between our retired members and our current principals. There are some Expressions of Interest in this Newsletter that may be of interest to our retired members & we have asked Tom to pass this information on.

This is just a heads up. I have been in conversations with UOW PhD candidate Jason Nunes about his thesis and us helping him with his topic: “The Resilient Principal: A Study of Psychological Resilience, Job Crafting and the Job Demands-Resource Model in School Principals”

“School principals face rates of stress and burnout far greater than the general population. In fact principals experience rates of burnout and stress that are 1.6 and 1.7 times higher than the general population, respectively, and experience 2.2 times more sleep troubles compared to the average population (Riley, 2017, 2019). This is not surprising considering principals deal with threats of violence at work, and one-third had experienced actual violence. While there is research on interventions and strategies that focus on possible ways to alleviate the stressors faced by principals, further attention is warranted on the antecedents of stress and burnout in order to better understand the underlying mechanisms that contribute to burnout and stress.“

Early in Term 1 I will give you all more details and request that we all join in the research that has the potential to support us.

Empowering school leaders through quality professional learning.

Once again, throughout 2019 the NSWPPA has delivered successful professional learning opportunities for school leaders in NSW. The Art of Leadership has been undertaken by 178 school leaders, whilst 66 have completed the AOL Masterclass. For 2020 twelve programs have been scheduled in metropolitan and regional areas. The NSWPPA Principal Credential 2018/19 was completed by 88 school leaders, with 56 of these being successfully validated and receiving 50% of their Masters of Education (Educational Leadership) from the University of Wollongong. This program is currently taking expressions of interest for 2020. The Flourish program has continued to support Principals to improve their productivity, job satisfaction and overall sense of health and wellbeing. In 2020 Flourish will continue to support principals through the process of embedding new work and lifestyle habits for their ongoing wellbeing.

A new set of professional learning opportunities has been added to complement these programs in 2020. Initial information about these courses will be distributed to schools before the end of the year. There are some details for these courses that will be finalised for the start of 2020.

NSWPPA Professional Learning Programs 2020

The following range of programs will be offered for Principals and school leaders throughout 2020.

• NSWPPA Principal Credential

• Art of Leadership / Art of Leadership Masterclass

• Flourish

• The Middle Leadership Imperative
• The Tao of Team
• Powerful Performance Conversations
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
• Leading at the Speed of Trust

As each course is opened for registrations links will be provided on the PPA website under the Professional Learning tab. For more information please contact Margaret Charlton.

Principal-presenter Expression of Interest

In 2020 the NSWPPA will deliver a range of professional learning opportunities to Principals and school leaders across the state. The Association seeks expressions of interest from current and recently retired Principals who are interested in working with us in the role of presenters for the following programs. This opportunity may provide Principals with an opportunity for their own professional development as well as contributing to the development of leadership capacity across NSW public primary schools.

• The Tao of Team – 6 presenters
• Powerful Performance Conversations – 6 presenters
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – 3 presenters
• Leading at the Speed of Trust – 3 presenters

Information about the EOI process will be sent in a separate email to PPA members. Expressions of interest must be received by the NSWPPA Professional Learning Officer, Margaret Charlton, by 4pm on Wednesday 12 February 2020.

If you require further information please contact the NSWPPA Professional Learning Officer, Margaret Charlton on mcharlton@nswppa.org.au.

NSWPPA Principal Credential

Information and registration for this program for 2020 is now available on the NSWPPA website under the Professional Learning tab.

This program provides a substantial pathway of learning for school leadership. The Principal Credential enables leaders to focus their influence and their learning on the core business of teaching and learning to have the greatest influence on student learning outcomes. Within the program, formal learning is provided through residential seminars that enable access to international best practice, educational research and thinking. The program includes facilitated collegial learning and focused individual learning with an experienced principal coach. The Principal Credential is founded on the Australian Professional Standard for Principals and provides personalised professional learning that is evidenced through a professional learning portfolio of artefacts of practice.

Margaret Charlton l Professional Learning Officer
Mob: 0408 905 051
mcharlton@nswppa.org.au 

Vice President Bob Willetts advises that the NSWPPA has put forward our response to the NSW Curriculum review after consultation with the Curriculum Reference Group and State Council. There is generally strong support for the majority of the 15 recommendations outlined in the interim report, however the NSWPPA has noted core issues of workload and wellbeing relating to the recommendations, highlighting that there must be significant time, resourcing and professional learning provided for teachers to successfully implement the proposed curriculum changes.

The Executive particularly wish to thank the Curriculum Reference Group, Norma Petrocco and Scott Sanford for their time and effort on the response.

The Minister has just made some announcements about the NESA Board and committees.

We have welcomed the appointment of a government primary principal to the NESA Board to help in it’s decision making. Our State Secretary, Jude Hayman, Principal of Griffith Public School, has joined the Board as a representative of government primary schools. We are confident Jude will bring her substantive experiences to the table to represent the voice of primary schools. Congratulations Jude.

As well as Jude’s appointment there is now a new chair of NESA, Prof Peter Shergold replacing Tom Alegounarias and Paul Martin has been confirmed as the new CEO. SPC President, Craig Petersen, who was the government school representative on the Board, has been replaced by Cherrybrook Technology HS principal Gary Johnson following the end of his 3 year term.

On the Curriculum Committee, our Curriculum Reference Group chairperson, Norma Petrocco has just been confirmed as the government primary school representative replacing Sally Hogan. We know Norma will be a strong advocate for our primary school issues. Congratulations Norma.

As this Newsletter is being produced, the Education Council is meeting in Alice Springs. The Education Council consists of each State/Territory Education Minister and Federal Minister Dan Tehan. Minister Mitchell holds a pre Education Council meeting with representatives from the 3 sector systems, unions, parents & principals to discuss the views of NSW stakeholders on the up-coming Agenda. The Agenda includes:

• Launch of the Alice Springs Declaration (replacing the Melbourne Declaration)
• PISA results
• My School – following the Louden Review, a preference on how things will be displayed (graphs/ tables/ traffic lights) and add Student Growth
• NAPLAN review – the review led by NSW, QLD, Vic and ACT will present an interim report indicating issues
• Curriculum Review – to be conducted mid 2020? There is a push to do it earlier…..Masters involved??
• National Architecture (AITSL/ACARA/ESA and Evidence Institute)…the leak apparently was to test the waters and push the joining of AITSL & ACARA - feedback is now they need to consult.
• National Evidence Institute ….slow progress on this
• Formative Assessment – to move from discovery to Alpha phase
• Unique ID – slow progress
• Reading instruction in ITE – push for phonics in ITE courses….maybe just guidelines??
• Red Tape reduction – sharing of best practice
• Universal Access – national partnership has been successful…a push for 5 years certainty in funding.

We will need to wait for the Communique from the meeting to know what has been decided.

Our Minister Mitchell has led a group that has pushed to review NAPLAN. An interim report by Barry McGaw, Bill Louden & Claire Wyatt-Smith identified issues that need to be addressed:

• Deficiencies in the test
• Stakes too high
• Curriculum narrowed
• Results too delayed
• Change the timing – Feb/ March. Maybe Year 4? Year 8?
• Change the content - review Literacy aspects/ general capabilities??
• Reconsider Writing...sample test as research
• Reducing display on MySchool
• Removing data from MySchool
• Making NAPLAN sample not census assessment
• Making NAPLAN sample survey plus opt in.

Further discussion will follow.

– Robyn Evans Deputy President

It is timely to acknowledge the professional and outstanding work the Reference Group, Standing Committee and Working Party Chairpersons do as members of the NSWPPA Executive. At the Term 4 State Council Meeting I worked with the Chairpersons to celebrate the proactive and responsive actions they took with their team members to collaborate, engage, action and deliver high level responses to issues arising.

Chairpersons and their Executive Liaison will be presenting their 2020 plans at the Term 1 State Council Meeting that aligns with not only the NSWPPA Priorities but also the Department of Education State Plan 2018 – 2022. We want to explicitly plan for proactive actions and responding accordingly when ‘things’ land.

Membership of Reference Groups (RG)

Reference Group Chairpersons communicate arising vacancies on their Groups. In turn I contact the PPC Presidents in the Regional Area and they collaborate to decide who the most suitable candidate is from their PPC Contacts. This is done in Term 1 at the State Council Meeting ( during the year I contact PPC Presidents personally ). Presidents of Regional Areas will be informed early Term 1 about the vacancies. Their job is to contact the Contact Person in their PPC and ask if they are prepared to join the Reference Group. If they are, the PPC Presidents meet to discuss interested parties and the strongest candidate is selected. It is not a matter of replacing the current Reference Group member with the current Contact Person from the PPC the substantive member comes.

Membership of Standing Committees (SC) and Working Parties (WP)

This term we advertised for vacancies on Standing Committees via Expressions of Interest. Standing Committee members are appointed on a skill set that compliments and contributes to the membership. This term I was inundated with applications and the successful candidates will commence with the Standing Committee term 1 2020. Chairpersons of Standing Committees and the NSWPPA Executive collaborate, consider and determine the successful candidate when vacancies arise.

Join me in congratulating these colleagues:

Leadership Standing Committee: Peter Flannery, PSL and Jodie Paterson, Hastings PS
Rural Education Standing Committee: Brad Hunt, Rocky River PS and Michael Ostler, Parkes East PS

An eligibility list will been created for all Standing Committees and Working Parties for 2020 as vacancies arise and will be current for 12 months from vacancy filling.

Role of the Contact Person in your Primary Principal Council

This is a critical role in your PPC group. Please consider these roles when this is discussed at your PPC Meeting. The contact people will receive discussion and actions forward from term meetings. These reports are ALSO available on the PPA website for Presidents to take to their PPC meeting each term as well as made available for our member to access on the website. Contact people are also key in co-designing Issues Papers with Delegates and Presidents to raise with NSWPPA Executive about issues pertaining to individual PPC Areas.

Our Department has just released a YouTube clip celebrating the great things happening in our public schools. You might like to use it with parent/carer meetings etc.

Purpose of videos

The “We are NSW Public Schools” video is a teaser for a video series (currently being edited) featuring teachers, school leaders, students, former students and parents of students. They are about:

• The impact of teaching and school leadership on students in the classroom, beyond the classroom and beyond school years.
• The importance of school leadership cascading purpose and meaning.
• Teamwork being fundamental to whole of school success.

We are calling on members and recently retired members who would be interested in doing literature searches and writing papers for us. If you are interested, please contact Vice President Lyn Davis (ldavis@nswppa.org.au)

I recently spoke to Tom Croker from the Stewart House Board who informed me of the financial difficulties being experienced by Stewart House. They have had to “lay off” their liaison officers and will now be calling on interested retired colleagues to fill that role.

Stewart House is the NSWPPA’s nominated charity and we always conduct raffles/ fund raisers to support them. We all know that our public schools and their staff are the chief fundraisers so early in the new year we will be calling for volunteers to support Stewart House and conducting a campaign to gain more support from staff via salary deduction. Stewart House will hopefully have some volunteers who will be prepared to visit PPCs and schools to gain that funding that is needed to support our students.

Deputy President Robyn Evans and I travelled to Mildura and Gol Gol to attend the latest Broken Hill PPC meeting. In a novel twist, the group utilise river boats to stay overnight and enjoy the Murray River and environs in between meetings. We had lots of conversations on the sort of educational services that are needed in often remote communities, casual supplies and workload.

Great to call in at my old PPC meeting at the Wollongong Novotel last week. Led by Karen Brown, the Wollongong PPC meeting discussed some of the hot topics around enrolment policy and implementation, workload, target setting and getting to the end of the year.

I called into the Epping Club for the Christmas luncheon of the Retired Principals last week and discussed the latest happenings & chatted with many of the 70 ex-principals there.

A great social event and also an opportunity to remember the outstanding work of the late Brian Powyer, Life member and ex Deputy President of NSWPPA who passed away recently. Many colleagues spoke of his energy, incredible work ethic, mentoring and wonderful work with the PPA.

I visited the combined Newcastle and Lake Macquarie PPC meeting on Newcastle harbour last week as well. A novel way to conduct a meeting, the boat did several circuits of the harbour giving a great back drop to the meeting. Delegates Simon Mulready and Mick McCann gave an outstanding report of State Council happenings and I led discussion on the enrolment policy & the Newcastle/Lake Macquarie versions of implementation, target setting, catering for students with complex needs as well as the big picture national happenings.

Your delegate should have reported on the happenings of our Term 4 State Council. I thought some of the salient points from our Minister & Secretary would be insightful.

Minister Hon Sarah Mitchell:

• Values the frank and fearless advice from the PPA and values the relationship she has developed with us.
• Acknowledges the work and efforts of our colleagues have done in drought affected and bushfire affected schools. Preliminary discussions with state Executive around how we can manage these situations better moving forward e.g. air quality
• Discussed the two schools that burnt down and praised the leadership of both schools and the Principals of the schools that were housing the displaced students and staff. Both schools to be rebuilt and hopefully ready for day 1 2020.
• Release of the report into the curriculum review. Decluttering the curriculum is priority number 1. Report should be ready by end term 1.
• NAPLAN review. Targeted consultations by 3 professors. Initial findings rather than recommendations at this stage.
• Also discussed the enrolment policy, impact of SASS pay rise on Integration funding, dust storms, Well-Being officers for High Schools & not primary schools and casual supply across the state & impact on schools.

Mark Scott, Secretary NSW Department of Education.

Some key points:

• Recognition of Principals’ work during bushfire crisis.
• Curriculum Review – Interim report makes good sense. Will need to determine what is the support schools will need to manage the curriculum and syllabus changes? Need Clarity about what NESA does and what the DoE does
• Staffing & the unintended consequence of Gonski is that is soaked up casual pool. SMR – continuing. Will pilot different way of staffing around casuals. Interested in recruiting mid-career people into teaching – what’s the standard
• Mark fielded some questions:
  - Mark Gosbell : feels listened to and heard as SSP – heading into critical space and aware of resourcing challenges. How far away are we from some change in that space?
  - Bob Willetts: Email about Secondary Counsellors and Wellbeing Officers. How do we work with you to influence future announcements / Commitments from the Premier’s office, so they include primary students to ensure EVERY student is known valued and cared for?

Phillip St level 1 was abuzz with all things Staffing in our last week of school. All stakeholders were in attendance looking at where the team is up to and giving feedback on very broad suggestions. The mantra of “every school has the right people, in the right place, at the right time, to meet the needs of our students” is what is driving this program.

Key principles that we used in our discussions:

• Does it place the student at the centre?
• Is it a priority? (for the people most effected)
• Will it support equity and reduce the impact of disadvantage?
• Will it make education a better place to work?
• Feasibility – can it be done?
• Will it be adaptable? Scalable?

We discussed a range of ideas including formulae driven responses; increasing targeted resources; the need for greater certainty of funding; simplifying and speeding up recruitment and allowing more flexibility to use staffing resources.

As the year draws to a close, your Executive wish you a wonderful Christmas and New Year with family and friends. Enjoy the opportunity to rest, enjoy and recharge the batteries i.e. look after yourself!

Thank you for your wonderful efforts, energy and commitment to support our students and staff and offer them every opportunity to reach their potential. Enjoy.

Phil Seymour
President