Filter Content
- President’s Report
- Welcome to the Principalship
- Membership of the NSW Primary Principals’ Association
- PPC President Headspace Forum | Kristen Douglas
- Camps and Events
- Voluntary Contributions
- NSWPPA State Conference for 2022 in the APPA Conference in Sydney
- Term 2 NSWPPA State Council
- Information from the School Leadership Institute | Joanne Jarvis
- NSWPPA Professional Learning- Term 2 | PLO Margaret Charlton
- New Sponsorship Business Partner
- Key Updates from the NSWPPA Executive
- And finally…..
We reach out to our colleagues across the state who have been impacted by the devastating flood waters. I have had the privilege of speaking to so many of our colleagues…their bravery, hope and optimism is truly remarkable. It speaks volumes about the people they are. There are Principals and staff who have faced not only school damage but the loss of their own homes. Students and communities too have lost much if not all. For some of our colleagues, it was over a week before they knew if their own families and staff were safe. The flood waters didn’t discriminate, they took hold of properties that left people in the most vulnerable of situations and fear filled experiences. It has certainly been reported as something of a magnitude not seen before. For some, the second time since 2017.
A number of our schools became instant Evacuation Centres. Truly remarkable stories of these host schools and what they were able to do for a broad section of their communities. You too saw the television footage as entire lives were destroyed and moved onto the pavement.
All but one school currently has relocated and opened – the generosity of those who are safe and dry have ensured staff, students and communities have a safe place and a small part of their lives have returned to a routine of sorts. Never underestimate the trauma and sense of displacement many of our workforce and communities are experiencing.
Leanne Nixon has been on the ground in the northern part of NSW to ensure the Infrastructure and assets operation has started – this too is taking time.
Principals in flood impacted areas are indeed leading in a remarkable manner. Simply remarkable. There are hundreds of colleagues and staff impacted. Those on the ground and indeed those I have emailed and spoken to have expressed exactly what they need. They have also expressed their deepest appreciation for the support people they have been afforded. The flood waters across NSW have traumatised many communities both in our north and localised in parts of Northern and Western Sydney as well as the Hawkesbury area.
Schools, students and communities are being supported centrally. Our role is to walk with them in the recovery period and beyond in a coordinated response. Dianne Van Berlo | Acting Executive Director Health, Safety and Wellbeing, along with Deputy Secretaries Leanne Nixon and Murat Dizdar are ‘tiering’ the need so as the financial support we offer will be magnified in all the right schools. There are many on the list and we will be standing ready when we know who we are reaching out to.
My advice is to get busy with your fundraising and hold it securely. Talk to your community about how you will be partnered with a school or schools and as soon as you are matched you will take the next step with the school on their way to recovery. We all want to help, it’s our immediate response. Please don’t assume you know what your matched school will need. As you can imagine, each school will need something different and when you connect with your colleague you will understand - you will hear their stories. Right now, our flood affected colleagues are managing themselves and their staff, students and communities.
Some of our colleagues and their staff and students have relocated to another school site as part of the recovery phase. This will be both short term and for some long term. Collegiality at its finest
Rob Walker | Principal Evans River K-12 (Deputy President NSWPPA) hosted one of the pop up EVAC Centres during the height of the flood and is now hosting two preschools - Evans Head Preschool and Woodburn Preschool as well as Woodburn Public School - Michael Lord | Relieving Principal and Broadwater Public School | Steve Curtin | Principal, their students and their staff. This gesture is replicated across a number of sites. The smiles and appreciation say it all.
At last night’s flood update Leanne Nixon advised they are currently tiering schools so it would be likely the list would be available at the end of this week or the start of next. YOU will know as soon as we populate the list of schools in need with the some 350 generous school communities. We respect this takes time and even more so we respect our colleagues. This is a life changing event.
The road to recovery is long … families have much to consider, some have already relocated.
Fundraise away and muster all your energy and support – SCHOOLS FOR SCHOOLS | PRINCIPALS FOR PRINCIPALS matters.
Our colleagues know you are supporting – they know. They need to be ready for us. I am just as eager as you all are. I am provided with progress reports several times a week. THANKYOU to every colleague who has emailed Lisa Beare and myself… we are ready!
I share with you this interview on National ABC TV with David Lees Principal |Mullumbimby PS (with his permission). When I spoke to David this week, he was extending his help to another community member. His positivity, hope and optimism were indeed palpable. Leadership at this time is tougher than tough but what we are seeing replicated across the state is just what you see in this interview. How prod we can be of our colleagues.
I also share with you Helen Craigie| Bexshill PS (Student Wellbeing RG Chairperson) speaking on behalf of our Northern Rivers colleagues, who from the heart, gives you great insight to the plight of our colleagues – this is how you can help. Thank you Helen and a huge thankyou to Leah Martin |Principal Pambula PS for recording this … something quite remarkable and beautiful when one of our bushfire impacted communities wraps support around a flood impacted community.
Collectively, we are indeed the finest example of a workforce who knows what matters most – people, relationships and connection. SHOOLS FOR SCHOOLS | STAFF FOR SATFF | STUDENTS FOR STUDENTS |COMMUNITIES FOR COMMUNITIES.
We warmly welcome these colleagues to the Principalship - a noble and rewarding profession – such a privilege to lead a school through the successes and celebrations as well as through periods such as these. Together with our staff, students and communities we lean on our colleagues and share in our next steps. Please know there is much support available to our early career principals including your mentor, Principal School Leadership, Primary Principal Council Executive and colleagues as well as the NSWPPA Executive and Professional Support Officers – Wendy Buckley 0403 560 814, Geoff Scott 0427 451 359 and Phil Seymour 0412 673 378. I am also available at the end of the phone anytime, email or text 0429 547 619.
Camden Pryce | Ben Venue Public School |
Monica Marchiello | Concord West Public |
Jayne Johnson | Hillvue Public School |
Adam Hughes | Narrabeen North Public |
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome – your communities are very fortunate to have you. Remember to update your details on the NSWPPA website so your contact details are accurate and you are contactable.
Membership of the NSW Primary Principals’ Association
We have welcomed many newly appointed Principals to the Principalship. I encourage PPC Presidents and Delgates to follow up with new and relieving Principals to join the Association using the salary deduction form. The business of the Association is reported by Delegates at local PPC meetings. The voice of the Principalship is put forward by the PPC Delegates and taken to the appropriate DoE personnel.
PPC President Headspace Forum | Kristen Douglas
Last week we offered a brilliant session for our PPC Presidents (recorded session will be available in members dashboard of website) with Kristen Douglas from HeadSpace. The session was BRILLIANT – purposeful, strengthening and of significance. As an Executive our focus is strengthening the health of our 43 PPC’s – the business of the Association is key – the priority is the health and wellbeing of our PPC membership. Our hope is our PPC Presidents will use the content of this session with their PPC colleagues and in turn these colleagues can use it back in our schools. We anticipate this will happen either this or next term. THANK YOU to those who gave us such wonderful feedback on the session and the resources. HUGE THANK YOU to Kristen Douglas – exceptional feedback. Likewise THANK YOU to Bob Willetts | Deputy President for his relentless focus on principal support and wellbeing. Such a brilliant forum. Please know we will be circling back with this group and Kristen as a follow up for our PPC’s.
With COVID cases jumping from 10,000 early in the week to 30,000 mid week, the COVID Taskforce and NSW Health have advised we are in for some chronic community disruption which we are already seeing in our schools. Can we please look at our calendar of events and consider if they are absolutely necessary. It is a time to return to some sort of normalcy yet a time to hasten slowly. Some events can quickly become super spreaders. One of the comments I noted in this weeks COVID Update meeting was a reminder that all students are to wear a mask on buses – be it travelling on public transport or on a school organised excursion. Living with COVID is a constant agility manoeuvre. We are all doing our best to keep everyone safe – this is a time to keep it simple.
Last nights SIT REP included Voluntary Contributions … like you I hadn’t anticipated it would pop up in a SIT REP but… it was also addressed in the Week 8 COVID update I attended.
This is the time school are communicating about many organisational and operational matters. Please consider if 2022 is indeed a year we even request Voluntary Contributions. For some communities these contributions will not be requested or obvious reasons.
In communication to your parents and carers we are asked to highlight explicitly that these contributions are indeed VOLUNTARY. I am mindful the media and politicians jump on things like this. Thank you for your consideration in this matter. We all know how quickly some things go awry.
NSWPPA State Conference for 2022 in the APPA Conference in Sydney
SAVE THE DATE IN YOUR CALENDAR NOW:
Term 4 Week 4
Tuesday 1 November pm registration and networking event | Wednesday 2 November |Thursday 3 November | Friday 4 November at the Sofitel Wentworth Sydney.
Details will be forthcoming soon regarding speaking program. You will need to be ready to register for this as this conference is open to government principals across Australia.
FACE TO FACE we were!!!!! It was such a joy to be back face to face last week with ALL COVID precautions in place! There was incredible energy in the room and I am really confident your Delegates will have rich reports to present back at PPC meetings. I would like to acknowledge the incredible participation and engagement we saw and felt in the room. There is so much to cover and such a brilliant suite of presenters joined us. As you can imagine last week we had to be incredibly agile as the agenda changed with great regularity!!!!
Tammy Anderson Principal Briar Road PS |Todd Osland Principal Edgeworth PS opened with authentic and heartfelt Welcome to Country narratives. On both days, their narratives set us all up knowing our purpose. Thank you to both Tammy and Todd – we were all inspired and moved by your Welcome.
Your Delegate will detail the key messages – this is a simple summary for you to scan.
Simone Walker | Group Deputy Secretary
I hosted an ‘In Conversation’ session as it was the first time we have had the opportunity to meet Simone in person. It was incredibly encouraging hearing what her greatest hopes were and her plan of action resonated with us all in the room.
She acknowledged those who have been affected by recent flooding and the hard job of getting rid of everything; she talked about feeling empowered about making the decisions that were necessary. Simone shared her professional experience and background of social work in disability and health. She said everything was about perspective – can't make it better but can make it smoother.
She acknowledged that IER was challenging (and quality time). When asked what her greatest hopes were.. her response was to focus on outcomes and SSM; action research is highly valued; creating transparency with head office; knowing who to go to; getting consistency; cookie cutter approaches don’t work.
I interrogated the notion of collaboration/co-construct/co-design/voice with stakeholders; there are two types of people who work for DoE; we want more than consultation we are after partnership. Simone said, “No-one likes to be done to” – she spoke of democratisation of policy and process; co-design needs to be purposeful. The right time for collaboration is early on not after the decisions have been made – sometimes we retrofit consultation to a decision. THIS is where the Association wants to be.
I asked her how she would ensure this happened across the system – her response .. we will be looking at functional designs of collaboration for the future. There’s a cultural change as well as an information change needed in the IER space. I asked about setting schools up for success and spoke about the short time frame – Simone indicated that the timeline is still there and was made aware that the right support must be available. Feedback should be given back through NSWPPA; Simone will get back to us about other channels for feedback.
We went on to talk about COVID. The taskforce was acknowledged – but an unintended outcome is staff shortages. With the coming winter, what is the COVID plan? There is a winter plan and expecting a significant flu season; transmission is community-based not school-based; planning for it to go up, have to make good health decisions and sometimes there needs to be a circuit-breaker.
I also asked about re-assess timing on new policies – need to identify what matters most; we can’t deliver EVERY directorate’s priorities. Simone responded that legislation often is a driver for new policies. She indicated it was her job to put on the brakes; she said a staged approach is needed.
The Executive and I will continue this conversation so that we have clear and consistent actions forward.
Joanne Jarvis | Director School Leadership Institute
- Sees work of the Institute works hand in glove with the NSWPPA Professional Learning
- Vision / Mission – influence leaders in the system
- Professional Learning for Teacher Leaders/ Middle Leaders/ Senior Leaders/ Principals/ Directors Educational Leadership
- Staff Noticeboard for programs – Insights Series Matt Church & Andy Hargraves – 4 May 10-11:30 am
- Principal Leadership Framework resource will be released in Term 2
- Adaptive Leadership Paper to be included in Principal Leadership Framework release
- FASTstream 50 – 3 phases -> teaching & teacher leadership -> Middle Leadership -> Senior Leadership - Cohort 2 applications open 14 March (50) close 1 May … EOI for school open 2 May close 31 May
- Joanne Jarvis PODCAST series available in the intranet
Joanne has also supplied more information which has its own heading further down this What’s Hot Bulletin
Paul Wood | Executive Director Educational Standards and Megan Kelly | Acting Executive Director Curriculum Reform
- Outlined their roles and vision. Understand various contexts of schools develop curriculum and reform to make actual change. Improve effectiveness of teachers. Once in a generation opportunity.
- Support for curriculum reform – K-2 English and Mathematics resources and PL is available with more being released in 2022. Flexible, on demand resources.
APCI support to strengthen practice. - Develop further resources and PL as other syllabuses are released – learn from what we have already done.
- Curriculum Reform Communities (CRC) – support schools to enact curriculum reform. Place can come to share journeys, seek support and learn from others.
- NESA Teacher Expert Network – NESA version – test NESA materials, CRC DoE support implementation.
- Paul’s team - Literacy & Numeracy team, RAG, multicultural, distance ed, learning from home, financial literacy, COVID ILSP
- 5 Literacy & Numeracy priorities – see powerpoint in Delegates kit
- Whole school approach
- Focus on improving Lit and Num
- Effective Practice
- Data to drive learning
- Families supported as partners
- APCI – phase 1 & 2 70% of phase 1 filled, 50% phase 2 filled
- Paul wants to work with small schools to find ways forward. Testing a virtual delivery for schools that haven’t been able to fill.
- Assessment resources available from the DoE - See powerpoint
- COVID ILSP – March 2022 – 1432 schools spending money. 3241 staff recruited.
- $279m funded.
- 21 schools involved in external/online delivery largely remote & unable to attract staff
- Online delivery to support staffing issues due to COVID – Live Online Lessons – available.
Minister Sarah Mitchell | Minister for Early Childhood and Education
- Apologised for not being on site, but she has been visiting schools around Lismore and other flood areas.
- Praised Principals and staff in flood affected communities for their efforts.
- Looking how to get students back to learning. 70 demountables on their way.
- Some schools have alternate learning venues. Wellbeing support and emotional support for students and staff.
- Importance of schools in recovery.
- Not only schools lost but homes of staff
There were a number of questions from the floor sent to the Ministers Office – I will provide the responses as they come to hand.
Sue French | Principal in Residence | School Leadership Institute |School Workforce
- Wellbeing needs of principals project – grew from Bushfire Response.
- Realised that it needed to be differentiated for individual school/principal circumstances – unlike most other DoE initiatives.
- Frustrations/stresses of the role – e.g., lack of functional DoE search engine.
- Investigating use of the Principal Support funding – to safeguard its continuance.
- Conducting long term research into principal workload – collating existing findings to make it too powerful to be “overlooked” by the DoE. Includes principal involvement and will need more to tie it all together.
- Principal role – high levels of both job satisfaction and stress.
- Aim is to design and implement improvements to the interaction between principals and the DoE and work with all stakeholders to reduce unnecessary demands and improve sustainability for the principal role.
- Complex process – identifying what constitutes success is to be determined. It is anticipated that the “solution” will not be a simple checklist or similar.
Trisha Ladogna | Director Behaviour Strategy Inclusion and Wellbeing Directorate | Learning and Improvement Division
- Readiness Planning Support
Achieving School excellence in wellbeing and inclusion
Applying the Care Continuum
Restrictive Practices Framework
Tailoring health and wellbeing approaches at your school. - Reviewing record keeping processes and updating if necessary to make sure that parent consent for the use of restrictive practices is documented end of term 3
- Update existing student plans where restrictive practices are used to comply with new framework policy end of term 3
- Develop new school behaviour policy ready to be implemented at the beginning of 2023
- There are 5 inclusive education coordinators for NSW- response that this is in addition to the 2000 already trained. These are not additional staff, they include existing LW staff eg HSLOs, LWOs etc
- What learnings can we take from suspension centres that can be shared? Surprise that primary schools do not have access to suspension centres
- In school suspensions have been removed from the document as a result of SPC & PPA feedback
- Co-commissioning with DCJ, Health, police etc
- MAPA- still available, has gone out to tender, nobody put in a tender so there is no new training available
From the floor:
- Can you stop a child from running on the road? Yes- sorry if we have given you the impression that this is not the case,
- Great need for specific examples and clarity around what is and is not restrictive practice, and duty of care- what is the line? We need to be clear on this as staff are worried and fearful about what they are able to do to keep kids safe.
- Can we have a list of what is a restrictive or prohibited practice? The current document has ambiguity
- There’s a restrictive practice checklist in the framework – if you check all those things off, then you are compliant
- You need to have a plan for a student, if it is an emergency it doesn’t fall into that category - legislation covers this
- Perception that IFS is dwindling, stats say that across the state it has increased. There is inconsistency across the state
- No plan to remove Support Classes or SSPs
- In terms of environmental restraints, SINSW and PEOs are responsible.
- Allied Health professionals are a key listed support for this new strategy. However, in areas outside of Sydney there are NO providers willing to service these areas despite being listed on the DoE website as doing exactly that. No provider will work face-to-face or even telehealth even though they identify that they will. After 2 years of constantly ringing everyone on the list I have given up. Is the DoE relying on these supports to make this strategy a success? (Danny Scott, President Queanbeyan PPC)
We want to support the process of implementation, but the supports external to the school and through the DoE are not in place. Eg Queanbeyan allied health professionals not reflective of actual availability
Information from the School Leadership Institute | Joanne Jarvis
New Principal Leadership Learning program from the School Leadership Institute
The NSW School Leadership Institute has developed a new professional learning opportunity tailored specifically for the leadership development of NSW public school principals.
The Principal Leadership Learning (PLL) program is an opportunity to hear from global leadership and pedagogy experts as well as connect with your principal colleagues.
There are 3 elements to the program:
- Insights Series for Principals - a series of webinars and facilitated discussion
- Leadership Conversations: From the Field - facilitated group discussions focused on contextual challenges
- a new Principal Leadership Resource Hub curated by the SLI. The hub will be available in Term 2 2022.
The Insights Series for Principals features 3 global experts in leadership, communication, engagement and pedagogy: Matt Church, Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan. The series begins on 4 May with a webinar by Matt Church, followed by Edition 2 with Andy Hargreaves with two interconnected sessions on 10 May and 31 May. Registrations for these sessions are now open.
Leadership Conversations: From the Field offers 4 smaller group discussions with Matt Church The sessions will provide opportunities for principals to discuss leadership challenges with Matt and each other. Registrations are now open and places for each session are limited to 100 people.
You can register for the Insights Series for Principals and Leadership Conversations: From the Field at the two links below. You must be logged into your DoE account to register.
- Register for the Insights Series for Principals
- Register for Leadership Conversations: From the Field
FASTstream 2023 applications now open
Applications are now open for the next FASTstream program with 50 participant placements available for 2023.
FASTstream is a NSW DoE program that supports new and experienced teachers and executive to accelerate their career to school principalship.
Current teachers and executive members in NSW public schools can apply for a position. Successful applications receive support from a school-based mentor as well as professional development and training from the School Leadership Institute.
Schools that wish to host an above-allocation FASTstream teacher can also apply to be a host school. Nominations will be open from May 2-13 and will be advertised in Staff Noticeboard.
You can find out more about the FASTstream application process and program details on the Teach NSW website.
NSWPPA Professional Learning- Term 2 | PLO Margaret Charlton
Building leadership effectiveness in 2022
The NSWPPA leadership programs have been highly successful in enhancing the capacity of school leaders across our schools. We continue to offer a mix of face to face and online programs for Term 2.
Please support your NSWPPA professional learning opportunities.
Founded on the Australian Professional Standard for Principals and focused on learning excellence for students, teachers and school leaders.
NSWPPA Principal Credential Program 2022-2023
Audience: Principals, experienced APs and DPs, school leadership teams
Duration: 3 x 2-day seminars plus facilitated collegial learning over 18 months
Accreditation: Pathway to 50% Masters of Education (Educational Leadership), University of Wollongong
Expressions of interest are currently being taken for this key leadership development program. In its ninth year this program has contributed significantly to building key leadership competencies for Principals and experienced executive.
The Principal Credential provides a substantial pathway of learning for school leadership. This program 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 a series of seminars that enable access to international best practice, educational research and thinking. The key learning within the program is led by Ann McIntyre. The program also includes facilitated collegial learning and focused individual learning with an experienced principal coach. Successful participants will receive a pathway for 50% of a Masters of Educational Leadership at Wollongong University.
Information and an expression of interest for the next program for 2022 is available through the information flyer.
7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Audience: Principals, school executive, school leadership teams
Delivered online and face to face.
No matter how competent a person is, he or she will not have sustained and lasting success unless they are able to effectively lead themselves, influence, engage and collaborate with others, and continually improve and renew their capabilities. These elements are at the heart of personal, team, and organisational effectiveness. The 7 Habits will enable you to intentionally align values, behaviours, norms and systems toward a central strategy where culture becomes a force to drive results. You will learn how to grasp the 7 Habits as a powerful tool for creating a great culture and model and reinforce the 7 Habits to create an operating system for effectiveness in your teams and school.
Leading at the Speed of Trust
Audience: Principals, school executive, school leadership teams
Delivered online and face to face.
When trust is low, suspicion is high, and communication is guarded. With high trust, communication, creativity, and engagement improve. Trust is one of the most important aspects in today’s school environment and like any other discipline, creating trust is a learnable skill. With increased trust our attention is redirected towards improving student learning outcomes. Leading at the Speed of Trust will provide the mindset, skillset, and toolset that will measurably increase a participant’s ability to deliver results in a way that inspires trust.
The Middle Leadership Imperative
Audience: Assistant Principals
Duration: 4 days - 2 x 2-day seminars delivered over 2 terms
The role of the middle leader has become increasingly important to the work of schools through increased accountability and responsibility of principals (Dinham 2016). This course will empower middle leaders through a practical understanding of the environmental and personal inputs into middle leadership, the key roles middle leaders play and the potential impact in relation to teachers and students. The program addresses three key themes:
Middle Leading - Leadership structure, role of the middle leader; interdependent skills of leading and managing; leadership qualities and character strengths
Collaborative professionalism - leading a team, communicating effectively, managing difficult conversations, importance of relationships and building trust, and feedback
Ideas in action – Narrowing the focus on improved student learning outcomes, how to lead for improved practice.
Please contact Margaret Charlton if you wish to run this program locally.
Please Note: Program invoices
Currently all program invoices from our Cvent registration system are being filtered by the DoE to junk emails. Please check there for your invoice when registering. Please enable emails from Cvent to come to your DoE email account.
For more information please contact:
Margaret Charlton
Professional Learning Officer
Mob: 0408 905 051
mcharlton@nswppa.org.au
New Sponsorship Business Partner
We would like to welcome Education Perfect as a NSWPPA Business Partner.
Please spend the time to have a look at what they can offer your school.
Key Updates from the NSWPPA Executive
Principal Wellbeing | Deputy President Bob Willetts
NSWPPA Response to key aspects of the
2022 Australian Principal Occupational Health & Wellbeing Survey
The NSWPPA notes with dire concern the alarming statistics released in the Australian Principal Occupational Health & Wellbeing Survey today, as we have every year since 2011.
The data contained in the report represents an extreme occupational health and safety risk to the leaders in NSW Public Schools who “have shown abiding dedication to jobs which expose them to frequent physical violence, threats and the highest burnout rates in a decade”.
Of major concern is that the research statistics represent the impact on REAL PEOPLE in our profession in huge numbers. Fathers, Mothers, partners, husbands, wives and people’s children who are leading our schools are subjected to risks of harm significantly higher than the general population.
KEY FINDINGS
- 44 per cent (5.7 times more than the general population) of school leaders were subjected to threats of violence
- 39 per cent (10.1 times more than the general population) were subjected to physical violence
- 29 per cent of school leaders received a “red flag” alert email
- Burnout (physical and mental fatigue) and cognitive stress levels were the highest since the survey started in 2011.
NSWPPA ACTION:
- ADVOCATE for the NSW Government and DoE to act on their moral obligation as the employer work in partnership with the Professional Associations to codesign solutions that address every recommendation in the report.
- LEAD conversations and workshops to address the issues and recommendations in the report.
Violence and Threats of Violence
- 44 per cent (5.7 times more than the general population) of school leaders were subjected to threats of violence
- 39 per cent (10.1 times more than the general population) were subjected to physical violence
One simply cannot argue with the data. The statistics of actual and threatened violence towards our school leaders is a disgrace and has continued to rise since 2011 and as we move through the pandemic.
The current policies and procedures in places are clearly not protecting school leaders from significant risk of harm associated with Physical Violence and Threats of Physical Violence.
NSWPPA ACTION:
- ADVOCATE for the department to immediately engage in constructive dialogue with the NSWPPA as the peak body representing over 1800 NSW Principals to put strategies in place to address these statistics.
- SUPPORT principals in complex cases with Professional Support Officers.
- EMPOWER principals to act within policy to address occupational health and safety issues.
- LEAD principal representation and ADVOCACY in partnership with chairpersons of relevant reference groups, working parties and standing committees.
(Side note: Surely the link between teacher shortages (now the second highest stressor) and this sort of statistics is plain for all to see.)
Integration Funding Support
NSW Public schools are doing the heavy lifting with students with disabilities.
One of the major issues relating to Principal workload and stress is inadequate funding support for students with disabilities (including trauma and mental health issues) so schools are having to cover significantly additional costs for staff and resources to support these students. It is not uncommon for students who require full time 6 hours a day of 1:1 support in mainstream settings to only receive 2 hours per day.
NSWPPA ACTION:
- ADVOCATE for the FULL implementation of the Gonski Model and a massive injection of funding to support students with disabilities. Thus, lowering the thresholds for funding support and increasing equity and access for all students in NSW schools.
Sheer Quantity of Work
“The shameful treatment of our overburdened educators to stop”
The sheer quantity of work remains the greatest source of stress, pointing to the cognitive overload associated with managing policy changes and curriculum changes in schools with inadequate resourcing, not enough time, not enough training, and tools that are not fit for purpose. The latest IER Strategy is a perfect example of this.
The Deloitte Principal Workload and Time Use Study 2017 showed that only 25% of Principals thought the workload was achievable. Last week at the NSWPPA State Council 0% believed it was achievable in the current environment.
NSWPPA ACTION:
- ADVOCATE for the NSW government and Department of Education senior executive to take immediate steps to address the sheer quantity of work associated with policy implementation and curriculum change. We implore the department to immediately demonstrate clear action on recommendation 3: Engage directly with principals on reducing job demands or increasing job resources to allow school leaders to cope with the increased demands (Hunter et al., 2022). Better still, do both. This will help to increase the level of social capital in schools.
- SUPPORT Principals by continuing to fulfil Recommendation 6: Calibrate professional learning priorities for differing career contexts.
- SUPPORT members by providing Professional Learning and models that EMPOWERS principals to fulfil:
o Recommendation 10. Ensure your passions are harmonious
o Recommendation 11. Take Responsibility for your personal work-life balance
Protective Factors and support
Social Capital
The Executive Summary notes that:
“School leaders continued to report high satisfaction with Meaning of Work, Commitment to the Workplace, and Self-efficacy. Support from professional colleagues continued to increase. Social Support from External Colleagues is at its highest since the survey began. Taken together, these suggest school leaders coped better than expected. This is particularly encouraging, given the challenge of the pandemic”
Comment: The increase in social capital is no surprise given the culture of leadership and social support that exists in our profession. Which, coupled with the actions of the NSWPPA who partnered with Dr Adam Fraser and Headspace to deliver programs to effectively manage stress, enhance psychological safety, and improve relationships during covid made a huge impact. We have continued to do so already in 2022 while the department continues its decade long “Discovery Phase”.
NSWPPA ACTION:
- The NSWPPA to continue to SUPPORT Principals to increase social capital and psychological safety through practical strategies in local PPC meetings, including partnerships with Headspace. EMPOWER Principals to; attend their PPC and Network meetings,
Professional Support Officers
The NSWPPA now employs 3 professional support officers to provide high level support to Principals and manage an exponentially increasing number of complex cases.
The professional support officers are required due to the inadequate support structures provided by the department for principals who are the public facing managers of department policies which increasingly are not student centred, do not come adequately resourced, and are not supported by effective training, infrastructure or implementation tools.
NSWPPA ACTION:
- Continue to employ PSOs to SUPPORT principals with complex cases.
- EMPOWER Principals to utilise SUPPORT including the PSOs as required.
Personalised Wellbeing Programs
The NSWPPA has long acknowledged the recommendations of the report and taken direct action on every recommendation within our circle of influence.
The association has partnered with Dr Adam Fraser to deliver the Flourish Project to school leaders in NSW since 2016. This research evidence-based program has resulted in significantly enhanced wellbeing outcomes and productivity gains for participants.
The results of the program and recommendations have been shared with the Department of Education and largely ignored.
The delivery of the NSWPPA suite of professional learning including the Flourish Program, Covey Programs, The Art of Leadership, and Principal Credential have completely addressed the related recommendations for associations showing the NSWPPA has stepped up and acted.
- Recommendation 6. Calibrate professional learning priorities for differing career contexts
- Recommendation 10. Ensure your passions are harmonious
- Recommendation 11. Take Responsibility for you personal work-life balance
NSWPPA ACTION:
- ADVOCATE for all barriers to accessing such proactive programs to be removed and school leaders must be encouraged to devote their energy to deliberately planning to enhance their own wellbeing due to the research evidenced link between staff wellbeing and improving student learning outcomes.
- ADVOCATE for the Principal Support Budget in the SBAR to be increased to allow school leaders to access programs.
- EMPOWER and SUPPORT Principals to access professional learning to address recommendations 10 and 11, including building them into their PDP goals.
Finance and Administration | Vice President Michael Burgess
New Excursions Policy
Following feedback from Principals there have been changes made to the excursion policy.
Key changes include:
- more explicit instructions relating to risk management, child protection and safety, and refunds of unspent excursion money
- clearer instructions in relation to privately arranged tours, events or other activities
- streamlining the overseas excursions application and approval process, including the introduction of a common application pack for all department schools.
Details are available at this link: Updated Excursion policy link
A new Variation to Routine webpage is also being developed to bring together all aspects relating to excursions, sports, arts and other events. The draft webpage can be found here.
QR CODE CHECK-IN
The QR Code provided to schools will continue beyond COVID. The roll out of the QR system was in train before COVID to improve visitor sign in and facilitate checking Working With Children status and consequently Vaccination status.
The list of visitors registered through the QR code can be checked in the Check In Log App in your essentials. This can be accessed by a mobile phone in case of evacuation.
A concierge iPad will be provided to school shortly. Schools should complete a short survey to identify their needs for the iPad by 18th March. Link to survey
Technology | Vice President Michael Burgess
DIGITAL LEARNING SELECTOR
The Universal Resource Hub is a new section of the Department’s staff portal. It brings together all teaching, learning, assessment and technology resources together in one place to make it easier for staff to find what they need.
Part of the Universal Resource Hub features the Digital Learning Selector. All of the tools on the DLS are pre-qualified to meet DoE policy and standards for security. Staff can choose from over 100 tools with confidence. The DLS also contains more than 50 activities to support learning.
NSW Police Legacy, Child Safety Handbook | Vice President Jude Hayman
Please click here to view your letter from Detective Superintendent, APM and NSW Police Legacy Chair, Gary Merryweather.
The “NSW Police Legacy Child Safety Handbook” is a comprehensive resource to assist parents, carers as well as teachers on a range of topics essential to child safety.
The handbook has been updated to include key messages about storm and flood safety, covid safety, children's personal safety and online safety.
The updated digital edition (link below) also includes important content updates from: NSW Ministry of Health, NSW Police Force, Fire and Rescue NSW, Rural Fire NSW, Transport for NSW, Sydney Trains, NSW Department of Family & Community Services, eSafety Commissioner and NSW Office of the Children's Guardian.
Please click on the cover below to view the updated digital handbook.
Here are also a couple of other links where the digital handbook can be viewed:
We strongly request that you forward the Child Safety Handbook via email communication to all parents/carers and teachers of your students. The handbook is also available to download for free on all the App stores.
Suggested wording that can be included in your newsletter or other communication with parents is on the child safety hub website and also includes imagery and links -
If you have any questions, please feel free to email childsafetyhub@amgroup.net.au
Closing the Gap Day | Vice President Jude Hayman
The Aboriginal RG would like to remind everyone that this Thursday, 17th March is Closing the Gap day. The DoE is livestreaming at 10am, discussing the importance of Closing the Gap
Please email Paul Byrne, ARG Chair, paul.byrne@det.nsw.edu.au, any feedback about the Universal Resources that are available to support Aboriginal Education resources as well as any suggestions about what is needed.
Inclusive, Engaging and Respectful Schools Reform | Vice President Trish Peters
Now that the Inclusive, Engaging and Respectful Schools Reform has started to roll out after a couple of years in the making, we now confront the reality of the nuts and bolts of implementing the three components of the reform. The values that we hold as principals in our public schools are universally shared and the NSWPPA is fully supportive of the intent of each of these aspects of the reform; after all, it is what we stand for! The “devil is in the detail” as they say, and there are certainly many details for us to work through.
A suggested timeline for a staged implementation has been provided and this should be viewed as a support rather than a firm plan – you are in the best position to make decisions about what is right for your school. There are some firm deadlines though:
- all prohibited restrictive practices (i.e. those ones that break the law) should be eliminated by the start of Term 2
- all planning for students should include informed consent from families about practices that are considered restrictive and existing plans need to be reviewed over Terms 2 and 3
- all schools need to revise their current student welfare procedures and school-based policies onto the new school behaviour management template which includes the current anti-bullying template by the beginning of Term 1 2023
The workshop presented at last week’s State Council gave an overview of the PPA’s involvement and the background to our position which aligns with both the NSWSPC and NSWTF with regard to the suspension procedures. (The workshop and presentation have been provided to delegates who attended last week’s State Council for sharing at local PPC meetings if you choose). The two issues we continue to have the biggest concerns with are:
- five day suspensions for K – 2 students – a big issue for the principal members of the NSWPPA in terms of the short timeframe to plan and provide support for a quick return to school
- the need for DEL permission to extend a suspension and for the DEL to decide the length of the extension – principals should have the confidence of the system to make the call on this.
Crucial to the successful implementation of the total reform is the quality and coverage of the support – human and other resources.
Your feedback through your local PPC meetings, from your local area contacts to the various reference groups and standing committees, to the chairs of the RGs and SCs and to NSWPPA State Executive has never been more important as we seek to support, advocate, empower and lead in this transformative space for our students and schools.
New Universal Resources Hub | Vice President Norma Petrocco
New Universal Resources Hub
The Universal Resources Hub - a much-anticipated feature of the School Success Model - has launched.
What is it?
The Universal Resources Hub is an enhanced version of the Digital Learning Resources Hub and has expanded to host high-quality, evidence-based school improvement resources along with teaching and learning resources. These resources aim to support student learning outcomes and school improvement in identified priority areas.
The Universal Resources Hub currently includes Reading and Numeracy, Attendance, Aboriginal HSC Attainment, Financial Management and School Excellence resources, with subsequent releases soon to include resources for Curriculum, Inclusive Practice and Wellbeing.
What’s different?
- Easy access to quality assured, evidence-based resources
- New resources that will support school improvement such as attendance and financial management
- Profile personalisation options such as creating links to your favorite resources, and using additional filters in your searches
- A better user-experience with more functions to generate popular resources tailored to your specific preferences
Resources are:
- developed by subject matter experts based on robust evidence
- are quality-assured through a new standardised quality assurance process and standardsmapp
- ed to either the Teaching and Learning cycle or the School Improvement cycle to help teachers, school leaders and school-based staff utilise within their daily teaching and school practices
For more information you can also visit the Universal Resources Hub inside the department.
NSW Curriculum Reform is Underway | Vice President Norma Petrocco
The NSW Government is reforming the curriculum from Kindergarten to Year 12 so every student is prepared and ready for their future. The NSW Curriculum Reform will deliver a new curriculum for Kindergarten to Year 12 from 2024. The new curriculum is being developed by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA).
The department is committed to providing support to leaders and teachers to implement and teach the new curriculum by providing relevant and timely professional learning, advice and comprehensive resources.
Upcoming public consultation – ‘Have Your Say’
NESA will soon open a new round of Have Your Say consultations on draft syllabuses for mathematics 3-10, English 3-10 and languages (Auslan, Classical and Modern) K-10. The Department recently conducted information sessions on these draft syllabuses in advance of the consultations.
Recorded copies of those information sessions will be accessible on the department’s Curriculum Reform webpage in the next week.Principals are urged to engage with the draft syllabuses and give their feedback via the NESA consultation surveys and also to encourage all teachers to actively participate in those consultations.
Accelerated adopter initiative
Currently, nearly 400 early adopter schools are implementing the English and mathematics K-2 syllabuses for their Year 1 cohorts. These Accelerated Adopters and Self-Select schools, are piloting resources and providing essential feedback on the department’s model of support for the Curriculum Reform.
I’m not an Accelerated Adopter or Self Select school, what can I do to prepare my teachers?
New planning and preparation pathways describe how leaders and teachers can prepare to implement new syllabuses.
Fact sheets for each new syllabus provide leaders with an overview of key information and whole school considerations. The Curriculum Professional Learning webpage will be the place where schools can learn about all the professional learning being developed by the department.
Other recent resources include the K-2 Research toolkits for English and mathematics which include a research snapshot and a professional learning activity to help build understanding of the evidence base behind the syllabuses.
Further information and resources
The Curriculum Reform webpage will also provide departmental updates on the reform and links to resources for school leaders and teachers.
School’s Records Management | Secretary Greg McLaren
If you are short of space in your administration area the following article may assist. The furphy or untruth in administration land is to keep all documents for 7 years.
Before I put you to sleep, whether as a Principal you send this article to your SAM or Business Manager, a reminder you are responsible for the action of retention and disposal of records and documents. At any time, you may be served with a subpoena or other similar court-issued processes which require the production of documentation to the Court (more information found in Legal Issues Bulletin #25 Subpoenas).
Quick Quiz:
How long are teacher program documents kept?
Minimum of 2yrs after action is completed, then destroy
How long do you keep a record of playground duties?
Minimum of 3yrs after action completed then destroy
How long do teachers keep submitted student work if not collected by students?
Minimum of 4 months after results finalised, then destroy
How long do you keep records of serious incident management in your school?
Minimum of 45yrs after action completed
How long do you keep records relating to the planning and action of excursions?
Minimum of 5yrs after action completed then destroy
How long do you keep records relating to students’ daily attendance?
Minimum 3yrs after action is completed, then destroy
How long do you keep records relating to child abuse?
Minimum of 99yrs after date of incident
How long do you keep school management plans?
Required as State archives
The decision of how to dispose of records is made according to disposal authorities approved by NSW State Records. The retention and disposal authority covers records documenting the function of primary and secondary education aka FA387 (formerly FDA60) as per State Records Act 1998 (NSW).
Two types of disposal authorities are used within the Department of Education, general disposal authorities and functional disposal authorities:
• general disposal authorities (GDA) developed by State Records Authority which apply to common records held by all agencies (e.g. administrative, financial etc.) and
• functional disposal authorities (FDA) developed by this and other agencies to cover records specific to them (e.g. school records).
Disposal is the term used to describe the action taken when records are no longer needed by the department.
For more information:
NSW State Archives & Records: General retention and disposal authorities website:
and
NSW DoE Schools Records Management website:
The available records management courses include:
The importance of records management The importance of records management
Best practice guide to school record keeping Best practice guide to school record keeping
On behalf of the NSWPPA Executive – Rob Walker, Bob Willetts, Michael Burgess, Jude Hayman, Trish Peters, Norma Petrocco, Michael Trist, Stuart Wylie, Greg McLaren, Gregory Grinham, Mark Pritchard, Lisa Beare and Margaret Charlton, I thank you for your brilliant support of our SCHOOLS FOR SCHOOLS |PRINCIPALS FOR PRINCIPALS initiative – YOU and your school community WILL be the difference for our colleagues.
It's hard to believe it’s Week 8 - in some ways it feels like week 28 but…, be reminded to celebrate the bright spots and reflect on how far we have come. There are challenges ahead of us and mountains to climb. We face it together – informed and with purpose.
Robyn Evans
NSWPPA President