Events

FLOURISH: WELLBEING AND WELFARE IN EDUCATION

6 September, 2021 Brisbane, QLD Web: https://www.bodysafetyaustralia.com.au/ flourish-conference Flourish: Wellbeing and Welfare in Education in Brisbane has been created to support principals and school leadership teams with access to the latest research and resources available to support their communities.

SUPPORTING STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

7 September, 2021 Adelaide, SA Web: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/ supporting-students-with-disabilities-adelaidetickets-154112311071 This course introduces teachers working in mainstream settings to resources and strategies that better support students with disabilities. All resources can be used within any classroom and are designed to ensure the student with a disability is as independent as possible.

BEGINNING TEACHER CONFERENCES

11-12 September, 2021 Bundanoon, NSW Web: https://www.nswtf.org.au/ beginningteacherconferences These conferences are aimed at members who are in their first few years of teaching. Content covered includes: processes for achieving accreditation at Proficient teacher with NESA; advice for teachers already maintaining their accreditation at Proficient; planning and programming; classroom management; and Aboriginal education.

SOCIAL GOOD SUMMIT AUSTRALIA

18 September, 2021 Kensington, NSW Web: https://www.socialgoodsummit.com.au/ The Social Good Summit Australia (SGSA) is a United Nations Foundation affiliated event that connects individuals, Corporations, Not-for-profits, Government and Grassroots organisations to inspire and discuss solutions for the greatest challenges of our times.

THE SANTOS SCIENCE EXPERIENCE

21-23 September, 2021 Toowoomba, QLD Web: https://www.scienceexperience.com.au/ when-where The program is designed to engage students who are interested in science, engineering and technology with the opportunity to gain knowledge about careers and participate in a wide range of hands-on activities, under the guidance of experts from USQ and the Department of Agriculture and Forestry.

CONASTA SCIENCE EDUCATION CONFERENCE

26 - 29 September, 2021 Canberra, ACT Web: https://asta.edu.au/conasta The annual science education conference of the Australian Science Teachers Association (ASTA). In 2021 CONASTA will be hosted by the Science Educators Association. As the major science education event in Australia, CONASTA has a strong reputation for offering high quality and stimulating professional learning experiences for science teachers, school laboratory technicians/managers and others with an interest in science education.

AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION CONFERENCE 2021

5 - 8 October 2021 Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre Web: https://aiec.idp.com/ The Australian International Education Conference (AIEC) is the major opportunity each year for international education professionals to meet, learn about major industry trends and to network with Australian and international colleagues.

VIC WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP

6-7 October, 2021 Melbourne, VIC Web: https://liquidlearning.com/events/vic-womenleadership-workshop-wilm1021a-m Essential skills and tools to enhance your effectiveness as a leader in an evolving environment. Develop your individual leadership style; lead with emotional intelligence and authenticity; lead high performance for yourself your team and the organisation; strategic planning for your leadership development and career.

STEM REGIONAL AND LABTECH 2021

8 October, 2021 Wangaratta, Victoria Web: https://stav.org.au/event/stem-regionaland-labtech-2021/ Theme for this conference is STEM Innovation: Food for Thought. Felicity Furey is the inaugural STAV STEM Ambassador and a leader in STEM education. She is an award winning business leader, engineer and entrepreneur who helps students and educators get excited and inspired about STEM.

TERTIARY EDUCATION MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE 2021

11-13 October, 2021 Online conference Web: https://www.atem.org.au/conferences/ tem-conference The Theme for the TEMC 2021 Online Conference is ‘Bright Futures’. The conference will focus on looking forward and will showcase how together as a sector we can regroup and use the learnings from 2020 to create a vibrant tertiary sector.

THE EDUCATION SHOW

12-13 October, 2021 Melbourne, VIC Web: https://www.theeducationshow.com.au/ visiting-1 The latest cutting edge learning and teaching resources along with programs, support services and technology will be showcased to educators from across Australia. Visitors can also attend the Free Seminar Program.

NOW AVAILABLE ON iPad

VIC Edition 11 - 2019

www.schoolcompare.com.au

A Guide to Non-Government Schools - Victoria

IN THIS ISSUE

Alternative Schools Choosing the Right School Principally Speaking: St Margaret’s and Berwick Grammar

WHICHSCHOOL APP for iPad AVAILABLE NOW

WhichSchool magazine is excited to present the WhichSchool app. Available for free via the App Store, the WhichSchool app will help you make one of the most important choices in your child’s life. Through the app you’ll have easy access to school profiles, photographs and videos, all designed to give you a clearer idea of the options for your family. For your free download, search for WhichSchool in the Education section of the App Store.

PRINCIPALLY SPEAKING...

Dr Mark Merry, Principal at Yarra Valley Grammar, speaks to WhichSchool? Magazine about how creating a positive culture and learning environment is helping students to pave their own paths to success.

What is the philosophy of Yarra Valley Grammar and how does it guide you and your staff?

Yarra Valley Grammar is primarily an educational institution, so the main focus clearly has to be on the intellectual pursuits of our students, expanding their horizons and giving them as many opportunities as we can so that when they finish school, they have as many pathways available to them as possible, whether that be university or something else entirely.

Our philosophy is that we co-share the responsibility of educating students with their parents, who are their primary educators. The responsibility of nurturing and growing their children from the age of three to age 18 is more than just academic. It is also

Dr Mark Merry and the winning Yarra Valley Grammar Billy Cart team at the Maroondah Billy Cart Marathon. about nurturing character, wellbeing, engagement with sports and physical activity and much more.

We are not only a school but also a community of adults whose job it is to help our students navigate through all of the challenges they are faced with throughout their childhood and adolescence.

How does Yarra Valley Grammar differ from other schools?

We are very fortunate that we have a number of great schools in our area. They are different types of schools but are all great schools.

Yarra Valley Grammar is situated in a beautiful park environment on 29 hectares. There is wildlife living in the forest which is part of our school.

Students are the most important here. We are fortunate to have students who love coming to school to learn and teachers who love coming to school to teach. That’s certainly a great strength of ours.

In what ways has the school evolved since you joined the school as principal 10 years ago?

We’ve had a fairly robust plan to grow the size of the school. Since 2009, we’ve grown from about 1000 students and are now nudging up to 1400 students, which is 40 per cent growth in 10 years. Over that time we have also had a robust building program, so we have constructed eight new buildings.

In terms of resources and facilities, the school is in a really great place, and students love that. If we show value in a particular area of study through investing resources and facilities, the students will follow.

The main driver is our culture – the way people treat one another, their interactions, the high expectations they have of everyone else. The culture is based around engagement in their studies and caring for each other. These combined elements make for a very positive culture at Yarra Valley Grammar and that is what make us a successful school.

How do you provide support and leadership to your staff?

With staff, we have a collegial leadership model, which means it is not overtly top down, or about giving people orders. Schools are probably among the most qualified workplaces – everyone has a graduate or postgraduate degree. There are a lot of conversations happening about where schools are going and where they should be going. At Yarra Valley Grammar, it’s more of a partnership with staff than a hierarchy; and that’s first and foremost how you support your staff.

Of course we have wellbeing programs in place for staff, but generally speaking, providing support and leadership comes down to how you run a school on a collegial basis rather than the traditional hierarchy approach.

How do you encourage wellbeing among staff and students?

At Yarra Valley Grammar, we see the wellbeing of both staff and students as being central to our mission and central to our values. We want high performing people who can handle the pressure of the job and feel supported. Student and staff wellbeing is central to the mission of Yarra Valley Grammar.

An initiative that we’ve introduced last year for students is called the Resilience Project, which is a partnership with an outside group working with our children to help them develop life and coping skills, and navigate their way through childhood. It has been very well received here.

What role do you play in the day-to-day activities of the students?

This is one of the toughest things about being the principal of a big school. If I’m not careful, a lot of my time can be spent in the office, at meetings and shuffling through papers, so every day I drop into classrooms and locker areas, and it’s the incidental conversations that keep me engaged with the students.

My most important part of the day is having a chat to students, so I try and do that each and every day. It helps to keep me engaged and helps with me knowing them and them knowing me.

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OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS AT A NEW STUDENT -CENTRED HUB

The Drennen Centre has opened its doors and provides a new learning and social space at the centre of the Wesley College Glen Waverley Campus.

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The concept for The Drennen Centre gives greater recognition to the transitions central to the adolescent middle years. A multi-storey student-centred hub, The Drennen Centre is the centrepiece of the campus redevelopment.

The Drennen Centre, named after Wesley’s first female Principal Dr Helen Drennen AM, features student facilities that include: • The first on-campus dedicated chapel, featuring a striking façade. • A spacious whole-campus library with dedicated resource areas for Junior, Middle and Senior

School students, break-out areas, reading spaces and study rooms. • A dedicated Year 9 precinct designed to prepare students for transition into Senior School (Years 10 to 12). • Language classrooms fitted with acoustic and audio-visual equipment and specialist English

Language Preparation Program classes. • The Charlaftis Collaborative Learning Hub, a hightech learning space and mini-theatrette.

The concept for The Drennen Centre, and the Middle School redevelopment as a whole, gives greater recognition to the transitions central to the adolescent middle years.

“We recognise our students as social, intellectual, cultural and spiritual human beings,” says Nick Evans, Wesley College Principal. “This redevelopment was our opportunity to create dedicated spaces for service, language learning and for our Year 9 students.

“The Year 9 precinct caters to the needs of adolescents at this important stage in their The new library features dedicated resource areas for Junior, Middle and Senior School students.

development, supporting them in developing independent study habits, preparing for transition into the Senior School and continuing the sense of independence and responsibility they have cultivated through the Year 9 Clunes residential learning program.”

Designed by award-winning architects at Cox Architecture, the development meets the school’s vision for a contemporary learning facility.

A spacious library houses dedicated resources for Junior, Middle and Senior School students, breakout areas, reading spaces and study rooms and is complemented by The Charlaftis Collaborative Learning Hub. The Hub is a high-tech learning space and theatrette designed for flexible learning. “A carefully considered educational brief was behind the redevelopment,” Mr Evans said. ‘It recognises that learning is flexible. Students may be studying in groups or presenting to a whole class, or building roads and race tracks for robots on the floor. Cox Architecture consulted with staff and students, designing a modern and flexible space which very much aligns with contemporary ways of learning and teaching practices.”

The first stage of the Middle School redevelopment, The Wells Centre for Years 5 and 6, opened in 2018.

The Wells Centre provides a place for students to meet as a community and work in groups or individually.

Commencing in Year 5 at Wesley College offers each child a smooth transition from the upper primary years in preparation for Middle and Senior Schools.

The campus expansion has enabled the school to provide additional places for Year 5 and 7 students through the Glen Waverley Middle School Expansion scholarship.

“We have been thrilled with the calibre of students who have joined us through that scholarship already,” Mr Evans says. “The students have really been prepared to try new things, embrace the diversity of learning at Wesley and grasp opportunities.”

Applications are open for the Glen Waverley Middle School Expansion scholarship and others via the school website www.wesleycollege.edu.au.

The Drennen Centre offers a library, chapel, learning hub, Year 9 precinct and language classrooms.

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GROWING GO OD MEN

At St Margaret’s and Berwick Grammar School, the goal of its Senior Boys campus is ‘To grow good men’. The school proudly offers a distinctive education for boys that values the pursuit of academic achievement and excellence, while promoting the development of character as a vehicle for success as a man in the 21st century.

Year 8 students Achila, Jeremy and Dharmesh enjoy learning amongst friends.

Established in 1926, St Margaret’s and Berwick Grammar School is an independent nondenominational school with a proud tradition of educational excellence. Its unique educational model of learning provides a co-educational ELC and Junior School with single gender senior campuses for girls and boys.

This permits the school to deliver academic and wellbeing programs in ways and environments that

Year 9 student Sam engaged in his Design Technology creation. it believes suits single gender academic learning best. The existence of brother and sister schools also permits healthy and appropriate social and emotional development that evolves from girls and boys working together.

At the Senior Boys campus, the approach to learning is both innovative and traditional, adopting 21st century pedagogies while also appreciating that enduring values denote men of character embodying generation-courage, respect for self and others, integrity and compassion.

The purpose built and designed facilities for boys enable the freedom for physical expression and an appreciation that self-discipline provides the framework for achieving any goal. A wonderful new High Performance Athletic Centre strongly demonstrates the school’s commitment to the adage of a healthy body and healthy mind, which is integral to a holistic approach to educating each boy for the man he will one day become.

The best education for boys is one rich in nurturing the mind, but it must also seek to nurture the heart and spirit of each student. At St Margaret’s and Berwick Grammar School, this type of learning for each boy occurs as much in the outdoors, on the sporting field, as a member of a debating team or musical ensemble, as it does in the Mathematics or Geography classroom. “The best education for boys is one rich in nurturing the mind, but it must also seek to nurture the heart and spirit of each student.”

These senior boys demonstrate House Spirit as they compete in Cross Country.

A dedicated team of ‘boyologists’ (teachers skilled in both teaching and reaching boys through relational learning) are focused on how we best prepare each boy who enters our gates for the successful completion of examinations, but also to lead a fulfilling and honourable life with a strong moral compass.

These boyologists not only teach boys, they also have the expertise and experience to connect with boys, meaning that we strive to form the nurturing relationship with each boy to enable him to consider the many roles he will confront beyond our gates as a father, husband, partner, employer, employee, leader and servant in the broader community.

St Margaret’s and Berwick Grammar School believes that a successful education for each boy is to be known, valued, celebrated and cared for in an environment which promotes challenge, excellence, achievement and personal growth. A successful education for the world these boys will one day enter as men is one in which they will be required to have skills as much as knowledge.

The House based wellbeing system promotes these skills by providing a smaller community for each boy within the larger school community where he is led, mentored and nurtured by peers as much as teachers.

St Margaret’s and Berwick Grammar School seeks to provide each boy with necessary skills, through its wellbeing curriculum, to think both creatively and critically to resolve conflict and solve problems but to also develop the type of interpersonal capacities which will enable them to thrive as articulate, confident and respectful men. A group of Year 11 boys get together to study at the library after school.

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