Principal’s Report The aim of St Columba Anglican School is to be the most outstanding school in New South Wales. It is the product of the vision of a community—to build a school with access to all who want their children to achieve the highest standards of education and behaviour.
Mr Terry Muldoon Principal
St Columba Anglican School is founded on faith. The Christian ethos is present in its caring philosophy and its concern to produce educated leadership. The School is a community school in the sense that its doors are open to all, so long as they are sympathetic to and support the School’s Christian foundation.
School Vision At St Columba we will transform the lives of our students by offering the educational opportunities that will allow them to have lives of purpose, service and engagement. Our Strategic Imperatives revolve around the concepts of Excellence, Effectiveness and Enterprise. The School Goal is Creation and activation of strategies and plans that will realise the School’s vision and mission. 1. Governance The School is governed by a School Council appointed under the aegis of the Anglican Diocese of Grafton. All members of the School Council are required to meet the professional development requirements that are inherent in their position. The School Council uses its sub-committee system to inform the Council in areas such as Finance, Capital Works and Risk. St Columba is one of five independent schools in the Diocese who meet under the banner of the Diocesan Schools Network. Tenure of membership of the School Council is limited by the common constitution that governs all schools in the Anglican Diocese of Grafton. The School Council has authorised the creation of a new Master Plan. The carriage of this has been delegated to the executive Director of Strategic development, a member of the School’s Executive. 2. Teaching and Learning a. General The tenets followed by the school are: All students will be given the opportunity to develop functional and appropriate literacy Page 8
St Columba Anglican School | Annual Report 2020
and numeracy skills to support their education and career aspirations. Teaching at St Columba will seek to differentiate instruction to support the needs of individual students. The teaching model being undertaken at St Columba is based on the concept of Deep Learning. Teaching will focus on developing the 21st century skills that have been identified as providing the basis for life and career development. Educational data will be used to assess the School’s effectiveness in engaging students and transmitting learning.
b. Teaching and Learning Model St Columba has adopted and continues to develop its teaching and learning based on the concept of Deep Learning. This model recognises the 6Cs of 21st century education as essential qualities that students will need to be successful in their further learning and careers. Based on Deep Learning principles a range of staff professional development opportunities have been provided and the manner and mode of assessment has been subject to a review.
