Lutheran Education SA,NT & WA

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LESNW Strategic Intentions – Draft strategies and actions feedback survey

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LESNW is seeking feedback from its membership on the suggested strategies and actions to compliment our Strategic Intention Goals.

The Strategic Intentions 2020 – 2022 adopted by LESNW at its May 2020 AGM shows a shift from previous strategic plans being LESNW Secretariat centric to being a plan for all LESNW member learning communities to adopt.

Following the AGM, the LESNW Board put together five working groups, made up of LESNW representatives, to work through the goals and develop possible strategies and actions that could be relevant and achievable for all learning communities.  Each community may not be able to achieve all of them but should be able to introduce and achieve some of them before 2022.

The collated work of the these groups is available for you to view here and forms the basis of the feedback survey.

Collated LESNW Goal Working Group Strategic Intentions 2020 – 2023

The Goal Two Working Group has also put together some other reflection/discussion points for consideration as you look over the suggested strategies and actions: Additional notes for the LESNW Goal Working Group Strategic Intentions 2020 – 2023

The feedback survey is open to all LESNW members Monday 19 October 2020 and closes 5.00pm Monday 2 November 2020. Your feedback on these aspects of the strategies and actions is important to helping the LESNW Board and the secretariat determine how we can best support all of our learning communities. The survey has been designed to allow you to respond to as much or as little of the strategies/actions as you choose. Each strategy has a section for feedback on the strategy statement and a section for feedback/suggestions on the actions to be taken for that strategy. Alternatively, you can submit any feedback you may have to director@lesnw.edu.au.

You can access the survey here: https://app.surveymethods.com/EndUser.aspx?DFFB9788DF9E828ADA

 

 

 

Sharing for improvement: harnessing collective wisdom

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It has been inspiring to observe how the LESNW community had been connecting and “sharing for improvement: harnessing collective wisdom” an important capability from Growing deep.

What does this look like?

  • Ongoing forums for primary, secondary and ELC/Kindergarten senior leaders, principals and directors connecting, collaborating and sharing ideas and practices as a means of encouraging excellence in learning. Opportunities have been provided fortnightly (see below). Look out for communication regarding ongoing opportunities to connect around areas of interest and need.
  • SALLS and Primary Leaders meeting remotely to share stories of “engaging the community” planned for June 4. Register via LESNW Events.
  • Establishment of MS Teams for SALLS, Primary Leaders and ELC/Kindy directors to share resources, strategies and promote collaboration as well as LESNW Padlets eg COVID-19 Resources, Christian Studies, Awareness Based System Leadership
  • Learning Labs 1.0 for principals, and senior leaders and Lab 2.0 recommencing in the week of June 15.
  • Accessing and participating in the many online opportunities to connect with learning communities outside of LESNW, such as AISSA’s Leading Innovation Webinar Series, seminars promoted through Agile Learning – Watering Hole, as well as a raft of local and global webinars. From a personal perspective I am benefitting from being connected to the Compassionate Systems Virtual Global Community (even if it does start at 10.30pm!) where global educators share ways of using systems thinking, developing generative social fields, taking a compassionate stance and addressing the Well-being framework in these times of challenge.

We look forward to continue to provide platforms for sharing for improvement with a particular focus on harnessing collective wisdom, and welcome input from leaders and learning communities in ways to develop this further.

Mignon Weckert

Forum dates and registration links

Friday 22 May 9:30 – 10:15 am              Secondary teaching and learning leaders           Register

Monday 25 May 2:00 – 2:45pm             Primary teaching and learning leaders               Register

Monday 25 May  3:40 – 4:20pm            Kindy, ELC and Early Years Leaders                  Register

To register do so via LESNW Events. You will then be sent a Lifesize link for the session. Please check that you can access Lifesize at least a day prior to the forum.

Please email andrew.bradtke@lesnw.edu.au if you have any questions.

Economic impact of COVID-19

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Last week the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released data on changes in jobs and wages between the week ending 14 March 2020 (the week Australia recorded its 100th confirmed COVID-19 case) and the week ending 4 April 2020.

John Black from Education Geographics has kindly provided to LESNW data on job losses by ABS areas. It shows a remarkable consistency across areas where learning communities are located, with around a 5% loss in each area in South Australia and Western Australia.

ABS Household impact of COVID-19 Survey 14-17 April 2020

Secondary School Chaplains and Pastors Network Group

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Each term the secondary school chaplains and pastors meet with myself to discuss mutual matters regarding mission and ministry in their schools. Dates for this year are:

Tuesday 17 March, 9:00am – 12:00pm. Concordia College, Concordia Campus.

Wednesday 10 June, 12pm – 3pm. Immanuel College, Novar Gardens.

Monday 24 May (5:00pm) to Wednesday 26 May (1:00pm). Sevenhill (Spiritual Retreat)

Wednesday 4 November, 12:30pm – 3:00pm. LESNW

Stuart Traeger
Spiritual & Cultural Leader

Reminder: Safe Excursions – Plan Check Go

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Complispace have extended the close off date for Expressions of interest in the Safe Excursions – Plan Check Go proposal to this Friday 7 February. The proposal for LESNW Learning Communities can be viewed here.

Expressions of interest should be forwarded to joylene.leaney@complispace.com.au. Joylene is also available if you have any questions on 1300 132 090.
Or you can contact Gerry Conley at LESNW 08 8267 8411.

Valuing Safe Communities Facilitator Training

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If you have appointed a new facilitator for Valuing Safe Communities, can you please ask them to email me at stuart.traeger@lesnw.edu.au by Friday 14 February, indicating that they have been appointed to the role. This will help our office to identify who the new facilitators are, and a date and a venue for training will be arranged based upon the response received.

Stuart Traeger
Spiritual & Cultural Leader

Learning Environments Australasia

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Recently members for the LESNW Education Team attended Learning Environments Australasia (LEA) – Regional day out. These one-day events are local, have proved consistently high quality and put architects and educators ‘in the one big room’. It is one event that we always find valuable and would recommend it to any learning community with an interest in how learning and space connect.

This year there were 3 keynotes followed by an afternoon that offered various tours around some very interesting learning sites around Adelaide. The keynotes, as always, offered many take-aways – including an amazing session on ‘building teams’ by Shackleton journey re-enactor Tim Jarvis AM.

Alistair Brown, keynote presenter on the day and inaugural Principal, led a tour of  Adelaide Botanic High School in the afternoon – a quite impressive learning environment that utilises as much surrounding public space and facilities as possible. The program for the day gave ample time to delve deeper in to the learning culture and spaces being developed at this site which go well beyond the build cost.

Some key messages taken from Alistair’s presentation:

  • Be clear about your vision for learning – What is your school’s DNA?
  • What is your charter? The why and what of the school
  • Make the timetable work to achieve the charter – not be an obstacle to it.
  • Allow for deep engaging learning – curriculum is purposefully connected
  • Build team, build relationships. ‘Teaching Team’ and ‘Team Teaching’.

Throughout the school tour it was very evident that Alistair’s key messages were being lived out at Adelaide Botanic High School. Some of the evidence of this includes …

  • Teachers only work in teams. No teacher teaches alone (it can be done – even in a secondary school with standard teacher to student ratios)
  • An experiential, project-based curriculum
  • Strong connection with community partners and experts
  • Interdisciplinary focus
  • Functional innovative learning environments with access to ‘maker spaces everywhere’
  • 9.25am – 4pm student day
  • 1-hour Teacher Team Meetings every Morning – with absolutely no meetings after school
  • Dynamic timetable that is shaped by the intended learning and prevailing pedagogy

Adelaide Botanic High School isn’t a ‘template’ school by any means and the opportunity of a ‘green-field’ school comes along rarely. However, there is much to learn about building learning culture and teams there as well as using space and technology in any context. If you get a chance to visit we would recommend it.

Building Leadership Capacity …

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… through reflection on AITSL standards at the Highly Accomplished Teacher level.

In my visit to Good Shepherd Lutheran College last week, working with the three campuses to support an inquiry focus on the teaching and learning of mathematics, I was excited to see two teachers from one of the campuses (ELC teacher and year 5 teacher) developing their capabilities in relation to the AITSL teacher standards striving for HAT status.

It has been wonderful to reflect on how they have immersed themselves as learners in effective teaching and learning of mathematics, engaging in professional reading and mathematics, exploring a variety of resources, trialing and reflecting on changes to their practice, collaborating with colleagues across campuses and planning for ways to support the learning of their colleagues within their own campus.

I was privileged to be able to observe them with their students and to reflect with them later. Fantastic professional discussion! The most significant evidence of impact however is what I saw and heard from their students; ownership of and desire for learning, deep critical and creative thinking, and learners engaging as mathematicians!

Mignon Weckert
Educational Leadership Director