Anderson's+Bay+School+Milestone+6

Anderson ’s Bay School Lead Teacher: Rhonda Umfreville - Keogh Milestone Report: October 2008 This is my first ‘Milestone Report’ for Anderson’s Bay School. I am the new lead teacher and have had the support of the previous lead teacher to make sure the school’s progression is continued on. As stated in the May report all staff are required to fill out term goals and then to reflect on these. Many of the staff have found that they are continuing a couple of goals on each term as they feel that these are things that they wish to continue and develop deeper. Teachers still believe that this is a good way to reflect as the wikispace is easy to access at school and out of school. These can be regularly open and checked. Teachers are using SMS regularly for assessing as this is expected of the whole school for summative assessment. I am leading staff meetings to develop teacher confidence and knowledge in the planning and assessing side of SMS. These will be held regularly over the rest of the year, allowing teacher’s to develop units of work to be used for next year’s planning. Teachers have had time to reflect as a group on the ‘Inquiry Process’ stating how they feel things is going. It has been a positive meeting where there is to be no judgement but a time to share and help. Many have found it a useful tool and relief to hear others have the same thoughts and feelings. Majority of the teaching staff was able to attend the ‘Kath Murdoch’ seminar during September with other cluster members. All that attended are in agreement that this was a great seminar and very useful. For those teachers feeling that they were missing something and didn’t really understand the concept of ‘Inquiry’ this really cleared up a lot of misconceptions. Teachers have all gone back and with new enthusiasm to tackle inquiry and deliver the best they can for their students. Next year we would like to continue on with the Inquiry team to help share ideas and take these back to our own syndicates. The school’s laptops have arrived and the school is very excited about these being available for use. A timetable is drawn up and everyone is given a time slot so every teacher knows exactly when they are to have the laptops. There have been a few problems such as laptops not being shut down correctly, not enough memory in the actual machines so they run very slow. As a problem arises we reflect on what needs to be done to resolve it. The new library information centre is to be built in the near future, which gives students a new area for researching with computers and books beside each other, with a great learning space for children to work in. This year has been great for our cluster, as we have had the opportunity to work together with a range of ‘Inquiry’ sessions at other schools to see how they have taught these. It has been a great way to celebrate all the schools successes. Within the cluster there are a range of schools with talented teachers who have worked together to allow students to come together and develop their knowledge in a range of computer programmes. These have been very rewarding for teachers and the students. It has allowed the students to go back to their schools and share their knowledge with their peers. We look forward to seeing what next year holds for Anderson’s Bay School in 2009.