Maitland High School Annual School Report - Millennium

staging group excursions for Years 7, 8, 9,and 11 to promote positive relationships,values clarification and enhanced studyskills;quality student support processes (seniorstudy mentors, Youth Pathways, SRC);andfostering student leadership skills withYear 10 people providing literacy ornumeracy tutoring for targeted Year 7pupils; Year 10 people serving as peermediators (after first completing theeight hour training program); andinterested Year 11 students completing aTAFE‐accredited Certificate in VoluntaryTutoring by providing 20 hours ofindividualised reading instruction for Year8 students, after 20 hours of training.Progress on 2011 targetsTarget 1To improve student outcomes and Year 12completion rates through focus on writing,information technology, and assessment.Our achievements include:Target 2A new alternative education course forolder students “at risk” was instituted inconjunction with neighbouring schools,Youth Express and Maitland PCYC, andproviding a pathway to a Certificate II inCommunity Recreation.An alternative curriculum was developedfor implementation in 2012.Professional learning was provided onwriting, information technology andassessment.To improve student outcomes through aquality learning environment – a strengthened“sense of place” across the schoolcommunity.Our achievements include:The Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL)strategy was successfully implemented,with an initial focus on playgroundbehaviour (see Key evaluation – PositiveBehaviour for Learning in followingsection).Target 3An Aboriginal cultural heritage area wasestablished. The school expects this areato develop over time.The school website was up‐graded andenhanced.To improve students’ outcomes and learningenvironment through strengthened staffcapacity and school systems.Our achievements include: Within‐school communications weremade more transparent through newinformation technology applications. Thisincluded the use of One Note to recordand immediately publish team meetingoutcomes. A system of text messaging wassuccessfully introduced to enhanceschool‐homecommunicationsparticularly in relation to attendance.Key evaluationsIt is a requirement for all NSW public schools toconduct at least two annual evaluations – onerelated to educational and management practiceand the other related to curriculum. In 2011 ourschool carried out evaluations into the newPositive Behaviour for Learning program (PBL)and Vocational Education and TrainingEducational and management practice ‐Positive Behaviour for LearningBackgroundPBL was implemented at Maitland High School atthe beginning of 2011, with planning, stafftraining, teaching materials and signagedeveloped in the latter part of 2010. PBL is awhole school behaviour improvement programwhich focuses on explicitly teaching students thebehaviour expectations of the school and widercommunity. It is designed to support students tomake better choices about their behaviours.In 2011, the program began with a focus in theplayground, specifically on improving playgroundlitter and introducing signage which reflected andreminded students about the values and beliefsof the school.12