Culture and Climate of my school
The values that underpin all of the culture and climate of my school is respect, citizenship and excellence. These are by our school ACCTS which are aim high, communicate, co-operate think and self manage.
Our school is lead by an experienced practitioner who has a lot of respect from his staff. His expertise and knowledge is always called upon by other Principals, who seek his advice in many areas.
The culture of the school is one that is a very measured and conservative approach, change is not done without careful consideration.The climate of the school is one of high standards and the level of teaching is of a very high standard.
Change in our school is meet with skepticism and staff are resistant to change things. Many aspects of the school have run the same way for a long time. The climate of the school is one of high standards and the level of teaching is of a very high standard.
New initiatives are researched carefully and changes within the delivery of the curriculum are never taken lightly.
Recently though our Y7/8 team implemented BYOD. This initiative has allowed more freedom in both teaching and learning. So far there has been encouraging feedback from all stakeholders.
What challenges are occurring in the context of your profession? How would your community of practices address them?
The challenge we face with the BYOD implementation for the is the support of other teams. It is expected that the Year 5/6 team will be BYOD at the beginning of next year. The challenge is how will the younger students managed their devices, will parents take this onboard considering their student is 3-4 years away from secondary school? How can we as a team support our colleagues as we are that journey one year on.
As well to ensure that we are delivery a comprehensive and stimulating programme that we will ensure that these students are 21st century learners. In a way the challenge is that us as well as the students. As a community of practice and as a team we are working on these programmes together, learning how we can become competent GAFE teachers.
Another challenge for the school is the redevelopment plan for the school. It is to begin in 18 months and the school has been using its teacher inquiry to research and analyse what the best type of ILE would be and how would it cater for all students. In general the community of practice ( teachers) did have debates and discussion.
Hi Nicole. Your description of the school culture is very accurate. I think the recent inquiries into ILE will be very beneficial as the school moves into a period of rapid change with the redevelopment etc.. It's great that your BYOD implementation has gone so well - I'm sure you will be able to share your reflections with other teams to support them when they make the change.
ReplyDeleteMy school is BYOD from year 4 up and we generally find this successful with this age group. It is optional - and parents are adopting it at different rates. As the students are becoming more confident in their use of GAFE and are sharing this at home, more devices are coming in. We also used the expertise of our big yr 7/8 buddies to work with the year 4s to help them log on, create a doc etc. the first time. Great opportunity for tuakana-teina and showcasing of 21st century skills from our seniors. To support the staff professional development, our ICT gurus share a 'tech byte' at each Admin meeting. Each term, they hold a week's worth of before school workshops on a specific area of need. Seems to be a great way of getting the information to us.
I think the school's measured approach to change and the depth of discussion around these changes will set you all up well for the future.
Hey Cara and Nicole. We also do a techie breakie kind of thing where teachers share their knowledge with others. I think it is important that you have the learning embedded into the digital world rather than just token ICT use for example type up your work instead of writing it. We try to use ICT tools to further their learning. The use of google maps, forms and sheets can help with this type of engagement.
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