Calwell High School

Annual School Board Report

2017

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This report supports the work being done in the ACT Education Directorate, as outlined in the ‘Education Capital: Leading the Nation Strategic Plan 2014-17’.

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© Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, 2017

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Contents

School Board Chair Report	1

School Context	1

Student Information	2

Student enrolment	2

Student attendance	2

Staff Information	3

Teacher qualifications	3

Workforce composition	3

School Review and Development	4

School Satisfaction	4

Overall Satisfaction	4

Learning and Assessment	8

NAPLAN	8

Performance in Other Areas of the Curriculum	9

Financial Summary	10

Professional Learning	11

Voluntary Contributions	11

Reserves	11

Endorsement Page	12

Members of the School Board	12

School Board Chair Report

In 2017 Calwell High School has made significant progress towards the priorities of its Strategic Plan. These are:

- Improving literacy and numeracy

- Strengthening teaching and learning

- Building a positive school culture.

In 2016, the focus upon personalized student learning, differentiated models in classes and an emphasis on teacher pedagogy was prioritized. In 2017 this work has been consolidated. Teacher Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) met regularly to review student progress and develop strategies that would deliver further growth in achievement using the Quality Teaching model (QTm) and formative assessment.

Each year we have seen a number of staff changes and the school has supported new teachers through an induction process, by providing mentoring and coaching to build their capacity. The school also continued its emphasis on student well-being, relational values and restorative practices. Our work implementing the Positive Behaviours for Learning Framework (PBL) since 2015 has been consolidated at the whole school level and has delivered significant improvement in student behaviour. The school is well-positioned to progress to Tier 2 work which will focus on explicit classroom strategies. This will commence in 2018.

Cultural shift, and a focus on “Every student thriving and succeeding every day”, has empowered students and built pride in the school. Communications pathways for students have been established and social media communication and whole school meetings began in 2014, continue to be embedded features of the school.

School Context

Since 2015 the composition of our Priority Enrolment Area (PEA) demograph has remained consistent. Calwell is very much a community school with the majority of enrolments coming from our three feeder primary schools: Richardson, Theodore and Calwell. More recently, data collected from Open Nights and through enrolment inquiries, has indicated growing interest from families beyond our PEA and is reflected in the slightly reduced percentage of the 2017 in-area students in the table below.

The change to the Directorate’s enrolment policy for NSW families has identified Calwell as one of two secondary settings in South Canberra exclusively designated for NSW enrolments. As the policy change is only recent (November 2017) we are not as yet seeing any significant impact on our demography but expect this to change over time and will need to be considered in the cycle of our next Strategic Plan.

Student Information

Student enrolment

In 2017 there were a total of 368 students enrolled at this school.

Table: 2017 Student enrolment

Student type	Number of students
Male	204
Female	164
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander	19
LBOTE*	35

*Language Background Other Than English

Source: Planning and Analytics, December 2017

Student attendance

The following table identifies the attendance rate of students by year level during 2017. Student attendance rate is the percentage of school days attended by students in each year level at the school. Student attendance is measured over two school terms; that is from the first day of the school year for students in term 1 to the last day of term 2.

Table: 2017 Attendance rates in percentages

Year level	Attendance rate
7	89.0
8	87.0
9	82.0
10	83.0

Source: Planning and Analytics, December 2017

Student attendance is central to successful engagement in learning. Calwell has a comprehensive attendance monitoring procedure which has been developed in line wih Directorate policy and the Education Act. Attendance is monitored closely every day and every lesson through an effective tracking system. The introduction of the new School Administrative System (SAS) in 2018 has significantly enhanced our capacity in this area with attendance tracking and data retrieval available in real time.

Student absenteeism can be due to a range of factors such as sickness, changes in family circumstances but also, can indicate a lack of engagement in schooling. In 2017, student attendance was one of our target measures of student engagement. We set the target at 80% and were delighted to see an overall school average achieved of 85%.

The latter has informed the actions the school is taking in the areas of curriculum delivery, school culture and student voice.

Student absenteeism data is regularly analysed and interventions through our Student Wellbeing model are a feature of the school’s work. Creating a school environment where every student feels they belong is a central feature of our approach. Where there is a pattern of non-attendance emerging, the wellbeing team accesses system support through the Tuggeranong Network Student Engagement Team (NSET), counsels students and works in partnership with the student’s family or carers to affect improvements in attendance.

Staff Information

Teacher qualifications

All teachers meet the professional requirements for teaching in an ACT public school. The ACT Teacher Quality Institute (TQI) has provided the following data based on teachers registered as at 16 December 2017.

The proportion of teaching staff with certificates/degrees/diplomas and a postgraduate qualification is shown below.

Table: 2017 Qualification of teaching staff in percentages

Qualifications	Proportion of staff
Certificate/ Diploma/ Degree	100
Postgraduate	57

Source: Teacher Quality Institute, 16 December 2017

Teaching staff are fully qualified. The percentage of staff with postgraduate qualifications reflects the turnover of staff and is not indicative of less quality in the workforce, rather it is indicative of the number who exceed the minimum requirement to teach in the ACT.

Workforce composition

The 2017 workforce composition of Calwell High School is highlighted in the following table. The data is taken from the school’s term 4 staff report. For reporting purposes it incorporates all school-based staff.

Table: 2017 Workforce composition numbers

Staff employment category	TOTAL
Teaching Staff: Head Count	29
Teaching Staff: Full Time Equivalent Permanent	23.00
Teaching Staff: Full Time Equivalent Temporary	6.00
Non Teaching Staff: Head Count	11
Non Teaching Staff: Full Time Equivalent	8.53

Source: This data is from the school’s term 4 2017 staff report. Data provided in previous years was sourced from the August census date and was calculated using the parameters provided by the ABS. As such, pre-2017 staffing figures may differ significantly from the above.

The table above indicates there is 49 staff employed at the school. There is 29 teaching staff and the balance of the staff is administrative and support staff. There are no indigenous staff members at this school.

School Review and Development

In 2017, the ACT Education Directorate’s Strategic Plan 2014-2017 provided the framework and strategic direction for the school’s Strategic Plan. This is supported by the school performance and accountability framework, ‘People, Practice and Performance: School Improvement in Canberra Public Schools, A Framework for Performance and Accountability’. This framework has school improvement at its centre, with the National School Improvement Tool (NSIT) as its core feature, providing support to achieve high standards in student learning, innovation and best practice in ACT public schools.

Prior to 2016 all ACT public schools participated in a four-year cycle of school review and development. In the fourth year schools underwent an external validation process. In 2016 this changed to a five-year cycle with an External School Review at the end.

Calwell High School was reviewed in 2014. A copy of the Review Report can be found on the school website. The school will be reviewed again in 2018.

School Satisfaction

Schools use a range of data collection tools to gain an understanding of the satisfaction levels of their parents and carers, staff and students. In August/ September 2017 the school undertook a survey to gain an understanding of school satisfaction at that time. Staff, parents and students from year 5 and above (with the exception of students in special schools) took part in an online survey.

Overall Satisfaction

In 2017, 74% of parents and carers, 71% of staff, and 52% of students at this school indicated they were satisfied with the education provided by the school.

Included in the survey were 14 national parent survey items and 12 national student survey items. These items were approved by the then Standing Council on School Education and Early Childhood (SCSEEC) for use from 2015. The following tables show the percentage of parents and carers and students who agreed with each of the national items at this school.

Table: Proportion of staff in agreement with each national opinion item

National opinion item	Proportion of staff
Teachers at this school expect students to do their best.	85
Teachers at this school provide students with useful feedback about their school work.	81
Teachers at this school treat students fairly.	93
This school is well maintained.	57
Students feel safe at this school.	67
Students at this school can talk to their teachers about their concerns.	96
Parents at this school can talk to teachers about their concerns.	93
Student behaviour is well managed at this school.	46
Students like being at this school.	57
This school looks for ways to improve.	93
This school takes staff opinions seriously.	68
Teachers at this school motivate students to learn.	72
Students’ learning needs are being met at this school.	61
This school works with parents to support students' learning.	79
I receive useful feedback about my work at this school.	59
Staff are well supported at this school.	81

Source: 2017 School Satisfaction Surveys, August/September 2017

A total of 28 of the 49 staff (57%) responded to the survey and may not fully represent the views of the whole staff. Please note that not all responders answered every question. Staff perception data presents a more critical view of our performance over the year. In particular, the areas of students safety; students like being at this school; learning technologies being an integral part of learning and teaching and overall student satisfaction that students are receiving a good education have been consistent areas of concern. It is important to note the results reflect the level of staff turnover over this period and the relative inexperience of teachers to personally address these issues.

Satisfaction results were closely analysed by the leadership of the school. Strategic actions were developed and included in school planning for the coming year and have been included in the 2018 Annual Action plan.

Student safety and wellbeing is a high priority in the school. Our mantra at Calwell is that every student will thrive and succeed. We know there has been measurable improvement in overall school behaviour as identified by our PBL and suspension data since 2015. Our professional learning calendars also address these issues in terms of building teacher capacity to manage behaviour and provide strategies to teachers to teach more effectively.

All staff were explicitly trained in behaviour management as part of the ongoing rollout of our PBL framework and our processes and structures were revised to ensure staff understood their responsibilities in this area. We now have clear line management protocols for managing student behaviour in place. The move to the new SAS in 2018 will enable us to better access data in real time, resulting in more accurate responses to issues in the school as they arise. A feature of this is the work done training staff to explicitly teach positive behaviours to students. For example, when there were incidents during breaks we immediately implemented an explicit teaching session to address this through every class that day. This is a cultural change in our practice and will take time to fully embed.

New staff were fully inducted into these processes and our executive team have strong and clear understandings of their roles in supporting their staff. Our wellbeing team worked closely with staff, providing effective responses to issues and providing guidance to individual teachers on how to more effectively deal with issues in their classrooms and in the broader school setting. Communication to staff on specific behaviour issues was regularly provided which includes strategies to assist staff in their management of issues in their classes. Fortnightly updates were provided and specific student case management reports were provided by our Year Coordinators following weekly wellbeing case management meetings led by our Wellbeing executive.

In 2018, we will be making a significant investment of resources to establish a Tier 3 on campus alternative program to support students with complex needs and challenging behaviours. This has been recognized at the system level as best practice and there has been considerable interest from other high schools across the system in our model. Our data indicates the work we have done in this area has led to a reduction in behaviour issues across the school since 2015.

Table: Proportion of parents and carers in agreement with each national opinion item

National opinion item	Proportion of parents and carers
Teachers at this school expect my child to do his or her best.	84
Teachers at this school provide my child with useful feedback about his/her school work.	67
Teachers at this school treat students fairly.	70
This school is well maintained.	87
My child feels safe at this school.	80
I can talk to my child’s teachers about my concerns.	84
Student behaviour is well managed at this school.	65
My child likes being at this school.	81
This school looks for ways to improve.	76
This school takes parents’ opinions seriously.	70
Teachers at this school motivate my child to learn.	71
My child is making good progress at this school.	81
My child's learning needs are being met at this school.	68
This school works with me to support my child's learning.	61

Source: 2017 School Satisfaction Surveys, August/September 2017

Please note that not all responders answered every question. A total of 31 parents responded to the survey. Please note that not all responders answered every question. The 2017 results were not consistent with the trends in the preceding three years and we believe this was due to the low response rate from families and does not represent the general view of the parents in our school community. When we triangulate this with other data sets there are points of contrast. For example, complaints data from the Directorate over this period, shows a dramatic decline since 2014. When compared with suspension data, there has been a significant decline in suspension rates since the introduction of the PBL framework in 2015, accompanied by a significant reduction in the level of major behaviour issues in the school over the 2015-17 period.

Acknowledging the problematic nature of the 2017 data, it is pleasing to note that parents are generally satisfied with the education and support their children are receiving at the school.

Table: Proportion of students in years 7 to 10 in agreement with each national opinion item

National opinion item	Proportion of students
My teachers expect me to do my best.	84
My teachers provide me with useful feedback about my school work.	54
Teachers at my school treat students fairly.	45
My school is well maintained.	32
I feel safe at my school.	44
I can talk to my teachers about my concerns.	43
Student behaviour is well managed at my school.	17
I like being at my school.	43
My school looks for ways to improve.	63
My school takes students’ opinions seriously.	44
My teachers motivate me to learn.	54
My school gives me opportunities to do interesting things.	63

Source: 2017 School Satisfaction Surveys, August/September 2017

This information can be considered alongside information available on the My School website (http://www.myschool.edu.au).

A total of 238 students (65%) responded to the survey. Student satisfaction data over 2017 has trended similarly to the staff data. Areas of concern, focused on the maintenance of the school environment; behaviour management; opportunities to do interesting things; quality of education and high expectations in all the school does.

The 2017 data about the availability of healthy food is a response to the reduction of canteen services and change of contractor due to low demand from students. The Healthy Kids Association now operate the canteen and provide a menu that is fully compliant with the Directorate’s Healthy Canteens policy.

The response to the ‘My school is well maintained’ item is a paradox because the maintenance of the school has always been a very high priority. We insist on providing a high-quality learning environment for our students to ensure educational equity for all. Since 2014 there has been major capital investment in the school’s facilities in excess of $4.5 million. Every year there is a major refurbishment project and there is a generous maintenance ledger in every year’s school budget. Our business manager is highly attentive to the good repair and order of the school. Repairs are executed immediately. In 2017 we upgraded the Building Services Officer (BSO) from BSO1 to BSO3 and recruited a highly qualified person for this role who exercises a highly vigilant daily review of the condition of the site.

Behaviour management has been addressed in the Staff data analysis. I am confident we will see this item response improve in our 2018 data set.

Students are regularly provided extracurricular opportunities. Every week there are excursions and in house activities, that value-add to the educational programs we deliver. The school also has a strong history of success in sporting competitions and dance. In fact, our dance program is a major draw card for enrolments.

As noted in the Staff analysis, quality learning is a major focus for us. Our work renewing curriculum will continue in 2018 and our ‘Focus on the Classroom’ pedagogical strategy is indicative of our commitment to continuous improvement in the delivery of learning to our students. Consistent with this focus is the emphasis on high expectations in all we do. This is clearly stated in our school’s vision statement: Calwell High School is a positive community with learning, relationships and wellbeing at its core. Empowering individuals to grow through excellence in learning, we build opportunities to celebrate success for all.

These results, as well as the continual review of school performance, contributed to the evaluation of our Strategic Plan and the development of Annual Action Plans. The Strategic Plan is available on the school website.

Learning and Assessment

NAPLAN

Students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in all ACT schools participate in the National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). This program assesses skills in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy.

In 2017, 1.00 % of year 7 students and 1.00 % of year 9 students were exempt from testing based on nationally agreed criteria.

Results are not reported when there are fewer than five students with results. This rule is applied for reasons of statistical reliability, as well as to protect the privacy of students in small schools.

The following table shows the 2017 mean scores achieved by our students compared to the ACT.

Table: Calwell High School 2017 NAPLAN Mean Scores

Test Domain	Year 7 School	Year 7 ACT	Year 9 School	Year 9 ACT
Reading	501	554	543	590
Writing	430	512	469	550
Spelling	509	541	540	582
Grammar & Punctuation	501	545	529	580
Numeracy	505	552	534	591

Source: Planning and Analytics

An analysis of our NAPLAN results can be found when reporting against our priorities.

Performance in Other Areas of the Curriculum

In addition to NAPLAN the school uses a range of formative and summative assessment tools and student monitoring strategies. The school’s assessment cycle details the collection of data, which is stored in Accelerus and available for analysis by all staff. In 2017 the school commenced the use of PAT testing. This has been a useful tool, which provides additional student information on numeracy and reading benchmarks and has assisted in prioritising resourcing and strategic actions. The school’s focus on student wellbeing and student case management and the introduction of the Positive Behaviour for Learning framework has provided a strong data set that has been invaluable in monitoring students’ academic and social/emotional development, identifying student strengths and areas for development, identifying resource allocation, teacher efficacy and informing strategic decision making.

In 2018 our Annual Action Plan will be promoted as the ‘Focus on the Classroom’. Posters summarising our actions have been published and displayed in every staffroom. Each term’s whole staff meeting will revisit the priorities of the plan and the specific actions of the plan will be weekly standing items on the Principal’s weekly plenary meeting with the Deputy and our weekly Leadership meetings to ensure the priorities of the plan are being addressed.

Financial Summary

The school has provided the Directorate with an end of year financial statement that was approved by the school board. Further details concerning the statement can be obtained by contacting the school. The following summary covers use of funds for operating costs and does not include expenditure in areas such as permanent salaries, buildings and major maintenance.

Table: Financial Summary

INCOME	January-June	July-December	January-December
Self-management funds	296254.45	232546.30	528800.75
Voluntary contributions	3648.00	1377.00	5025.00
Contributions & donations	0.00	20.00	20.00
Subject contributions	2968.05	4906.10	7874.15
External income (including community use)	12572.81	13909.13	26481.94
Proceeds from sale of assets	954.53	15234.62	16189.15
Bank Interest	2183.75	2234.39	4418.14
TOTAL INCOME	318581.59	270227.54	588809.13
EXPENDITURE
Utilities and general overheads	46226.06	90393.31	136619.37
Cleaning	75422.97	62239.06	137662.03
Security	1323.71	451.00	1774.71
Maintenance	57288.95	29703.98	86992.93
Administration	12382.16	12918.01	25300.17
Staffing	0.00	81153.78	81153.78
Communication	15363.50	4806.87	20170.37
Assets	2317.07	6588.14	8905.21
Leases	0.00	0.00	0.00
General office expenditure	9660.95	24783.83	34444.78
Educational	36370.35	27978.20	64348.55
Subject consumables	766.96	6218.28	6985.24
TOTAL EXPENDITURE	257122.68	347234.46	604357.14
OPERATING RESULT	61458.91	-77006.92	-15548.01
Actual Accumulated Funds	39185.67	39185.67	39185.67
Outstanding commitments (minus)	-4254.34	0.00	-4254.34
BALANCE	96390.24	-37821.25	19383.32

Professional Learning

The average professional learning expenditure at the school level per full time equivalent teacher was $3,568.20.

Voluntary Contributions

The funds listed were used to support the general operations of the school. The spending of voluntary contributions is in line with the approved budget for 2017.

Reserves

Name and Purpose	Amount	Expected Completion
NIL	NIL	NIL

Endorsement Page

Members of the School Board

Parent Representative(s):	Anthony Draffin
Community Representative(s):	Greg Haustead
Teacher Representative(s):	Stephen McKellar	Jason Deady
Student Representative(s):	Jacob Pevere	Chelsea Wood-Jordan
Board Chair:	Louise Wilson
Principal:	Bruce McCourt

I approve the report, prepared in accordance with the provision of the ACT Education Act 2004, section 52.

Board Chair Signature:	___________________________	Date:	30 / 05 / 2018

I certify that to the best of my knowledge and belief the data and information reported in this Annual School Board Report represents an accurate record of the school’s operations in 2017.

Principal Signature:	___________________________	Date:	30 / 05 / 2018