Waimate CoL - a journey reflection

Jeanette Packman – presentation at EducANZ Leaders Forum Chch

10th August, 2016

Related Stuff Article - Waimate school cluster given the green light

DAISY HUDSON - Last updated 15:00, March 2 2016

http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/77464632/Waimate-school-cluster-given-the-green-light

I had the privilege of working with Jeanette in 2014, under the L&A contract, and to listen to her forum presentation. D. McCracken

      Brief outline:

·      * 7 schools – 1 secondary + 6 primary

·      * Elected leader June 2016 - Jeanette Packman, Principal, Waimate High School

·      * Vision:  our student achievement challenge (SAC) will focus on maximising learning outcomes for every learner, with all children being well supported by strong connections during their journey – through high trust collaboration, that continuously holds children at the centre

·      * Whakatauki: “when reeds stand alone, they are vulnerable, but bound together they are unbreakable”

·      * SAC: Nat Stds maths, reading, writing and NCEA L2

http://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Ministry/Investing-in-Educational-Success/Communities-of-Schools/Waimate-CoL-achievement-challengesv2

Example: end of 2014 - 79% of students were ‘At’ or ‘Above’, goal now for end of 2017 – 90% ‘At’ or ‘Above’

·      * Spent much time getting the words of the SAC right, scrutinised the data used

·      * Identified and rationalised the set of target students – those ‘Below’ in Years 3-8 for Nat Stds reading, writing and mathematics and those borderline ‘Not Achieved/Achieve’ in NCEA L1 & 2.

·      * Identified and rationalised the set of priority students – those who are transient in which Maori are highly represented

·      * In order to inmprove student outcomes, the CoL needed to improve

-       learner engagement

-       learner achievement

-       learner transitions and pathways (including learner transfer across school one focus too – this is because there are families who when not happy with one school will remove them and place them in another local school. It is noted that the transfer does not usually change the behaviour of the child)

-       community engagement - collaborative interactions with whanau needed

·      * Have developed a detailed ‘operational structure’ – this came from the deepening of conversations about how to support the SAC

·      * Set up steward group (principal + BOT rep from each school) for governance – personnel and employment, specific roles and management layers

Journey:

·      * Feb 2015 – first met to discuss the notion of forming a CoL

·     *  Good history of working together EG principals gather to discuss events like sports that have an impact community wide school; always a social aspect

·      * Invited MoE to scaffold the SAC development and the nature of CoLs

·      * The primary schools had agreed to form the CoL but were shocked to know that the high school had to be part of it

·      * May 2015 – 6 schools signed an agreement to form the CoL, door left open for others to join

·      * June-Sept 2015 – principals developed the application/SAC – this was a huge challenge but along the way relationships were built along with a collaborative way of working and interrogating the data

·      * End of Term 3 2015 – submitted their application

·      * Feb 2016 – MoE signed the application off

·      * Mar-April 2016 – met again to now build some momentum, so formed a ‘steward group’ and a selection panel to appoint the CoL leader. Sought the help of National CoLs selection panel Charles Newton to develop the particular criteria for the role

·      * June 2016 – Leader appointed, early days but Jeanette finds the opportunity both exciting and challenging

Next steps:

Ø  Inform teachers

Ø  Appoint teachers for their role in the CoL – Charles Newton supporting, teacher voice being sought

Ø  Develop an action plan and budget

Ø  Develop CoL policy statement

      

     Reflections:

v Process invaluable – development of the application built relationships between school principals and provided an opportunity to work collaboratively

v Support – MoE (expertise about the can and cannot do of CoLs) and ERO (created a combined report from the individual school reports to inform the SAC application)

v Communication is critical – open and transparent, agreed upon shared messages to go out to others

v Maintain connections to other CoLs – build networks to check for understanding, provide affirmation are doing the right things, learn from others

v Keep the focus – student outcomes and achievement, the SAC

v Prioritse - most important in order to make progress

v Build teams – take the time needed to do this well

v Small steps – manage change well (use a model to guide), what is changing is massive, it is a whole new way for schools to be working together and requires new ways of thinking

v Redefining how we work together - change in philosophy

Questions from the floor:

1. How have you engaged with the community?

Answer - Have not done so yet, this will come, this first stage has been about learning, getting our heads around what we need to do and how, one-way info gathering at the moment.

2. Do the ECEs want to become involved?

Answer - Yes, they had a meeting this week; there are 5 ECEs keen to be a part of the CoL, even though the current model has no funding allocated to them to participate.

3. Is the CoL keen to collaborate with the ECEs?

Answer – Near future meetings will have collaborating with them in mind. Planning meeting tomorrow and steward meeting next week.

4. What about iwi involvement?

Answer - This is on the horizon. The local runanga has been a key part of our history, provide learning support, local marae has been an important part of our tamariki journey