2018 bankstown senior college annual report · 2019-06-13 · introduction the annual report for...

Bankstown Senior CollegeAnnual Report

2018

8381

Printed on: 13 June, 2019 of 21 Bankstown Senior College 8381 (2018)

Introduction

The Annual Report for 2018 is provided to the community of Bankstown Senior College as an account of the school'soperations and achievements throughout the year.

It provides a detailed account of the progress the school has made to provide high quality educational opportunities forall students, as set out in the school plan. It outlines the findings from self–assessment that reflect the impact of keyschool strategies for improved learning and the benefit to all students from the expenditure of resources, including equityfunding.

Marianne Doyle

Principal

School contact details

Bankstown Senior CollegeAntwerp StBankstown, 2200www.bankstowns-h.schools.nsw.edu.aubankstowns-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au9707 3288


School background

School vision statement

Bankstown Senior College empowers a diverse range of students to be confident, active, future–focusedlearners.

School context

· Bankstown Senior College provides secondary education to students of post compulsory age, new arrivals,refugees, re–entry students and those who have found it difficult to engage with education in a traditional setting. Overninety per cent of our students come from a language background other than English.

· The College curriculum focuses on English language acquisition, literacy, numeracy, employability skills and thedevelopment of digital literacy across all key learning areas.

· The College prides itself on offering a broad flexible curriculum with an emphasis on individual patterns of studyacross a four day week. Students’ prior learning and cultural knowledge is recognised and valued. Emphasis is placed ondifferentiated teaching and learning.

· A full range of academic and vocational courses are available for students in Years 10–12. In addition the Collegeprovides Intensive English courses for full and part time students and mid–year preparation courses.

· The College teaching and support staff is committed and dedicated to building their capacity to provide the besteducational opportunities for students enrolled in the various programs the College offers.

· Students’ social and emotional wellbeing is supported by strong Student Support structures.

· We value the contribution of the wider community and have developed stronger links with parents, TAFE,universities, relevant community agencies and businesses.

Self-assessment and school achievement

Self-assessment using the School Excellence Framework

This section of the Annual Report outlines the findings from self–assessment using the School Excellence Framework,school achievements and the next steps to be pursued.

This year, our school undertook self–assessment using the School Excellence Framework. The framework supportspublic schools throughout NSW in the pursuit of excellence by providing a clear description of high quality practiceacross the three domains of Learning, Teaching and Leading. Our self–assessment was based on consideration ofevidence sourced across all year Groups and all KLAs including our onsite Intensive English Centre.

Learning

In the element of Wellbeing, our evidence supported our operation at the Excelling stage. In the elements of LearningCulture, Curriculum, Assessment, Reporting and Student Performance measures, we feel that the evidence supports ajudgement of Sustaining and Growing.

Teaching

In the element of Professional Standards, our on–balance judgement is that we are Excelling. In the elements ofEffective Classroom Practice, Data Skills and Use and Learning and Development, we feel that the evidence shows thatwe are operating at the level of Sustaining and Growing.

Leading

In the elements of Educational Leadership, School planning, Implementation and Reporting and School Resources, wefeel that the evidence shows that we are Excelling. In the element of Management Practices and Processes, we believethat we are Sustaining and Growing.

Our self–assessment process will assist the school to refine our school plan, leading to further improvements in thedelivery of education to our students.


For more information about the School Excellence Framework:

https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching–and–learning/school–excellence–and–accountability/sef–evidence–guide


Strategic Direction 1

Personalised, authentic learning

Purpose

To provide equitable access to appropriate educational experiences by promoting a culture of excellence throughinnovative and personalised learning, enabling all students to develop confidence and capacity in literacy and numeracy,thus maximising future opportunities.

Overall summary of progress

Our continued College–wide focus on growth in individual learning has enabled us to achieve measurable progress inthis Strategic Direction through the continued implementation of the Individual Growth Project, which identifies individualstudent learning needs through data analysis and consultation and then addresses them through targeted, explicitlearning support. Targeted classes and individual support is provided to students of low socio–economic, EAL/D,Aboriginal and refugee students alike, according to need. Students in both Year 10 and 11 demonstrate significantgrowth in Post Banplan in Literacy and Numeracy due to the extensive focus on these areas throughout the year. TheLesson Study Project is a vehicle that ensures that all teachers are committed to developing lessons that focus onachieving College goals in literacy and numeracy. The introduction of HSC Minimum Standards in literacy and numeracyhas led to a whole College focus on developing the reading, writing and numeracy skills of each individual student.Support has been provided by the Literacy and Numeracy teams through organised workshops, practice testing,WordFlyers and Mathletics activities and program planning for explicit teaching of literacy and numeracy. Our focus onproviding students with relevant and meaningful curriculum appropriate to their individual goals has led to measureablegrowth in attainment of vocational competencies and employability skills through extra–curricula activities.

Progress towards achieving improvement measures

Improvement measures(to be achieved over 3 years)

Funds Expended(Resources)

Progress achieved this year

Increased the percentage ofstudents demonstrating expectedgrowth in literacy.

Staffing costs: • English languageproficiency ($624,678.00) • Targeted student supportfor refugees and newarrivals ($98,394.00) • Low level adjustment fordisability ($207,842.00) • Socio–economicbackground: • Targeted learning support • ($464,152.00) • Equity Deputy position • ($160,254) • Head Teacher Teachingand Learning higher duties($39825.00)

Analysis and data is indicative of students achievingexpected or higher than expected levels of growth.School data collected through Banplan testingrevealed an overall growth in Year 10 Reading of0.66, which is equivalent to approximately 1.5 yearsof growth in less than 12 months. Year 11 studentsachieved improvement equivalent to one year'sgrowth in Reading with an effect size of 0.35. Year10 students continue to be in the process ofachieving the Minimum Standard in Literacy. 79%of Year 10 students achieved Level 3 or above inthe Minimum Standard Reading test. Year 10students achieved growth in Writing across the yearwith an average effect size of 0.7. Year 11 studentsachieved an average effect size of 0.54 in Writing.

Average level of progression through the IECreading levels was 2.5 and 15% of studentsreached the upper three levels prior to exiting theIEC.

Increased the percentage ofstudents demonstrating expectedgrowth in numeracy.

As above Analysis and data is indicative of students achievingexpected or higher than expected levels of growth.

Year 10 students continue to be in the process ofachieving the Minimum Standard in Numeracy.Approximately 60% of Year 10 students achievedLevel 3 or above in the Minimum StandardNumeracy test. In the school's Banplan testingthere was an average increase in students' scoreof 2.8, with an effect size of over 0.43. In Year 11






Increased the percentage ofstudents demonstrating expectedgrowth in numeracy.

there was an average increase in students' score of1.96, with an effect size of over 0.3.

Established a consistent,school–wide system fordifferentiation.

Head Teacher Teachingand Learning Higher Duties($39825.00)

External audit ofMaths/Science Assessmentpractices ($10,000)

Professional learning was provided for all staff atthe College and IEC on the use of assessment forlearning, and the different uses of summative andformative assessment.The process of auditing theCollege's assessment practice (by faculty)commenced in Term 4 and will continue in 2019.

Achievement of student postschool destination goals.

Low socio–economicbackground:

Salary for Community LinksCoordinator ($52,006.00)

Salary for BKSB coordinator($40,000.00)

85% of Year 12 students went on to university,TAFE or employment. Of the 56 students in Year 12who qualified for an ATAR or Limited ATAR, 61%were offered a place in university.

Stronger industry links andgreater school and communityuse of the Bankstown TradeSkills Centre.

As above Some links have been established with localschools in the delivery of VET but this continues tobe an area where further progress could be made.

Next Steps

Year 10 students continue to be in the process of achieving the Minimum Standards in Literacy and/or Numeracy.Students who have yet to meet the appropriate level will be assisted to do so through the ongoing focus on Literacy andNumeracy in 2019 as Year 11 students. Specialised 30 minute Literacy and Numeracy classes, along with whole dayworkshops are planned for all Year groups in 2019 to develop their skills and work towards achieving Level 3 or above.

Continue to build on the improved Learning and Support processes and strengthen the capacity of staff to collect,analyse and use appropriate student data. Data from staff and students on assessment for learning will be used to driveimprovements in assessment and performance.

Further develop the IEC's Basic Key Skills Builder program and the Individual Reading Program to concentrate oncomprehension as well as decoding of English language. This will ensure that IEC students develop skills to assist in thetransition to the College or the next stage of their learning journey.

Update the explicit Year 12 Learning Support program, including the use of outside agencies such as Elevate Education.Ensure that the programming of Learning Support aligns with the new Mentor program in 2019.

Ensure all students with an identified disability have a personalised Learning and Support Plan and that all students fromYear 10 to 12 have a Personal Education Plan.



Developing resilient citizens

Purpose

To build and sustain a culture of social and emotional wellbeing through healthy and respectful relationships betweenstudents, staff and parents/caregivers, maximising student opportunity in the wider Australian community.


Our continued school–wide focus on development and maintenance of a culture of individual growth has enabled us toachieve significant progress in this strategic direction through a successful, coordinated approach to student wellbeingand learning culture. Professional learning of all teaching staff in Motivation, Growth Mindset and Metacognition exploredthe factors that lead to exceptional performance and reasons why some people achieve so much more than others. Theelements of the Wellbeing Framework were used as the starting point of a comprehensive evaluation of wellbeingapproaches within the College.





Increase the proportion ofstudents who are resilient andengaged learners

Higher duties costs forAttendance coordinator

Employment of casualEnrolment coordinator • Socio–economicbackground ($9072.00)

Completion rates as per the Annual report

Scholarship support minimises students' financialstress and enables positive learning experienceswith greater student focus and motivation.

Attendance rates in the main College remain above90%,although IEC attendance rates are lower.

Successful transition of allstudents to the next phase oftheir learning journey.

Salary of Community LinksCoordinator ($52,006.00)

Student Wellbeing Officer($52,006.00) from FlexibleFunding for WellbeingServices

Establishment of a Transition team, includingteachers and the Wellbeing Support officer has ledto a more focused and strategic approach tosupporting students in their transition.

Increase the level of attendanceand engagement of parents andcare–givers in the life of theCollege.

Salary of CommunityLiaison Officer ($60,000.00)from Low Socio–EconomicBackground

Parent surveys indicated a higher level ofparticipation by parents than in previous years(41%) with a greater number of parents attendingall four parent forums.

A small group of BSC parents along with parentsfrom 4 other schools attended an excursion toOrange to experience rural life in Australia andencourage families to access the support offered byAuburn Diversity Services.

Increase the level of studentengagement and participation inwider community activities.

Targeted Student Supportfor Refugees and NewArrivals: ($98,394.00)

Community Liaison Officer($60,000.00) from LowSocio–EconomicBackground.

Tafe Taster program costs($15000.00) from LowSocio–EconomicBackground.

The College CLO and Refugee teachers accesseda number of extra curricula programs and coursesoffered by the Lebanese Muslim Association andthe Dept of Social Services through the ThriveYouth Transition Support program. BSC studentscompleted courses in Traffic Control, WhitecardSafety, First Aid, Security and Forklift Licence andBarista training. A number of students weresubsequently successful in gaining employmentafter completing these courses.

94 IEC students participated in a TAFE tasterprogram, variously experiencing Hair and Makeup,






Increase the level of studentengagement and participation inwider community activities.

Barista, Office Skills and First Aid for two days. As adirect result of this initiative, 36 students acquiredtheir First Aid Certificate.

Next Steps

Following feedback from IEC and College students and teachers, in 2019 we will deliver two 30 minute Mentor lessonsper week for students in all years in the College and the exiting classes of the IEC with a focus on Mindfulness andgratitude practice as well as covering the Life–Ready content.

Further development of the Transition Team which will provide individual case management of students needing totransition to the next stage of their learning journey, as well as the seamless transition of the IEC students into theCollege. The RAW careers program for refugee students, the NRL School to Work program for ATSI students andservices provided by Afford to support students with mild disabilities are programs planned for 2019.

Continue to develop the process of monitoring and review of attendance across the College including whole day andpartials, by the Attendance Coordinator, Enrolment Coordinator and the Head Teacher Wellbeing.



Building strong classroom leaders

Purpose

To build a culture of high expectations in teaching, learning and leading where all teacher learners are active, reflectiveand focused on achieving performance and development goals to drive school improvement.


Our continued emphasis on quality teaching via the Lesson Study Project has seen a vigorous alignment of strategicdirections to student learning outcomes. Constant reflection on best practice coupled with mentoring has seen staffconfidence increase and leadership capacity grow. Staff capacity to collect, analyse and use all forms of data to improvetheir teaching practice has translated into improved student outcomes. The contribution of our outside facilitator to theBuilding Strong Leaders Project was instrumental in increasing numbers of staff taking on leadership responsibilitiesacross the College and the IEC. Evaluation of this program has shown that it has led to increasing confidence of leaders,more successful progression of staff into leadership positions, provision of useful tools, readings and resources andmost commonly valued, the provision of objective and honest feedback that challenges pre–existing ideas andencourages evaluative thinking. External education consultants reviewed Assessment for Learning in Maths and Sciencefaculties and will review English, TAS/CAPA and HSIE in 2019. Recommendations are provided to each faculty to worktowards best practice in assessment for, as and of learning.





Teachers are more confident andcapable of taking on leadershipresponsibilities and all staffdemonstrate progress towardsachieving their Performance andDevelopment goals.

Support for Beginningteachers ($24,000.00)

Cost of outside Mentor forBuilding Strong Leadersprogram ($$6000.00)

In 2018 the SPLAT team consisted of 10 memberswith two new teachers taking on the responsibility ofleading a cross–curricula team and supervisingLesson Study teams.

Two more staff chose to join the Building StrongLeaders Project to improve their leadership throughfeedback and advice from a critical friend.

All staff demonstrate the use offormative assessment, effectivefeedback and TEER/ALARMstrategies in their regularteaching practice.

Cost of outside audit ofassessment processes($6,000.00)

Professional learning was provided for all staff atthe College and IEC on the use of assessment forlearning, and the different uses of summative andformative assessment.The process of auditing theCollege's assessment practice (by faculty)commenced in Term 4 and will continue in 2019.

All teachers actively engaged inthe Lesson Study Project whichdevelops their teaching andleadership capability to improvestudent learning.

In 2018, there were 15 lesson study teams, somefocusing on strategies to raise the standard ofliteracy and numeracy across the College and theIEC while others focused on the use of formativeassessment. 100% of teaching staff were involvedin the project and analysis showed that all teamsreported positive growth in student learning andprovided evidence of improvement.

All teachers are committed tohigh impact improvement throughthe Two Marks More Project andundertake relevant professionallearning in order to achieve thetarget of two marks more for eachstudent.

All staff involved in the Building Strong LeadersProject, the Lesson Study Project and staff involvedin the Leadership Development Initiative have thecommon goal of improving students results by twomarks in whatever their final examination is.

Next Steps


The highly successful Building Strong Leaders Project – incorporating both classroom teachers and substantive Collegeexecutive – will continue in 2019 in order to deepen the leadership capacity of the staff. This project will be furtherdeveloped to include observations of team leadership and the provision of critical feedback on the teacher's leadershipcapability.

Professional Learning in 2019 will focus on improving student performance in assessments through formativeassessment and effective feedback (the 2 Marks More Project), as well as the Minimum Literacy and NumeracyStandards.

The Lesson Study Project will continue with the same focus on Meeting Minimum Literacy and Numeracy Standards andAssessment for Learning including effective feedback. There will be a greater emphasis on evidence–based practice anddata analysis and the use of student performance data to inform teaching.

In 2019 Assessment for Learning will continue to be externally evaluated and the SPLAT Team will continue the regularcycle of internal faculty evaluations.

The Deputy Principal will continue to mentor the Highly Accomplished applicant through the Leadership DevelopmentInitiative and beginning teachers will complete an induction process and receive professional guidance by the DeputyPrincipal.


Key Initiatives Resources (annual) Impact achieved this year

Aboriginal background loading Cost of one laptopcomputer and some SLSOtime to support twoAboriginal students:$1976.00

Laptop was used to facilitate learning in theclassroom and at home. The students hadSLSO support for some subjects in theclassroom and successfully achieved theirHSC

English language proficiency English languageproficiency ($ 624,678.00):5.4 permanent teachers

• English languageproficiency ($70 276.00)

Completion of competencies in CSWEOver 60% of Year 10 students achieved theminimum standard in reading. Successfulcompletion of Year 10, 11 and year 12courses.

Low level adjustment for disability • Low level adjustment fordisability ($ 207,842.00):1.6 teachers • Low level adjustment fordisability ($20 823.00)

PLASSPS developed for all identifiedstudents, learning supported in the classroomand in the learning centre by trained teachers,SLSOs and university tutors.

Socio–economic background Salaries of various staff asabove • Socio–economicbackground ($1262.554.00) • Socio–economicbackground ($101 834.00)

College plan facilitated and implementedthrough the provision of extra learningsupport, under the leadership of the DeputyPrincipal Equity and the Head TeacherTeaching and Learning. Student welfaresupported through the use of an extensivewelfare support structure across the Collegeand the IEC

Support for beginning teachers Support for beginningteachers • Support for beginningteachers ($ $24,000.00) • Support for beginningteachers ($3 047.00)

New Beginning teachers were given twohours a week release time and a mentor fromthe Senior Executive. They undertook anextensive orientation programme and weregiven support (both financial and human) toprepare for the accreditation process.Feedback from Beginning teacher surveysindicate confidence in the role and they willnow be focusing on completing theaccreditation process in 2019

Targeted student support forrefugees and new arrivals

Staff costs 2.5 days aweek, technology, literacyresources, subsidies forcourses to buildemployability skills • Targeted student supportfor refugees and newarrivals ($ 98,394.00) • Targeted student supportfor refugees and newarrivals ($6 507.00)

All refugee and students with refugee–likeexperiences suitably supported – see reporton Multicultural Education.


Student information

Student enrolment profile

Enrolments

Students 2015 2016 2017 2018

Boys 262 210 254 207

Girls 198 199 240 226

Student attendance profile

School

Year 2015 2016 2017 2018

9 80.1

10 88.4 89.4 89.9 85.7

11 89.6 92.7 91.7 89.4

12 88.5 90.5 87.9 89.7

All Years 88.8 90.6 90 85.7

State DoE

Year 2015 2016 2017 2018

9 87.7

10 87.7 87.6 87.3 86.1

11 88.2 88.2 88.2 86.6

12 89.9 90.1 90.1 89

All Years 88.5 88.5 88.4 87.3

Management of non-attendance

Student attendance at the College and in class isessential to improve learning outcomes. Staff play akey role in ensuring that students attend as much aspossible.

Classroom teachers are required to follow up studentabsences and reinforce the importance of class time tomeet course outcomes. If the absences (includingtruancy) continue and they are causing concernachieving outcomes in the subject, they are referred tothe Head Teacher, year Adviser or the AttendanceCoordinator as appropriate. Welfare entries are alsomade in the College's Sentral tracking system.Attendance monitoring during Mentor classes assists inthe management of student attendance. Teachersregularly issue a record of attendance to each studentand counsel them as to concerns re the number ofabsences recorded. Students also use this opportunityto check these absences for discrepancies. It is thestudents' responsibility to follow up and amend thesediscrepancies.

Office staff send home fortnightly attendance letters tostudents who have unexplained absences. Studentsand caregivers need to contact the College and explain

any unjustified leave.

The Attendance coordinator monitors continuous orunexplained absenteeism with the assistance ofClassroom teachers, Head Teachers, Year Advisers,Head Teacher Wellbeing or the appropriate member ofthe Senior Executive. Attendance review meetings areheld three times a term and appropriate action isdecided upon by all the relevant stakeholders.

As is seen above, this consistent approach to proactivemonitoring of student absenteeism and prompt actionwhen problems arise, has led to a Stage 6 attendancewhich remains consistently above state average. TheYear 9 cohort is the students in our Intensive EnglishCentre. The appointment of new wellbeing positions tomonitor attendance in 2019, should see animprovement in these attendance levels.

Post-school destinations

Proportion ofstudents movinginto post-schooleducation, trainingor employment

Year 10%

Year 11%

Year 12%

SeekingEmployment

0 0 12

Employment 12 2 16

TAFE entry 18.5 2 18

University Entry 0 0 51

Other 4 4 0

Unknown 10 5 3

Surveys are undertaken each year to determine thedestination of students once they have left the College.

In 2018, 100% of the 66 students in the Year 12 cohortreceived their Higher School Certificate. 85 percent ofYear 12 went on to either university, TAFE oremployment. Of the 56 students in Year 12 whoqualified for an ATAR or a Limited ATAR, 61% wereoffered a place at university. Students chose from arange of disciplines including Health Science,Pharmacy, IT, Nursing, Psychology, Criminology,Business, Teaching and Engineering. There was also arange of universities, including Sydney, UNSW, UTS,UOW, ACU and Western Sydney University. & studentswere offered an equity scholarship ranging from $500to $50,000. 2018 saw an increase of 20% morestudents being offered a place at university and anincrease of 5% in students choosing to go to TAFE.

Year 12 students undertaking vocational or tradetraining

Vocational Education and Training (VET) subjectsoffered in 2018 included BSB20115 Certificate II inBusiness (4 Yr 12 students), CPC20211 Certificate II inConstruction Pathways (5 Yr 12 students), SIT20416


Certificate II in Kitchen Operations (5 Yr 12 students),Statement of Attainment towards ICA30115 CertificateIII In Information, Digital Media and Technology (3 Yr12 students), SIR30216 Certificate III in Retail Services(4 Yr 12 students) and HTLT33115 Certificate III inHealth Services Assistance (3 Yr 12 students). Overallthere were 24 Year 12 VET students, of whom 100%achieved the full certificate or highest qualifications fortheir course. Some students studied multiple VETcourses. The College worked collaboratively withMWLP (Macarthur Workplace Learning Program), ourwork placement broker, to provide successfulplacement opportunities for our VET students. Some ofour students sourced their own work placements whichwere appropriately documented and approved by VETteachers. White card training was conducted by Mr YadRam, a qualified trainer and teacher at BankstownSenior College and delivered to the Constructionstudents as part of their course. All students studying aVET course obtained a USI (Unique Student Identifier)to ensure their qualifications are stored for futureaccess.

Year 12 students attaining HSC or equivalentvocational education qualification

In 2018, 66 students received their Higher SchoolCertificate, which is 100% of the cohort.

Workforce information

Workforce composition

Position FTE*

Principal(s) 1

Deputy Principal(s) 2

Head Teacher(s) 7

Classroom Teacher(s) 17.2

Learning and Support Teacher(s) 1.4

Teacher Librarian 1

Teacher ESL 5.4

School Counsellor 1.6

School Administration and SupportStaff

17.78

Other Positions 26.2

*Full Time Equivalent

There were no indigenous members of staff atBankstown Senior College in 2018.

Teacher qualifications

All teaching staff meet the professional requirementsfor teaching in NSW public schools.

Teacher qualifications

Qualifications % of staff

Undergraduate degree or diploma 100

Postgraduate degree 0

Professional learning and teacher accreditation

All teaching staff meet the requirements for teaching inNSW public schools and are accredited as proficientteachers by NESA.

All staff at Bankstown Senior College participated in arange of professional learning opportunities in 2018.These activities included both school based and thoseaccessed and delivered by non–school basedagencies. All non–school based professional learningactivities were carefully considered by the DeputyPrincipal prior to staff enrolment and screened foralignment to College Strategic Directions and theAustralian Professional Standards for Teachers.Courses undertaken by staff included; KLA contentup–skilling and new syllabus workshops, Literacy andNumeracy Minimum Standards, IEC CurriculumFramework, VET Network Meetings, VET QualificationUpgrades, Refugee Student Support, LeadershipDevelopment, Assessment for Learning workshops,Supervising Future Teachers, Teachers Federationinformation sessions, literary events, NESA workshops,International Students Program, Digital Technologies,School Website training, Formative Assessment,Managing Students in Distress, SAP training, eFPTFinance Essentials, Supporting LGBTIQ Families,Higher Pathways, Overview of Sentence Structure,Wellness Expo, Literacy Through Music, GrowthMindset, CV Writing Skills, Incident Management,Oliver New Look Search, CSWE Moderation, GoogleClassroom, Transition training, Leadership and SchoolPlanning.

Professional Learning in semester 1 centred around thenew Stronger HSC Standards and the MinimumLiteracy and Numeracy Standards and the LessonStudy Project continued with the same focus. Therewas a greater emphasis on evidence–based practiceand data analysis. Assessment for Learning was thefocus for Semester 2 and in Term 4 Assessment forLearning was externally evaluated in the Science andMaths faculties. In Term 4 the HSIE faculty wasinternally evaluated by the School ProfessionalLearning and Teaching Team.

In 2018 three New Scheme teachers were accreditedby NESA at proficient. One staff member continued towork towards NESA accreditation at the Lead standardand one staff member continued in the LeadershipDevelopment Initiative with the intention of completingaccreditation at the Highly Accomplished standard.

Leadership Development Initiative

In 2018 Bankstown Senior College had two participantsselected to take part in the Leadership Development


Initiative, a program organised by the Leadership andHigh Performance Directorate of the DoE. DeputyPrincipal Jenni Gardiner was accepted into the programas a mentor and Aaron Culligan, HT Learning andSupport as a mentee. The program involved intensiveprofessional learning with a focus on instructionalleadership practices. Participants received a $7000grant to assist them in completing the program andworking towards accreditation at the HighlyAccomplished or Lead career stage. The initiativeinvolved the mentee leading the implementation andevaluation of a section of the school plan and workingwith the experienced mentor who has extensive schoolleadership experience. In 2018 Aaron led the CollegeAssessment For Learning Committee through which hebuilt staff knowledge of and capacity to interpret DoEand NESA requirements and processes regardingassessment. He provided professional learning todevelop the capacity of teaching staff to implementstrategies to evaluate the effectiveness of currentassessment practices through the analysis of internaland external data. This led to a whole College focus onquality assessment practices emphasising theimportance of formative assessment and the effectiveuse of feedback. In Term 4 the College employedexternal consultants to undertake an appraisal ofinformal assessment practices, beginning with theMaths and Science faculties which has resulted informative assessment strategies being included in allteaching programs, greater use of internal and externaldata (including pre–assessment), development ofindividual student learning profiles and furtherprofessional learning on formative assessment.

Lesson Study Project

The School Professional Learning and Teaching Team(SPLATT) is responsible for the implementation of theLesson Study Project. In 2018 The Lesson StudyProject involved teams of teachers meeting regularly toplan, design, implement, evaluate and refine lessonsfor a unit of work targeting a particular strategicdirection with an agreed focus area. Specifically, eachLesson Study team uses data to identify a learningneed, defines a pedagogical problem or teachingchallenge linked to the learning need, engages inprofessional learning, designs a lesson in detail,teaches the lesson, observes the lesson based onpre–determined and agreed observation criteria,evaluates the lesson by jointly reflecting on its effect onstudent learning, revises the lesson incorporating thegroup feedback, teaches and observes the revisedlesson to another group of students, evaluates therevised lesson and collectively documents the resultsand shares with colleagues across the school. TheLesson Study Project is a key strategy in achievingStrategic Direction 3 of the College Plan which is tostrengthen the leadership capacity of individuals todrive school improvement. It provides teachers with acollaborative way of observing each other's lessons andreflecting on their own teaching practice in order tomeet the Australian Professional Standards forTeachers. Through this project teachers are also ableto work towards achieving their performance anddevelopment goals and meet some of the requirementsof the NESA teacher accreditation process. In 2018there were 12 lesson study teams focusing either on

raise the standard of literacy or numeracy across theCollege and the IEC or strategies to include moreformative assessment in every day teaching practice.Each team provided a reflection on their lesson studywhich outlined data they used and evaluated the impactof the changes they made to their teaching. 90% ofteachers reported positive growth in student learningand provided evidence of improvements through worksamples, observations, pre and post testing and otherassessment data. 100% of teaching staff were involvedin the Lesson Study Project and felt that the biggestbenefits of the program are increasing collegiality,opportunity to work collaboratively with others andproviding a forum for reflection and evaluation ofteaching practice. 75% of staff indicated that theLesson Study Project has led to a change in theirteaching practice e.g. including more formativeassessment, more explicit teaching of literacy andincorporating the use of ICT into lessons.

Building Strong Leaders Program

In 2018 the Building Strong Leaders program involved15 leaders and aspiring leaders including seniorexecutive, head teachers and classroom teachers wholead a team or committee. The project continued todevelop the leadership capacity of the staff and wasextended to include observations of team leadershipand the provision of critical feedback on the teacher'sleadership capability. Participants engaged inmentoring/coaching conversations with an expert ineducational leadership once per term and althoughflexible to accommodate the needs of individualparticipants, its main focus was on leadershipstrategies, styles and impact, progress towards PDPgoals and achievement of the College Plan milestones.

The Building Strong Leaders program has beeninstrumental in increasing numbers of staff taking onleadership responsibilities across the College and theIEC. The constructive feedback, guidance and adviceprovided by our outside facilitator has assisted anumber of staff members to gain permanent and/orpromotional positions through the merit selectionprocess at all levels including from temporary positionsto permanent, classroom teacher to head teacher andhead teacher to deputy principal.

Concurrently all Year 10 Preparation course teacherswere involved in implementing and teaching aConnected Outcome Group (COG) module whichfocused on authentic learning, assessment andfeedback. An emphasis was placed on 21st Centurylearning strategies and relevance to the AustralianCurriculum. Teachers were up–skilled in these areas bythe COG Co–ordinator. Teachers were required tointerpret and use appropriate student data to informtheir teaching practice in the preparation and delivery ofCOG lessons.


Financial information

Financial summary

The information provided in the financial summaryincludes reporting from 1 January 2018 to 31December 2018.

2018 Actual ($)

Opening Balance 727,486

Revenue 9,791,324

Appropriation 9,636,175

Sale of Goods and Services 19,060

Grants and Contributions 120,311

Gain and Loss 0

Other Revenue 10,515

Investment Income 5,263

Expenses -8,396,880

Recurrent Expenses -8,396,880

Employee Related -7,669,405

Operating Expenses -727,475

Capital Expenses 0

Employee Related 0

Operating Expenses 0

SURPLUS / DEFICIT FOR THEYEAR

1,394,444

Balance Carried Forward 2,121,930

Bankstown Senior College follows rigorous financialpractices and governance structures which meetDepartmental and legislative requirements inadministering funds across the College in 2018.

The Principal plans and implements an annual schoolbudget that :plans to maximise the operation of theschool within available physical and financial resources;ensures appropriate application of existing resources toidentified areas of need including school buildings andgrounds; identifies and addresses occupational healthand safety issues and maintains appropriate records inaccordance with Audit requirements. The Principal hasthe responsibility of achievement of the College'seducational goals and to ensure the budget andcashflow remain on target during the year. The FinanceCommittee comprises the Principal, Deputy Principals,School Administrative Manager, a Head Teacher(appointed annually through a rotation system)andthree elected staff representatives. Meetings are heldeach term and minutes of meetings are published andaccessible to all staff. The school canteen is leased bya private operator for a three year period. There is anIntensive English centre on site, whose operationalcosts are managed through a College cost centre.

Equity funding is provided for various programs runthrough the IEC. Throughout 2018, substantial fundswere expended in equity funding. The College receivesa high level of Equity funding due to the high level ofdisadvantage of our students. Because of the largenumber of Phase 1 and 2 EAL/D learners, a largeproportion of Equity funding is for English proficiency.The College plan includes the provision of a largenumber of funded support teaching and non–teachingstaff, funded through the low socio–economic section ofthe Equity funding. The College, as part of itseducational management plan, is saving to acquireresources which cannot be funded in a single financialyear. proporsed longer term asset acquisitions includea boomgate, an electronic school sign, refurbishment ofthe very dilapidated areas of the school and anelectricity upgrade.

Financial summary equity funding

The equity funding data is the main component of the'Appropriation' section of the financial summary above.

2018 Actual ($)

Base Total 3,965,693

Base Per Capita 126,030

Base Location 0

Other Base 3,839,663

Equity Total 2,097,050

Equity Aboriginal 1,976

Equity Socio economic 1,262,554

Equity Language 624,678

Equity Disability 207,842

Targeted Total 338,130

Other Total 2,728,645

Grand Total 9,129,518

Figures presented in this report may be subject torounding so may not reconcile exactly with the bottomline totals, which are calculated without any rounding.

A full copy of the school's financial statement is tabledat the annual general meetings of the parent and/orcommunity groups. Further details concerning thestatement can be obtained by contacting the school.


School performance

Higher School Certificate (HSC)

The performance of students in the HSC is reported inbands ranging from Band 1 (lowest) to Band 6(highest). From comparative analysis or 2014–2018data, 72% of students were Band 3 or above in 2014,73% were Band 3 or above in 2015, 78% were Band 3or above in 2016, 74.5% were Band 3 or above in 2017and 79.36% were Band 3 and above in 2018. Althoughthere were no Band 6 results in 2018, there were 57Band 5 results across 14 subjects, which shows astrong upward trend in student results across theCollege. Especially commendable were the results inVietnamese Continuers where 9 of the 10 studentsachieved a band 5 result and English as a Secondlanguage, where 37 students achieved Band 3 orabove, including 9 Band 5s. There was a markedimprovement in the results for the General Maths 2course, where 22 students attained Band 3 or aboveand where the average was 7 points higher than theaverage for the last four years. A deep analysis of theresults showed that the achievement of 2 marks morein each subject would have had a significant positiveeffect on student outcomes, thus leading to theestablishment of a Two marks More project in theCollege 2018–2020 plan.

Trends in the achievement of university placementsindicate significant growth over the last 5ive years: in2014, 53.3%, in 2015,29%, in 2016,49%, in 2017 34%.In 2018, 34 students of the 56 with an ATAR or LimitedATAR were offered a place at university, which id 61%.

Subject School2018 SSSG State

SchoolAverage

2014-2018

ArabicContinuers

74.7 0.0 76.5 75.7


ArabicExtension

71.0 0.0 71.0 71.0

Biology 69.6 61.8 70.7 64.6

Chemistry 68.9 66.0 71.8 69.8

English as aSecondLanguage

69.4 57.8 70.1 67.7

IndustrialTechnology

65.2 59.6 66.2 65.2

Mathematics 77.8 68.8 74.8 77.8

MathematicsGeneral 2

64.7 59.1 65.1 58.4

PersonalDevelopment,Health andPhysicalEducation

69.5 61.0 69.5 69.5

Senior Science 57.0 59.5 68.2 60.3

VietnameseContinuers

82.5 0.0 81.7 82.5

Visual Arts 75.6 71.2 78.0 74.4

Parent/caregiver, student, teachersatisfaction

In 2018, the College sought the opinions of parents,students and teachers about the College. Thisinformation is presented below. This information waspresented in various ways, including focus groups heldas part of the Four Day Week Evaluation and the use ofthe Tell Them From Me surveys.

Parents were surveyed at various College communitymeetings and expressed a very high level ofsatisfaction with the College. Of the 32 parents whocompleted the surveys, 100% felt welcomed when theyvisited the College, 100% felt that teachers and seniorexecutive listened to their concerns, 60% had read theCollege newsletter while 45% had visited the Collegewebsite. 80% felt that reports were written in terms theycould understand, and most satisfying was that 100%felt that Bankstown Senior College provides a safe andhappy learning environment for students and that 100%felt that teachers work hard to ensure their children dotheir best work.

Students from the College and the exiting class of theIEC completed the Tell Them from Me survey in 2018.Students expressed a high level of satisfaction with theCollege, for example 83% expressed a positive senseof belonging, against a state norm of 62%; 94% valuedschooling outcomes, against a norm of 66%;89% foundlearning interesting, enjoyable and relevant, against astate norm of 42%; 74% are interested and motivatedand 87% try hard to succeed in their learning.

31 staff also completed the Tell Them from Me survey.

Results showed that, in their opinion, the Collegeperformed higher than state mean in Leadership,Collaboration, Learning Culture, Data informingPractice, teaching Strategies, technology and Inclusivityand lower in Parental Involvement, understandable inlight of the College's adult student cohort.

Policy requirements

Aboriginal education

Bankstown Senior College is a member of the Dare ToLead coalition aiming to enhance the outcomes of allAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.Aboriginal Education is incorporated in all subjectsoffered at the College. Scientific, social and culturalaspects of Aboriginal life, both contemporary andtraditional, are areas of study at the College particularlyin the English, HSIE, Science, Visual Arts and MusicKLAs. There were two Aboriginal students at theCollege in 2018. Both students had specialised supportthrough the Tutorial program at the College. PersonalLearning Plans were developed to provide each studentwith opportunities to grow academically and participatein all aspects of College life, including extra–curricularactivities. Both students were supported by allocatedfunds in the RAM equity budget which were allocated toassist Aboriginal students and the students wereprovided with extra SLSO support. Welcome andAcknowledgement of Country addresses are part ofCollege protocol and part of all assemblies, graduationsand special occasions.

Multicultural and anti-racism education

Bankstown Senior College (BSC) sustains its strongmulticultural profile as students of CALD backgroundscomprised 90% of the student population in 2018. Fromthis group of CALD students, more than 83% of themare of refugee and asylum seeker background, with themajority of them living in Australia for less than fiveyears. In 2018, a maximum of 310 students at BSCrepresented 33 countries with over 50 differentlanguages spoken, predominantly including Arabic,Persian, Dari, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Cantonese.These students received EAL/D support mainly througha team–teaching arrangement across Key LearningAreas (KLAs) as well as some withdrawal practice.Therefore EAL/D Support had been a targeted outcomein the Processes of Strategic direction 1: Developingsuccessful, confident, independent learners in the BSC2015–2017 School Plan. Further to this, Collegeprojects linked to a multicultural focus aimed to fulfilStrategic Direction 2 in the School Plan which aimed tofoster an inclusive, future focused College learningenvironment supported by positive relationships. Therehas been a staff capacity increase with regards tomeeting the needs of a significantly culturally diverseand constantly changing school community. Anotherongoing priority in the Plan has been to continue tostrengthen collaboration between IEC and BSC toenhance student learning outcomes. There have beenprograms, committees, key staff and facilities in placeto meet and fulfil the high multicultural needs of ourstudents including the Community Partnership program,


the Wellbeing programs, the Transitions Team, theRefugee Student Support Program, the LOTEprograms, the Community Liaison Officer (CLO), theInternational Student Program, the Mentoring programand the Student Representative Council as well as theARCO officers. During 2018, traditional practicescontinued as the College approach for providing EAL/Dsupport continued to embed EAL/D strategies across allKLA programs and provide EAL/D pedagogy in 85% ofclassrooms. Team teaching had been the preferredapproach in this area. Over 90% of the staff are TELLtrained and displayed these strategies in their programsand classroom practices. With this in place, staff feltsupported and confident to use EAL/D strategies intheir teaching and programming. Students wereidentified and were accessing EAL/D support acrossthe College. The Mentoring Program co–ordinated bythe Head Teacher Welfare changed to operate in theformat of a weekly 45 minute session. Mentor classgroups included students of various academic andcultural backgrounds. It provided an opportunity for thestaff to monitor attendance, with a program in place todiscuss social welfare issues, health matters, studyskills, to address cultural diversity and to give personalattention to individuals who would have felt morecomfortable to discuss any matters of concern in asmall group context. The LOTE programs offered tostudents for their studyin Years 11 and 12 includedNESA courses in languages including Chinese,Vietnamese and Arabic.There were also otherlanguages of study available through the NSW Schoolof Languages available at BSC, with one studentstudying the Japanese Beginners course.The RefugeeStudent Support program (RSS), in its sixth year atBSC, had enabled the Year 10 refugeestudents tobecome a targeted group for EAL/D supportin theclassroom. In 2017,out of 310 students at BSC,wellover 80% were of refugee and asylum seekerbackground. The two coordinators of the program haveenabled students to consult them for any issues orareas of concern regarding their learning, welfare andfuture study and career pathways.The coordinatorstracked the development of 16 targeted students inYear10 through Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) in the hopeof accelerating their progress in all areas.A new andsuccessful series of sessions provided bySTARTTS(Service for the Treatment And Rehabilitation of Tortureand Trauma Survivors)targeted female studentsoffering a Hair & Make–up (Iambeautiful) course inTerm 4. These courses strengthened the connectionbetween STARTTS and individual studentsencouraging them to easily access their diverseservices. Further to that, through the RSSinitiative,presentations from STARTTS offered professionaldevelopment to the whole College staff to address andraise awareness of refugee related issues.The MercyConnect tutoring services offered to refugee students ofthe College address the individual language, literacyand numeracy needs of the students to ensure theirsmooth progression of learning in the classroom. Theprogram was implemented by five tutors throughout theyear.The RSS program has provided various learningopportunities outside the classroom. Through theinitiative of the Canterbury–Hurlstone Park RSLClub,students from the College and the IEC wereprovided with a five–day course package, acquiringcompetencies towards a Certificate III standard with

basic skills linked to the hospitality industry in order toincrease their work opportunities. This packageincluded: RCG (Responsible Conduct of Gaming),RSA(Responsible service of Alcohol), Prepare andServeCoffee (Barista), Hygiene and Serve Food andBeverage.Through the RSS program, there were sixrefugee students who benefited from The Friends ofZainab and the Settlement Services International(SSI)scholarships for their secondary and tertiarystudies.Further to this, 12 BSC students were recipientsof various categories of the Western SydneyRefugeeYouth awards through the Auburn DiversityServices Inc. (ADSi), and one student was awarded forhis contribution to the wider community through theJason Clare Canterbury Bankstown City CouncilCommunityAward. The RSS initiatives also recognisedand rewarded three students for their communityinvolvement and leadership by offering Humanitarianawards at the College Presentation ceremony.The RSSprogram organised further learning through incursionsand excursions which provided a strong link to thenative Australian cultural heritage. This was achievedthrough the visit of guest speaker, Nadia Wheatley,whose children's books, My Place and theFlightpromoted written and visual literacy and Australiancultural awareness. Further to this,Aboriginal guestspeaker, Ms Pauline Ferkula spoke about theAboriginal cultural values of her community.Other keyexcursions served to build multicultural,health, studyand workplace networks which provided strongpathways for students to access WSUBankstown, NSWBankstown Women's Health,SettlementServicesInternational (SSI) Youth@Workand Auburn DiversityServices Inc .RSS organised celebrations for RefugeeWeek (June)with a focus on the theme With courage,let us allcombine in an assembly presentation, aCultural Expo and mentor sessions which focused onthe essence of life as refugees and their greatcontributions to Australia. A series of events andcelebrationscommenced with an inspiring oralpresentation by Hani Abdile, a Year 11 student/poetwho spoke to her Year11 fellow students about her pastlife of challenging refugee experiences and recitedinspirational poems from her recently launchedanthology, I Will Rise. Later in the year, to the widercommunity, Hani Abdile hostedThe New Beginnings:Refugee Arts & Culture Festival

Other

Other school programs

Bankstown Intensive English Centre

Preparing students with English language skills totransition to High School is the primary focus forBankstown Intensive English Centre (IEC). 85% ofstudents coming to Australia arrive under the UnitedNations Humanitarian Refugee Program so learning aswell as building resilient citizens are strategic prioritiesunderpinning both the College and the IEC initiative. In2018 higher student numbers continued and ourstaffing numbers varied up to 25 teachers and 20School Support Staff (full and part time). Student


numbers peaked at approximately 160 in term one andtwo.

Literacy, numeracy, student engagement andachievement of outcomes continued as the key focusfor 2018 and were integral in all teaching and learningprograms. Literacy and numeracy were taught in allKey Learning Areas (KLAs). The introduction of KLAcoordinators provided a platform for teacher collegialdiscussion on the allocation of Intensive EnglishProgram Curriculum Framework outcomes and relevantcontent to be taught.

The reading program during 2018 was very successfulin providing a strongly supported learning environmentfor students to practise their reading skills. This resultedin improved reading accuracy, greater grammaticalcompetency and expanded vocabulary. 2018 saw theintroduction of the SRA program for level 3 students.This program focusses on improving students'comprehension strategies and skills. Staff werecontinually trained and upskilled to meet the BSC2018–2020 School Plan Direction One, and to reflecton the BSC literacy focus minimum literacy standardsand IEP curriculum in preparing Level 3 students forfurther studies. In general, the majority of studentsprogressed through two to three levels of reading. Anumber of students progressed to the highest levelprior to transitioning from the IEC.

The Basic and Key Skills Builder Program (BKSB) is aninteractive, student–centred and computer–basedprogram which continued as part of the IEC TutorialSupport course in 2018. 2018 results are reported on inanother section of this report.

Graduating students again participated in the TransitionProgram and this successful initiative is reported onfully elsewhere in the Annual Report.

Bankstown IEC supports a number of wellbeinginitiatives. Health Talks which are sessions on sexualand reproductive health were presented by trainedFamily Planning NSW staff. The Healthy Relationshipsprogram and Health Talks are focused on supportingstudents to form inclusive, respectful and positiverelationships in multicultural Australia; to gainknowledge on how to stay safe and keep others in theAustralian community safe; to be informed about sexualand reproductive health service providers as well asabout domestic violence services in NSW.

In sport, Bankstown IEC students enjoyed participatingin recreational sport activities such as soccer, AFL,volleyball, walking, badminton and other team/pairactivities. All activities aimed to improve fitness andparticipation in physical activity levels as well asprovide an opportunity for social interaction amongstthe students. A sporting highlight for the BankstownIEC students was their participation in the AFL IEC Cupin June 2018. A group of female students werecoached by Mr Masters and Mr Elchah in how to playAFL and had the opportunity to compete against femalestudents from other IECs. Bankstown IEC AFL teamwon the AFL IEC Cup!

In the IEC elective program, students participated in a

variety of subjects including drumming, CSWE, SchoolCommittee, Languages other than English, Art,Gardening and Mosaic. Students appreciate this addedvariety of subjects.

Bankstown IEC teaching staff continued to align theirprofessional learning with Performance andDevelopment Plan (PDP) goals. The goals consider theStrategic Directions of the College and reflect elementsof the Australian Teaching Standards. Significantly, anumber of teachers have embraced the Building StrongLeaders initiative, reflecting the College's ThirdStrategic Direction and providing leadership directionfor staff interested in pursuing higher levels of teachingproficiency.

English Language Proficiency Report

The College received EAL/D support to meet theconsiderable needs of the students. A very largenumber of students were at the Beginning or EmergingPhases of language acquisition, and may only havebeen living in Australia for a few months.

Support was made available in the form of EAL/D staffteam teaching in English and across KLAs, as well asoffering professional learning opportunities for otherstaff. The College focus on assessment for learningstrategies, differentiation and reciprocal reading wasfurther explored through the Lesson study Project.EAL/D staff were available to assist other staff inrecommending strategies, which could be used in allKLAs.

EAL/D staff also taught CSWE I and II (Certificate inSpoken and Written English) to the EFS (English ForStudy) classes whose language proficiency wasinadequate for Stage 5 or 6. Data from the College'sentrance test was used to place students in the mostsuitable level. The College's Banplan test was used todetermine area of need for all students.

In order to prepare students for the mandatoryMinimumStandards Literacy tests, the online Literacy program"WordFlyers" wasintroduced into all Year 10 English classes after beingsuccessfully trialledlast year and proved to have improved student results.The program allowed foradditional continuous literacy support as well asdifferentiation to occur asstudents were working at the level most suited to theirability. Analysisshowed that most students repeated certain lessons toimprove their result.This included some students completing it at home intheir own time. Workshopsaimed at improving Reading and Writing were run inconjunction with theLiteracy Team to give students maximum exposure andassistance to successfullyachieve the Minimum Standards. Most studentssuccessfully achieved thisstandard in Reading.

Vocational Education Report


Bankstown Senior College (BSC) offers a diverse rangeof Vocational Education and Training (VET) courseswhich includes BSB20115 Certificate II in Business,CPC20211 Certificate II in Construction Pathways,SIT20416 Certificate II in Kitchen Operations,Statement of Attainment towards ICA30115 CertificateIII in Information, Digital Media and Technology,SIR30216 Certificate III in Retail Services andHLT33115 Certificate III in Health Services Assistance.Year 10 students were provided the opportunity toselect VET courses as electives. VET courses offeredwere BSB10115 Certificate I in Business, Statement ofAttainment towards CPC10111 Certificate I inConstruction, SIT10216 Certificate I in Hospitality.

In term one BSC conducted a teacher planning daywith VET Teachers from Birrong Boys HS, Sir JosephBanks HS and Condell Park HS and it was held atBankstown Sports Club. MWLP (Macarthur WorkplaceLearning Program) and the Senior Pathways Officerfrom the RTO were there to answer teacher questions.We were given a tour of the club from the newconstruction to the back of house kitchens.

Again in Term one year 11 students participated in aWork Ready Day. During the day they had a talk fromthe workplace providers MWLP, the VET Coordinatoron 'what VET encompasses', Work Ready Program,created a USI (Unique Student Identifier) to ensuretheir qualifications are stored for future access andparticipated in on online LLN (Language, Literacy andNumeracy) Robot Quiz.

There were 24 Year 12 VET students, of which 87%achieved the full certificate or highest qualifications fortheir course. Student VET numbers in Year 11 were 74and in Year 10 there were 45 students enrolled in VETcourses.In each year there were some students whostudied multiple VET courses. The College workedcollaboratively with MWLP (Macarthur WorkplaceLearning Program), our work placement broker, toprovide successful placement opportunities for our VETstudents. Some of our students sourced their own workplacements which were appropriately documented andapproved by VET teachers.

White Card training was conducted by Mr Yad Ram, aqualified trainer and teacher at Bankstown SeniorCollege, and delivered to the Construction students inYear 10 and 11 as a part of their course. Year 10Hospitality students gained a Statement of Attainmentin SITHFAB005 Prepare and serve espresso coffeefrom CHP School of Hospitality, atCanterbury–Hurlstone Park RSL Club, as a part of theirCertificate I studies.

Ms Coleen Parenzee, Hospitality Teacher, assisted 2students with applications for GREE (Get Real EventsExperience) through Kenvale College of HospitalityCookery and Events. Mammy Kamara and JesusFrunez–Porras were finalists and completed workplacement at Fairfield RSL and Meat and WineCompany respectively.

Leadership Development Initiative

In 2018 Bankstown Senior College had two participantsselected to take part in the Leadership DevelopmentInitiative, a program organised by the Leadership andHigh Performance Directorate of the DoE. DeputyPrincipal Jenni Gardiner was accepted into the programas a mentor and Aaron Culligan, HT Learning andSupport as a mentee. The program involved intensiveprofessional learning with a focus on instructionalleadership practices. Participants received a $7000grant to assist them in completing the program andworking towards accreditation at the HighlyAccomplished or Lead career stage. The initiativeinvolved the mentee leading the implementation andevaluation of a section of the school plan and workingwith the experienced mentor who has extensive schoolleadership experience. In 2018 Aaron led the CollegeAssessment For Learning Committee through which hebuilt staff knowledge of and capacity to interpret DoEand NESA requirements and processes regardingassessment. He provided professional learning todevelop the capacity of teaching staff to implementstrategies to evaluate the effectiveness of currentassessment practices through the analysis of internaland external data. This led to a whole College focus onquality assessment practices emphasising theimportance of formative assessment and the effectiveuse of feedback. In Term 4 the College employedexternal consultants to undertake an appraisal ofinformal assessment practices, beginning with theMaths and Science faculties which has resulted informative assessment strategies being included in allteaching programs, greater use of internal and externaldata (including pre–assessment), development ofindividual student learning profiles and furtherprofessional learning on formative assessment.

Lesson Study Project

The School Professional Learning and Teaching Team(SPLATT) is responsible for the implementation of theLesson Study Project. In 2018 The Lesson StudyProject involved teams of teachers meeting regularly toplan, design, implement, evaluate and refine lessonsfor a unit of work targeting a particular strategicdirection with an agreed focus area. Specifically, eachLesson Study team uses data to identify a learningneed, defines a pedagogical problem or teachingchallenge linked to the learning need, engages inprofessional learning, designs a lesson in detail,teaches the lesson, observes the lesson based onpre–determined and agreed observation criteria,evaluates the lesson by jointly reflecting on its effect onstudent learning, revises the lesson incorporating thegroup feedback, teaches and observes the revisedlesson to another group of students, evaluates therevised lesson and collectively documents the resultsand shares with colleagues across the school. TheLesson Study Project is a key strategy in achievingStrategic Direction 3 of the College Plan which is tostrengthen the leadership capacity of individuals todrive school improvement. It provides teachers with acollaborative way of observing each other's lessons andreflecting on their own teaching practice in order tomeet the Australian Professional Standards forTeachers. Through this project teachers are also ableto work towards achieving their performance anddevelopment goals and meet some of the requirements


teacher accreditation process. In 2018 there were 12lesson study teams focusing either on strategies toraise the standard of literacy or numeracy across theCollege and the IEC or strategies to include moreformative assessment in every day teaching practice.Each team provided a reflection on their lesson studywhich outlined data they used and evaluated the impactof the changes they made to their teaching. 90% ofteachers reported positive growth in student learningand provided evidence of improvements through worksamples, observations, pre and post testing and otherassessment data. 100% of teaching staff were involvedin the Lesson Study Project and felt that the biggestbenefits of the program are increasing collegiality,opportunity to work collaboratively with others andproviding a forum for reflection and evaluation ofteaching practice. 75% of staff indicated that theLesson Study Project has led to a change in theirteaching practice e.g. including more formativeassessment, more explicit teaching of literacy andincorporating the use of ICT into lessons.

Building Strong Leaders Program

In 2018 the Building Strong Leaders program involved15 leaders and aspiring leaders including seniorexecutive, head teachers and classroom teachers wholead a team or committee. The project continued todevelop the leadership capacity of the staff and wasextended to include observations of team leadershipand the provision of critical feedback on the teacher'sleadership capability. Participants engaged inmentoring/coaching conversations with an expert ineducational leadership once per term and althoughflexible to accommodate the needs of individualparticipants, its main focus was on leadershipstrategies, styles and impact, progress towards PDPgoals and achievement of the College Plan milestones.

Professional Learning in semester 1 centred around thenew Stronger HSC Standards and the MinimumLiteracy and Numeracy Standards and the LessonStudy Project continued with the same focus. Therewas a greater emphasis on evidence–based practiceand data analysis. Assessment for Learning was thefocus for Semester 2 and in Term 4 Assessment forLearning was externally evaluated in the Science andMaths faculties. In Term 4 the HSIE faculty wasinternally evaluated by the School ProfessionalLearning and Teaching Team. Participants in theBuilding Strong Leaders program commented that theprogram had a significant impact on contributingtowards these key educational priorities.

The Building Strong Leaders program has beeninstrumental in increasing numbers of staff taking onleadership responsibilities across the College and theIEC. The constructive feedback, guidance and adviceprovided by our outside facilitator has assisted anumber of staff members to gain permanent and/orpromotional positions through the merit selectionprocess at all levels including from temporary positionsto permanent, classroom teacher to head teacher andhead teacher to deputy principal

SRC Report – Student Leadership

The SRC has had another active and successful year in2018. For the first time the college SRC includedmembers from the IEC, which not only helped createstronger links between the two campuses, but alsohelped to raise awareness of many philanthropiccauses, increasing the empathy and sense ofresponsibility in even more students.

One new initiative that the SRC was heavily involvedwith was the Zonta Birthing Kits program, where theSRC as well as forty volunteers from the College andIEC helped to pack 1000 kits destined for women indisadvantaged countries. Although this program existsin other girls' high schools, it was the first time it wasrun in a co–educational institution, and received thehighest commendation from the organisers, whocommented on the level of maturity and respect shownby all students.

The SRC also joined staff in raising money for thedrought–stricken farmers jointly raising approximately$1000, enough to buy 10 bales. Other fundraisingdrives included baking and selling cupcakes for WhiteRibbon Day, as well as raising money for theLeukaemia Foundation and World Vision. The SRCalso assisted in packing and distributing a smallpackage of dates to all students and staff in celebratingInternational Women's Day, as well as assisting staffduring Harmony Day.

Students also had opportunities to improve their ownleadership skills by hosting formal assemblies,graduations, and presentation day ceremonies, as wellas performing other duties around the college. Theydemonstrated effective communication and publicspeaking skills, leadership skills, improved confidence,and the capacity to interact and collaborate with others.Their skills in writing speeches and evaluating schoolevents also demonstrated improvement. Somemembers of the SRC attended the Secondary SchoolsLeadership Program at Parliament House.

Several of our SRC members have also achievedrecognition within the community. Hani Abdile receivedthe Zonta Community Service awards for her work withAmnesty International and the "Life without Barriers"project, as well as for her anthology "I will Rise". TwoYear 11 students Karmeen and Karlo Yalda were alsoselected as mentors for the Honeywell SummerSchools program, due to the highly developed andsought after leadership skills.


2018 bankstown senior college annual report · 2019-06-13 · introduction the annual report for...

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