edward john eyre high school

Edward John Eyre High School

2020 annual report to the communityEdward John Eyre High School Number: 1030

Partnership: Whyalla

School principal: Mr David Marino

Governing council chair: Ms Janette Leevers

Date of endorsement: 17 December 2020

Signature

Context and highlightsEdward John Eyre High School is a public senior secondary school located in Whyalla, South Australia. There are two public middle schools in Whyalla which cater from years 8-10 and from where the majority of our students transition from: Stuart High School and Whyalla High School. A number of students join our school each year from other regional towns and other education systems, to undertake their senior secondary schooling at EJEHS. The Whyalla Secondary College is in progress of being built and will become the public Secondary School for Whyalla, commencing from 2022.

Our school community is complex and comprises a diverse range of students, from a range of cultural backgrounds and socioeconomic contexts. Approximately half of our students are beyond compulsory school age and approximately 20% are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. There is also a small percentage of students from Non-English Speaking backgrounds.

The 2020 school year has been a complex one, but also a very successful one for our students and school community. This included a wide variety of curriculum areas, comprising: 46 Stage 1 subjects, delivered over Semesters 1 and 2, 29 Stage 2 Subjects and 18 Vocational Education and Training courses.

There has been a transition of school leadership over 2020, including changes in Principal and leadership staff. The school has maintained stability and continued with a strong focus on quality education for students throughout the year. There have been a number of positive initiatives for students throughout the year, including:

• Shark Tank STEM initiative for students. • Feast for All The Senses, showcasing student work across the Arts and the CHAT specialist program.• Focus on Aboriginal Education – Curriculum Perspectives across subject areas. • Transition Skills weekly visits of students from Middle Schools, as part of Transition preparation.• Youth Ops delivered for an identified cohort of Specialist Program students.• Cross-Site subjects delivered by staff across middle schools and EJEHS and accessed by students across our schools.

Overall, while there have been complexities and challenges in 2020, it has been on the whole a very successful year for Edward John Eyre High School. Congratulations to all of our students on their achievements.

The 2020 school year, and what is the penultimate year for Edward John Eyre High School, was filled with many complexities without mentioning COVID 19.

The year 12 students returned to school to find that their Principal had changed roles, and the new Principal appointed was Tricia Richman, who most students already had a positive relationship with from Whyalla High School – one of the 2 feeder high schools. At the end of second term, Tricia Richman won the position of Principal of the new Whyalla Secondary College and vacated her position at Edward John Eyre High School. David Marino, Principal of Peterborough High School joined the school to fulfil the Principal role for the period remaining until the school is closed – in December 2021.

So as Governing Council, Staff and especially students there were many changes to adjust to throughout the year.

The Governing Council AGM was held on February 7th, and saw the following vacated positions filled as follows:Chairperson – Janette Leevers (Finance Committee)Deputy Chair- Carolyn FooteTreasurer- Kylie Clayton (Finance Committee)Secretary- Jan WakelingMembers- Brenton Cabban, Chris Webber, Brooke Nieborg, Debbie Giles, Anette McKay (Finance Committee)

The canteen performed well in 2020 - with funds saved by the canteen being used to provide $5000 to the year 12 Formal fundraising. Profits from the canteen are also being looked at to provide school laptops to be reserved for students who are under financial stress. Monies were also designated to providing an Edward John Eyre school uniform top to every student enrolled in year 11 in 2021.

Due to COVID-19 and the restrictions that were placed on meetings and gatherings the Governing Council did not meet as often as is usual, some of the recommendations were provided via email with members providing feedback through email. We supported the change to revert school start and finish times back to pre-2020 – this was supported by all.

I believe that 2020 has been an incredibly complex year for all at Edward John Eyre High School with leadership changes, however the community has rallied around the school and it has been a highly successful year for students. We are prepared for another successful year in 2021 with the eventual transition to the Whyalla Secondary College.Thank you, Governing Council.

Governing council report

2020 Annual Report to the Community1 | Edward John Eyre High School

In 2020 Edward John Eyre High School focused on 1 goal, for the second year of our 3 year School Improvement plan. The goal is to increase the number of A and B grades achieved across SACE subjects.The challenge of practice identified was to focus on professional learning of quality teaching and learning strategies, particularly through the development of contextualized and engaging learning programs for all students that were differentiated to meet their needs.

Eight actions were identified for this goal and formed based on a review of the 2019 SIP and our External School Review 2019 recommendations, including:

1. Development and implementation of a professional learning plan based on the PDSA improvement cycle, wherebyteachers evaluate their effect on student learning.Teachers received feedback during this process as well as reviewing their own teaching practices. All teaching staff wereinvolved providing a positive outcome. Forward planning is to include SSO’s to assist with improving their practices tohelp achieve this goal.

2. An ongoing mentor and support program built for staff, in support of creating proficient teachers and leaders.This action was to support early career teachers and assisted them with explicit goal setting, building up a bank ofresources and working on their portfolio to become proficient teachers.

3. The establishment of literacy and numeracy programs to help support Aboriginal students’ academic achievements inthese areas.AETs worked with students in their English and Math classes and built positive relationships. A focus was made onadding Aboriginal perspectives into each teaching and learning plan, as well as completing relevant One Plans for ATSIstudents.

4. A house system model uses data to track and inform the growth of every student at EJEHS to ensure throughintervention the support of individual student’s needs.This action changed slightly from fortnightly house meetings, to whole staff review meetings with all teachers completingtraffic light reviews and providing information in DayMap. The next step of this process will be on the Quality Assuranceof strategies put in place to monitor ongoing effectiveness.

5. Design of an online platform that equips teachers with a range of strategies that provide them with the skills to developstudent’s meta-cognitive skills.The online platform has been completed to guide each Learning Area on Differentiation. This is a valuable resource thatwill act as a handover / transition for pedagogy into 2021.

6. An EJEHS differentiation framework is developed in support of teacher pedagogical consistency.This was completed as part of Action 5. With a high changeover of staff in 2021, this will be a crucial document as part ofQuality Teaching strategies.

7. To develop knowledge, understanding skills to support during and post school transitions.This program was designed to assist students in being able to transition post school with a range of activities in how tochange a tyre, cooking and career development. This program was redesigned at the beginning of term 2, studentengagement and attendance was an issue, which could have also be due to the late start of the school timetable whenthis program ran. As a result, a review of the Timetable has been completed for 2021 with student voice input.

8. Two student free days dedicated to building resilience and leadership capacity amongst staff.This was a two day program ran by Springfox, which focused on personal resilience. It was designed to reflect onindividual positive opportunities and build positive working relationships. Covid-19 presented some complexities aroundparticipating in this program, however alternative online arrangements were made to accommodate staff. All staffcompleted the program and were able to take elements into their professional learning and Performance DevelopmentPlans.

In summary, our goal to increase A and B grades was achieved at Stage 1 level.

Quality improvement planning


The school runs a fortnightly Academic Intervention process to monitor the growth and achievement of all students and inform Curriculum planning. A fortnightly traffic light intervention check is completed by all teachers. Aboriginal students are included in this data collection.

Data reports of student achievement and growth is provided to the Aboriginal education team. Strategies and actions are implemented by the team to provide explicit support for aboriginal students in classes to achieve their educational outcomes. This is linked to literacy and numeracy improvement. Post school pathways data was collected to see Aboriginal students and their intended destination. All this was following the key initiatives within the aboriginal education strategy.

Aboriginal perspectives were incorporated into learning and assessment plans (LAPs) and teaching and learning plans (TLPs). The importance of utilising Elders and Aboriginal community members to engage with ASETO’s to incorporate cultural awareness and Aboriginal perspectives into these teacher planning documents has been a focus for staff. Having this connection provides opportunities to implement these ideas within the classroom.

Increased participation in the number of Year 10 students transitioning into senior secondary school has been a focus. Strategies and actions included cross site communication, AET/ASETOs engaging with year 10’s and community members/families. Increased student participation led to an increase in Aboriginal students completing their SACE, which was completed by targeted completion of compulsory subjects, modifying programs, utilising flexibilities in SACE, and utilising ASETOs and AETs in the development of student relationships with teachers.

Teacher intervention is provided by the Aboriginal education team to support teachers in providing them strategies and outcomes to utilise data. Resources incorporated differentiated pedagogical practices to improve student learning, which links to applying rigorous evidence based learning intervention. Following three key element’s assuring consistent high quality classroom practice, we utilised AETs to build a high quality practice of resources/strategies/learning outcomes and aboriginal culture perspectives within the teaching to improve Aboriginal learning outcomes, achievement and growth.

Improvement: Aboriginal learners


E 0% 0% 0% 0%E- 0% 0% 0% 0%N 0% 0% 0% 0%

Data Source: SACE Schools Data reports, extracted February 2020*NOTE: Reporting of data not provided when less than six students in the respective cohort. Due to rounding of percentages, data may not add up to 100%.

SACE Completion - Percentage of completers out of those students who had the potential to complete their SACE in October that year

2017 2018 2019 202096% 98% 96% 98%

Data Source: SACE Schools Data reports, extracted February 2020*NOTE: Reporting of data not provided when less than six students in the respective cohort.

2017 2018 2019 2020Percentage of year 12 students attaining a year 12 certificate or equivalent VET qualification

96% 98% 97% 98%

Percentage of year 12 students undertaking vocational training or trade training

77% 60% 74% 73%


South Australian Certificate of Education - SACESACE Stage 2 Grades – Percentage of grades that are C- or above for attempted SACE subjects (SEA)

2017 2018 2019 202098% 99% 99% 99%

Data Source: SACE Schools Data reports, extracted February 2020*NOTE: Reporting of data not provided when less than six students in the respective cohort Data excludes non-A to E and Withdrawn Not Graded subject results.

SACE Stage 2 grade distributionGrade 2017 2018 2019 2020

A+ 0% 1% 1% 1%A 1% 2% 3% 4%A- 3% 4% 5% 9%B+ 7% 7% 7% 7%B 14% 13% 19% 18%B- 11% 14% 12% 10%C+ 15% 17% 12% 14%C 34% 38% 36% 32%C- 12% 4% 4% 4%D+ 1% 1% 1% 1%D 0% 0% 0% 0%D- 0% 0% 0% 0%E+ 0% 0% 0% 0%

With a high SACE completion rate of 98%, 2020 has been another highly successful year for learning achievement at EJEHS. This includes 112 students that achieved their SACE, which is a reduction in the number of students but percentage wise is equivalent as 2019 with only a variance of 0.1%.Over 99.4% of all SACE grades were achieved at a C- or above, giving our school community much to celebrate.

With a SIP goal of improving the number of A’s and B’s, we maintained the number of Stage 2 A’s and B’s of 49% in 2020 compared to 47% in 2019 (increased of 2%). The number of Stage 1 A’s and B’s increased to 57%,compared to 46% in 2019 (increase of 11%). This has seen a combined increase of 13% in A and B grades, which has met/exceeded our target of a 12.5% improvement in A and B grades across Stage 1 and 2 in 2020.

At Stage 2 level, 6 learning areas achieved a success rate of 100% (Arts, BET, Cross Disciplinary Studies, English, HPE and Maths). In 2019 Maths had a success rate of 94.12% so this is a great achievement for this learning area. Science achieved a success rate of 92.8% which is a slight increase from 2019 of 1.68% which will continue to be an area of focus in 2021.

Three merits were achieved in Stage 2 subjects: Food and Hospitality, STEM and the Community and Interdisciplinary Learning and the Community. This is the same number of merits as in 2019 and highlights both the dedication of students, as well as the quality of the curriculum delivery and support strategies in place in these subjects.

VET learning continues to be an important pathway for a large number of our students, with 73% of Year 12 students undertaking VET as part of their SACE (74% in 2019). This can often fluctuate according to individual student pathways and career goals, yet continues to remain strong in subject/learning choice.

The implementation and focus on differentiation and flexibilities as well as other whole school strategies have enabled students and staff to work in partnership to achieve success. This has included tailoring curriculum to suit student needs, such as curriculum offerings, VET studied as part of SACE, the implementation of specialist programs such as the newly developed IPPs. The subject counselling process has also aided in optimizing students study program, based on their interest, career aspirations and personal goals. By providing further differentiation, quality feedback and improving student writing through the 2021 SIP, EJEHS will be well placed to continue on our improvement journery.

School performance comment

Year level 2017 2018 2019 2020

Year 7 N/A N/A N/A 100.0%

Year 10 82.4% 100.0% 87.5% 76.1%

Year 11 84.7% 84.7% 86.5% 77.8%

Year 12 83.9% 86.6% 89.2% 80.6%

Secondary Other 81.4% 85.1% 98.8% 99.3%

Total 83.9% 85.5% 87.5% 78.8%

Attendance

Data Source: Site Performance Reporting System (SPER), Semester 1 attendance.NOTE: A blank cell indicates there were no students enrolled.

Attendance commentAt the start of the year the school trialed a new process to follow up non-attendance. This process utilised an SSO for each house who was responsible for contacting students, parents and caregivers to seek explanations for absence. Due to internal reviews, this process was changed and reverted back to the process used in previous years, utilising two SSOs to follow up all non-attendance. In late term one, like all other schools in the state, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic and many students chose to study from home. A strong program of online learning was put in place, which benefited students learning. As a result of a combination of factors, Attendance was accurately monitored but did not improve over the 2020 period.


Relevant history screeningEdward John Eyre High School maintains copies of all DCSI clearances for teachers, SSO’s, ASETO’s, GSE's Volunteers, Canteen workers, Social workers and Wellbeing Officers. A clerical officer is responsible for monitoring and recording clearance status on EDSAS and in the HRS system. The Business Manager verifies all screening applications and is the primary contact/requesting officer for administration of the documentation and follow up.

Intended destination

Data Source: Education Department School Administration System (EDSAS) Data extract Term 3 2020.

Leave Reason Number %Employment 120 44.1%Interstate/Overseas 16 5.9%Other 6 2.2%Seeking Employment 19 7.0%Tertiary/TAFE/Training 84 30.9%Transfer to Non-Govt School 10 3.7%Transfer to SA Govt School 11 4.0%Unknown 6 2.2%Unknown (TG - Not Found) 0 NA

Edward John Eyre High School has a strong behaviour support process that focuses on student choice and maximising participation in the learning environment. This includes a two tier approach. In the first tier - the behaviour is addressed by the classroom teacher and strategies to re-engage with learning are discussed with the student. If the behaviour continues or the student chooses to not follow instructions, it progresses to the second tier for behaviour support. In the second tier - a member of the leadership team works with the student to resolve the behaviour issue and work through relevant actions. When a student has been suspended, there is a reconnection meeting that occurs with Parent/Caregiver involvement. The objective of reconnection meetings is to engage with the student and parent/caregiver to develop strategies to increase learning and improve their behaviour in future.

Behaviour support comment

Client opinion summary52 responses were provided by Parents/Caregivers through the parent satisfaction survey. We thank those Parents/Caregivers that took the time to respond.

This feedback is useful information to support the school to improve our service to students, parents, caregivers and the community.

An overwhelming majority of responses think that education at school is important to their child's future. This is pleasing to see and reinforces our desire to provide a world class education.

In addition, a majority of parents have useful discussions with the school about their child's learning and talk with their child about what happens at school. When asked to tick what communication mechanisms I like to communicate with the school, the highest number chose email, followed by phone calls, parent interviews, newsletters and text messages.

Approximately 50 % of the survey respondents would like more help from the school with their child's learning. 12 responses indicated that the school provides useful tips on how to help students learn at home. These two results appear to be linked and as an area for improvement the school will be looking at how we can communicate to parents in support of helping students to maximise their learning at home. With the impact of COVID-19 this year resulting in more students studying from home this is certainly an area that we can provide further focus and support in 2021.


All teachers at this school are qualified and registered with the SA Teachers Registration Board.

Qualification Level Number of QualificationsBachelor Degrees or Diplomas 46Post Graduate Qualifications 11

Please note: Staff who have more than 1 qualification will be counted more than once in the above qualification table. Therefore the total number of staff by qualification type may be more than the total number of teaching staff.

Workforce composition including Indigenous staff

Teaching Staff Non-Teaching StaffIndigenous Non-Indigenous Indigenous Non-Indigenous

Full-Time Equivalents 0.0 28.5 1.9 24.9Persons 0 29 2 29

Data Source: Department for Education HR Management Reporting System, extracted Term 3 2020 .

Data Source: Department for Education HR Management Reporting System, extracted Term 3 2020 .

Qualifications held by the teaching workforce and workforce composition

Funding Source AmountGrants: State $5,680,650Grants: Commonwealth $6,000Parent Contributions $136,485Fund Raising $701Other $258,576

Financial statement

Data Source: Education Department School Administration System (EDSAS).


2020 School Annual Report: Tier 2 Funding Report*

Tier 2 funding section

Tier 2 category (where applicable to the site)

Briefly describe how the 2020 funding was used to improve the relevant Standard of Educational Achievement (SEA) outcomes

Outcomes achieved or progress made towards these outcomes

Improved wellbeing and engagement Developing individualised programs of learning, including through our Flexible Learning program.

Re-engaging individual students in negotiated education programs.

Targeted funding for individual students

Improved outcomes for students with an additional language or dialect

SSO support for identified students, where relevant. Improved higher grade band achievement across Stage 1 and 2 subjects.

Inclusive Education Support Program One on one classroom support for students to help meet educational outcomes. Specific intervention plans were also put in place to help support learning outcomes.

Improved student grades at Stage 1 - including pass rates.

Targeted funding for groups of students

Improved outcomes for - rural & isolated students- Aboriginal students- numeracy and literacy including early years support

First language maintenance & developmentStudents taking alternative pathwaysIESP support

To reduce the financial and social barriers faced by isolated /indigenous students in order to increase their ability to fully participate in education and the school community while improving their potential to remain at school to complete their secondary education. Numeracy and literacy improvement through resources and flexible learning where necessary.

Nine Aboriginal students successfully achieved their SACE in 2020.

Program funding for all students

Australian Curriculum - -

Aboriginal languages programs Initiatives

- -

Better schools funding Classroom support provided to support students to achieve a ‘C’ or above in all SACE subjects and credit awarded for SACE Board recognised learning.

SACE results reflect a growth in SACE completion and A and B grade achievement.

Other discretionary funding

Specialist school reporting (as required)

- -

Improved outcomes for gifted students - -

*Tier 2 funding provides additional resources to support students who are unlikely to obtain the desired outcomes without further support.

edward john eyre high school

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