in focus newsletter of

TERM 2

2019

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Contents

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT ................................................................................................... 3 1.1 Literacy/numeracy projects ......................................................................................................... 3 1.2 Feedback project ........................................................................................................................ 3

LEADING .......................................................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Deputy Collegiate ....................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Generative Dialogue Project ....................................................................................................... 4 2.3 Student Leadership .................................................................................................................... 4

WELLBEING ..................................................................................................................................... 6 3.1 Physical wellbeing ...................................................................................................................... 6 3.2 Intellectual wellbeing .................................................................................................................. 7 3.3 Staff wellbeing ............................................................................................................................ 9

DATA USE AND SKILLS ................................................................................................................ 11

KNOWING OUR STUDENTS .......................................................................................................... 11

IMPROVING COLLEGE PROCESSES ........................................................................................... 13

COLLEGE HAPPENINGS .............................................................................................................. 13

UPCOMING EVENTS ............................................................................................................................ 15

Our supporters: .................................................................................................................................... 16

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LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

1.1 Literacy/numeracy projects

Rivers Writing project

Our Rivers Brainstorm Writers Project has continued during term 2 with primary and secondary writers and illustrators working on developing their final product that will be published in semester 2. Coordinator, Polly Jude, from Kadina High Campus is one of four writers who were selected to participate in the Residential Mentorship 2019, provided as part of the Byron Writers Festival’s flagship mentoring program. Polly has received this prize on two separate occasions.

1.2 Feedback project

Staff from Kadina High Campus, Lismore High Campus, Wyrallah Road Public School and Goonellabah Public school spent several days in Sydney towards the end of term 2 learning about and planning for a pilot Feedback Project.

Principals will act as instructional leaders with the Director Educational Leadership within their school site. This involves a commitment to attend conferences and face-to-face network meetings, and engage actively with executives/teacher in leading the project.

The intention of the Feedback Pilot is that it is augmenting and supporting priorities that are already evident in the School Plan. The start date of this pilot will align with the review cycle of school planning. CESE (Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation) regional staff have been consulted in this process and have offered schools assistance, based on availability.

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LEADING

2.1 Deputy Collegiate

Our Deputy Collegiate consists of Tracy McGrath (Kadina High Campus), Trent Graham and Kirt Swanbury (Lismore High Campus) and Belinda Marr and Luke Woodward (Richmond River High Campus). They meet regularly and have been working on a collaborative development of roles and responsibilities documents across the college.

They have recently been offered and accepted places in the Leading Excellence Program. This is run by The University of Sydney. Leading Excellence is a professional learning program for NSW secondary school principals and in 2019, Deputy Principals.

It is an initiative of Widening Participation and Outreach, “who are bringing together leading University of Sydney experts from the National Centre for Cultural Competence, Coaching Psychology Unit and the Sydney School of Education and Social Work Leading Excellence, actively supports school cultures of excellence and transformative student outcomes.” (University of Sydney Website)

The two-day program extends the individual and collective efficacy of school leaders through increased understanding of cultural competence, quality coaching conversations and psychological safety and relational trust.

2.2 Generative Dialogue Project

Staff from across The Rivers Secondary College continue to engage in our generative dialogue program. This is supported by accessing the skills and knowledge of a Canadian academic, Dr David Townsend. In 2019 our generative dialogue project has extended to a trial with Lismore High Campus Year 12 student leaders. The students have developed a shared campus guiding question – ‘In what way and to what extent can we be highly effective leaders to represent and positively contribute to our school community.’ Each student leader has also developed their personal guiding question and meet each term with the Executive Principal to discuss their progress.

2.3 Student Leadership

The College Student Leadership Team

Students come together once a term from all three campuses and year groups. In term 1, through a series

of activities designed to encourage communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking the team

considered a wide range of possibilities where they could work together and develop something that would

benefit all. The top three proposals and a summary of the students’ thinking behind each topic

communicated to the campus principals for their comment and support.

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Following this feedback, and a further vote by each campus SRC as to which idea they preferred, The

Rivers student leaders met at RRHC to start developing a detailed proposal for running a College Social.

The students completed a N-S-E-W analysis of the issue and then to further support this process, the main

campus Social organiser at RRHC kindly joined the group for a Q & A session.

Working through the details of such an event, the team developed some concerns around the College

Social proposal. When canvassing the SRCs, the idea of a College Sports Carnival had also been well

supported; the Sports Carnival benefited from being open to all students and free to everyone. The

discussion developed and the merits of the different ideas were debated. A further vote took place and it

was agreed that The Rivers Leadership team would like to develop a proposal for a College Sports Carnival

that would serve as a fun, competitive but also a social event for all students across the college.

The students were bubbling with ideas as to how this could work and look forward to meeting up next term

to taking this idea forward.

2019 Student Leadership Program at Parliament House.

On Tuesday 28 May The Rivers Secondary College Campus captains, Chloe Taylor and Mitchell Charity, John Rooney and Jazmin Bertuzzi, Olivia Gellatly and Tahi White travelled with Mr Jeffery (Lismore High Campus) and Ms McKinlay (Richmond River Campus) to Sydney as part of the NSW School Captains Leadership program.

Organised by the education section of New South Wales Parliament the day involved school captains from approximately 50 high schools from various regions throughout NSW visiting Parliament House. The day started with all captains seated in the parliament theatrette listening to a panel of members of parliament about their progress into state politics and how they became a leader of their community. All of the politicians assembled had excellent stories that gave an insight into what a leader is and how they should act, something our captains can reflect upon.

The captains were able to meet their local State Member of Parliament, Janelle Saffin, and had time to ask questions about her position, how she became a politician and how important it is to be seen as a leader. The students then had a photo opportunity with Ms Saffin before being taken on a tour of parliament house and seeing both houses of parliament in action.

After lunch the students were taken to Government House where they had a tour of this historic venue, built in 1814, strolled the beautiful harbourside gardens and then were able to meet the Governor of New South Wales, Her Excellency Margaret Beazley, AO, QC. The Governor spoke with the students about her role and the types of meetings she held. She also spoke about how delighted she is to represent the people of NSW in such a leadership role.

One of the highlights of the trip was being in Sydney whilst VIVID was on. The captains and staff were able to visit Circular Quay and The Rocks viewing a fantastic lightshow and looking at memorable light filled art installations. The Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House were stand outs.

It was an excellent trip and the students, from all Rivers campuses were a pleasure to travel with.

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WELLBEING

3.1 Physical wellbeing

College sporting teams Round Up

The Rivers Table Tennis team travelled to Port Macquarie earlier this term to challenge Hastings Secondary

College in the North Coast Final. Unfortunately, the boys were runners up on day.

Rivers Girls Open Hockey versus Kingscliff HS

Meeting a very polished and confident Kingscliff side in this 4th round fixture, The Rivers girls went down 4-2 in a very hard fought game by The Rivers Girls Open hockey team. Congratulations to all the team; player of the match went to Harriett who defended brilliantly and chased the ball down time after time. As a young side, this team represents great potential for Rivers hockey in the future.

Boys Open Softball – North Coast Champions

The Rivers Open Boys Softball team - North Coast champions! Congratulations to all the boys and the coach, Jason Caught.

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3.2 Intellectual wellbeing

Defiant project

Throughout term 2, Beyond Empathy has been running dance workshops for students of The Rivers Secondary College at the Lismore High Campus, as part of the DEFIANT project. The students and workshop facilitators were unanimous in their support and enthusiasm for this opportunity to continue into term 3. The DEFIANT workshops seek to create a new dance work facilitated by some of the country’s most respected dancers and choreographers. The focus of this dance work is to foster in the participants a sense of resilience, student identity and a deeper sense of belonging to the community as a whole. The thrust of DEFIANT is to create artistic platforms that allow the stories and the voices of the Young People to be better heard and understood.

Creative and Performing Arts

The Far North Coast Dance Festival 2019 It was 7:20am and the bus bay of Lismore High was buzzing with students eager to jump on the bus and head up to the Gold Coast for the Far North Coast Dance Festival. Fresh off the bus we headed backstage of the Gold Coast Arts Centre to get an induction and safety briefing. From here we headed through a maze of backstage corridors to our dressing room to get changed for the dress rehearsal. We were then back on the bus after rehearsal for a quick dinner break at the Australia Fair shopping centre before an outdoor warm up and rehearsal by the lake, followed by a quick game of bulrush to stay warm. Show time! This year The Rivers Secondary College was represented by 75 students across the college, our biggest representation ever! Backstage and preparing for the show all of our students were getting painted up, applying makeup, gluing false eye lashes on, squeezing in a last minute hall way rehearsals, problem solving costume malfunctions, snapping a few selfies and creating some great memories. We presented 6 dances on the night and our Aboriginal Dance Ensemble opened the show with their item 'Freedom'. This was created by allowing students to reflect on their own heritage along with their family and ancestral stories to discover their identity and gain confidence in their own present and future. Next up was Lismore High's year 11 dance class. These students created and performed their group item 'Return' which explored the concept of always returning to the start. Year 11 was followed by the Rivers Sport Dance Ensemble. Their dance item 'Rejuvenate' explores the destruction of bush land in Australia contrasted with its ability to regenerate. A huge thank you to our dedicated year 11 student Alyssa who came to every Wednesday morning sport session to run warm ups, help choreograph, run rehearsals problem solve issues and inspire younger students.

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The Rivers Dance Ensemble were up next and performed their new dance item titled 'Balance' which explores line and balance through the contrast of straight and curved lines. 'Move your body' was up next. This dance item was choreographed by the year 10 elective class at Lismore High Campus. It was developed from the students’ assessment task which was to create a response to poem about the human body. Thank you to all the hard work you all put into organising and rehearsing your item year 10. Last but not least was the fabulous performance of 'On the line' by Richmond River High Campus. Originally created and performed as a 2018 HSC core composition piece. This item explores the day in the life of our clothing. The performers depict the wear and tear of clothing. The washing process, the drying process and then hanging the items out to dry, before repeating all over again. With all of these great performances completed it was time to pack up and jump back on the bus to Lismore. Thank you to all the parents and carers who were all there waiting in the cold for an 11:15pm pick up. Congratulations to all performers who participated on the day and a special thank you to Miss Somerfield (KHC), Mr McMullen (LHC) and Miss Dessmann (RRHC) for their dedication and effort on the day to ensure a great show Miss Zappia

Plans for the 2020 Musical

Primary and secondary representatives met twice this term to discuss the proposed 2020 musical. A number of musicals were discussed, including another locally written musical by Brian Wappett, titled ‘Idol Minds’. Mr Wappett outlined details of Idol Minds and indicated that it can be made big enough for whoever was involved. The belief was that involving a choir in the 2020 musical was an important feature. Ms Dimity McKinlay researched a wide range of commercially available productions and discussed concerns related to resourcing these shows.

The group unanimously agreed to support ‘Idol Minds’ as the 2020 musical.

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It was decided that EOIs for specific roles would go out early next term and work on the musical to commence shortly after this. The current plan is for the show to be staged in term 2, 2020.

The musical will be based around a reality show and have a strong wellbeing theme linked to the responsible use of social media.

3.3 Staff wellbeing

Converge International is the current provider of the Employee Assistance program. They provide a variety of services, including personal counselling, phone support and online support through their website and also an app. The app is available through both the Google Play and Apple Store. EAP Connect App contains resources, mindfulness activities, critical incident contact and appointment requests.

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DATA USE AND SKILLS

In term 2 we continue to focus on our effective use of data. The Tell Them From Me surveys are coordinated through CESE (Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation). Our campuses have been conducting these for many years now, providing us with longitudinal data that measure student engagement and wellbeing. The surveys can be used to capture student, parent and teacher voices, providing reliable evidence for schools to use in identifying strengths and areas for improvement.

To increase staff understanding and skills in the use of TTFM data, Sam Cox from CESE worked with staff selected from across the college to help them further develop skills in the use of this valuable data. Sam assisted staff in linking data to the campus plan and prioritizing the use of data that could provide further direction in campus planning.

KNOWING OUR STUDENTS

Campuses have been involved in a range of activities to get to know their incoming 2020 Year 7 students better. These have included:

Collecting information from our partner primary schools, who provide a profile of the incoming students and also provide their semester one reports. Campus teams use this information to determine the type of support that would be appropriate to assist with their transition to high school.

Individual campuses are continuing to increase their focus on knowing their students and monitoring their progress better.

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Secretary and Deputy Secretary visit New Choices Program

In week 4 Department of Education Secretary, Mark Scott, along with the Deputy Secretaries School Operations and Performance, Murat Dizdar, and Educational Services, Georgina Harrison, along with our Executive Director Frank Potter and Director Educational Leadership, Dave Harvey visited the New Choices program at Lismore Conservatorium. They seemed very interested in the program, asked a range of questions and listened to a number of the students’ stories.

Engaging and supporting all our students This semester the Lismore High Campus Literacy and Numeracy Team focus has been on strategies that enable teachers to support all students in their classes to read and write at the levels they need to succeed. Our focus on delivering vocabulary lists at the commencement of each learning program across KLAs has worked well with teachers implementing verbal and written activities around key terms. Terminology is displayed in classrooms with the addition of the very effective CAFS verb posters that are particularly directed towards our senior students. These posters develop understanding of the key terms that the HSC places emphasis on, in context, to the question. Kristy Collins, the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy Adviser, met with head teachers to discuss using the Literacy and Numeracy Progressions in assessment processes and ways of embedding strategies across the curriculum. Staff will have further opportunities with a view to participate in professional learning with Kristy, improving writing across the curriculum. With a focus on whole school strategies that improve literacy and numeracy across the school, Lismore High Campus is employing assistive technology to allow all students greater access to curriculum content in an inclusive manner. Read and Write Gold software has been operating to assist many students. We have students that utilise this tool to access work and assist them in reading and writing documents, files and web pages. It has been a big confidence booster for English Language Learners and students with low literacy levels. In addition, we are also conducting a 30 day trial on the C-Pen Reader pen scanner, a digital highlighter to help students scan and read back text. This tool will allow our students to access and get meaning from texts in a self-regulating approach to learning. By targeting students in Year 7 who are at risk of ‘reading failure’, positive progress has been made through the Lexia Reading Program. It has provided a valuable method to distinguish the gaps in student learning

and provide advancement through intensive learning strategies. Maintaining student motivation and expectations, this intervention is creating meaningful connections for students when transferring improved literacy skills back into the classroom.

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In July Lismore High Campus teachers will have the opportunity to experience and discuss the skills required to create a school with Reading to Learn embedded in their culture. Throughout the day, teachers will be presented with the opportunity to observe Reading to Learn strategies applied across the curriculum and reflect on the outcomes of the implementation of a whole school literacy project using Reading to Learn methodology

IMPROVING COLLEGE PROCESSES

Our campus principals met on Thursday 16th May to discuss the Year 6 into 7 non-local school expressions of interest that have come in. This was a successful collaboration, involving careful consideration of each out of zone applicant, in line with the campus out of zone criteria and enrolment policy.

COLLEGE HAPPENINGS

Widening Participation and Outreach Program

This is our second year of involvement in this program conducted by the University of Sydney. Once again it was held across our three campuses. The 2019 program was delivered to our Year 11 students and focused on two programs -

Thinking Ahead encouraged students to develop their understanding of the value of extracurricular involvement and identify and write persuasively about their own leadership skills, personal qualities and attributes. Skills developed in the workshop can be utilised when applying for further study or employment.

My Story, My Future workshop where students engaged with a personal video narrative and were guided through a series of reflective prompts to encourage enhanced self-awareness of identity, strengths, interests and motivations as well as starting to articulate how the intersection of these might helpfully inspire, guide and inform future decision making.

NAIDOC Celebrations

Kadina High Campus - This year at Kadina High Campus students celebrated NAIDOC week with an assembly, creative performances and an inter-school football match. Our assembly hosted visitors from local Indigenous Organisations, Ghurrumbil Dreaming and Dream Bigger. Our guests, Blake Rhodes, Mitch King, Gemma Roberts and Emmanuel Roberts engaged in a Question and Answer panel with students from all year groups. Their experiences and knowledge were invaluable to students and staff alike. Another highlight from the assembly were the student performances. A talented student band performed a song and the dancers from across all three campuses presented an incredible display of their culture and talent.

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The afternoon saw students enjoy a sausage sizzle, kindly donated by our local supermarket. Then engaging in a football match with teachers, with the teachers triumphant. Better luck next year, student team. The final event for our NAIDOC day celebrations was the inter-schools NRL matches. The Rivers Secondary College Kadina High Campus and Lismore High Campus were equal winners on the day.

Lismore High Campus

Aunty Irene and Uncle Glen joined LHC as special guests for the NAIDOC celebrations. Students from the support unit cooked a delicious bbq lunch and Aunty Bev and Jenique prepared Johnny cakes to accompany them. The Rivers Aboriginal creative and performing Arts Ensemble were spectacular and all of our student speakers did a great job exploring voice, truth and treaty: the themes for this year’s NAIDOC celebrations. Over the course of the week, all students had the opportunity to participate in the following cultural activities; the Science of the Boomerang, Boomerang Art, Maths games in Language and Indigenous Games.

Richmond River High Campus

“Voice Treaty Truth” the theme for this year’s NAIDOC was reflected in all our celebrations. At our whole school celebration we had ex- RRHC student Josh Creighton of Gnibi College at SCU give the keynote address around the theme of Voice. Vivian Anderson, a traditional Aboriginal dancer, performed a number of dances and engaged the audience through student participation. Lismore Heights Public School “Deadly Dancers” also performed as did The Rivers Aboriginal Performing Arts Dance Ensemble. Blake Rhodes and Mitch King performed Hip Hop to an appreciative audience. Thanks to our Ed Unit students and staff for providing a sausage sizzle for lunch, to complete our celebration.

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Combined Stage 6 Parent/Teacher evening

2019 was our third year of conducting a combined Stage 6 Parent/Teacher evening. Due to the large numbers of students accessing their stage 6 curriculum across multiple campuses, the combined evening allows parents to speak to teachers from both their student’s home campus and any host campus teachers where they are involved in the shared curriculum program.

2019 Evaluation Stage 6 Parent Teacher evening evaluation:

At The Rivers Secondary College we aim to continue to improve all aspects of our operations. Please use the following survey links to provide us with feedback:

Parents:

PARENT SURVEY

Staff:

STAFF SURVEY

UPCOMING EVENTS

Extended Twilight college KLA meetings – 13th August 2019 3:30 -6:30pm.

Education Week Awards will be held on Thursday 29th August 2019 from 4 to 6pm.

Year 8 into 9 Subject Evenings

Richmond River High campus and Lismore High Campus – Tuesday 27th August 2019

Kadina High Campus – Monday 19th August 2019

SASS Recognition Breakfast – Invercauld House Wednesday 28th August 7:30-8:30am Rivers MADDness – Wednesday 28th August 2019 Lismore City Hall Snow Excursions

Richmond River High Campus – 29TH July – 2nd August 2019

Lismore High Campus and Kadina High Campus – 17th August – 24th August 2019.

Parent and Community Engagement for Learning – Wed. 18th September 5:30-7:00pm

The evening is an opportunity for parents and community members to hear our previous minister for Education and current Director of the Gonski Institute for Education (Professor Adrian Piccoli) talk about ‘12 Ways Your Child Can Get the Best out of School’, also the title of a very excellent book written by Adrian. Wednesday 18/09/19 Richmond River High Campus, Lake Street North Lismore 2480 between 5:30pm – 7:00 pm. Refreshments served at 5:30 followed by Adrian followed by Q&A

Induction Meeting 2

For staff who missed out on the term 2 Induction meeting, this will be repeated on 26TH August 2019 3:30 – 4:30 at Kadina High Campus Library (upstairs). It is essential that you register if you wish to attend.

Register for the term 3 Induction program here.

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Our supporters:

Lismore Workers Club

Advanced Life Photography

Sydney University

Lords Taverners

Liverpool International

Football Academy

Beyond

Empathy

Schools Plus

Fair Education

North Coast TAFE

Byron Bay Bluesfest

Byron Writers Festival

headspace The Broncos

Rivers P-12 Southern Cross University