The Meadow Fair The Meadow Fair North CommunityNorth Community

Meadow Fair North Primary School was situated in Meadow Fair North Primary School was situated in Broadmeadows, a Northern suburb of Melbourne. Broadmeadows, a Northern suburb of Melbourne.

Approximately 60% of the school’s enrolment, 165 Approximately 60% of the school’s enrolment, 165 students, came from non-English speaking students, came from non-English speaking backgrounds. backgrounds.

The student population was highly transient with The student population was highly transient with many students transferring into and out of the many students transferring into and out of the school each year. school each year.

Many students come from single parent families Many students come from single parent families and 80% of families were recipients of the and 80% of families were recipients of the Educational Maintenance Allowance.Educational Maintenance Allowance.

In the beginning..Our initial Inventory Data painted a picture that was no match for the Mona Lisa,

in fact it was more like…

… there was little evidence of alignment and we had some way to go towards building a positive and supportive learning and teaching environment.

A snap shot of our report card in 2005 looked like this..

Staff felt..

• that Meadow Fair North was a school that lacked an inspirational vision

•that whilst they were striving hard to meet the needs of all students through our teaching and learning programs it was not reflected in the data.

•that the students and the community lacked pride in the school.

•that communication between school and the community needed improvement

• that while leadership roles were defined there was serious concern for the level of staff morale.

The students painted a different picture.

•There was a large degree of polarisation in the responses in most areas but the clear indicators of concern were:

•most students felt that they were not achieving as well as they should in literacy and numeracy.

•a group of students felt that they were not achieving in any of the Key Learning Areas.

•a number of students felt that none of their needs were being meet within the school environment.

However ….the parents felt

• comfortable with the school

• they trusted the teachers to meet the students needs

• that is was not their place to tell teachers how to do their job

• reluctant to become involved in the school because of language and cultural difficulties and a lack of confidence.

Our first challenge was to work together to ‘dream’ a positive future for our school.

What would we see at our school in 5 years if was an effective, positive and dynamic learning environment?

HOWEVER - a new challenge arose…

We were informed that Meadow Fair North...

*was to be a part of the Broadmeadows Schools Regeneration Project.

*was to merge with three other schools and our school would, in effect, cease to exist within 4 to 5 years.

This was possibly our first BIG STEP along the journey. As a staff we made a commitment to go out with a BANG not a whimper and to give our students every opportunity for a bright future.

After much discussion, throwing around of ideas and passionate debate we arrived at

Our ValuesOur Values

Respect

Support

Quality

Teamwork

Commitment

and our Vision..

This vision encompassed:

teamwork, supported learning, strong foundations, structure, exploration, creating of opportunity, hope, success, future orientation,

All had been elements of our conversations

There was 100% support in our community for our new Values and Vision.

Our Vision Launch was held on a special family day where we celebrated 100 Days of

Learning.

It was a huge success.

We began to share our stories about our personal pedagogy…

those moments that make you remember why you come to work each day and also those moments when you felt like a check out counter at the local supermarket would be a better option.

We shared them all.

From these have came our common understandings.

Our School Wide Pedagogy that told the world;

”This is what a learning community looks like, sounds like and feels like at our school.”

CELEBRATE

INCLUDE What do we know about these children?

How does this embrace our diversity?

COLLABORATE How are we collectively making use of our individual strengths, knowledge and ideas?

How does this experience enable us to learn from each other?

CONNECT How does this connect to real life?How does this connect to the future?

BUILD How does this build on what the students already know?

What supports and strategies will be used to aid new learning?

How does this new learning encourage us to think in new ways?

REFLECT What opportunities have been provided for reflection?

What have I learnt?How can I apply this learning?Where to from here?

AS

A

T

E

A

C

H

E

R

CELEBRATE

INCLUDE What do I know about myself?What do I know about others?

COLLABORATE How am I making use of my strengths, knowledge and ideas?

How does this experience enable me to learn from others?

CONNECT How does this connect to what I already know?

How does this connect to real life and into the future?

BUILD What do I need to continue my learning?

How does this new learning help me to think in different ways?

REFLECT When and how do I reflect on my learning?

What have I learnt?How can I apply this learning?Where to from here?

AS

A

LEARNER

We travelled many pathways...

…………and what did we achieve?

We believe our data has a story to tell.

In summary....Attitudes to School Survey

Student Well Being – up from 1st Quartile to 4th Teaching & Learning - up from 1st Quartile to 4th. Student Relationships – up from 2nd Quartile to 3rd bordering on 4th .

These were comprehensively above state mean in 2007 & 2008 after being below state mean in 2006. Behaviour Management dataStudent suspension data from 2006 to 2008 improved significantly

2006 -10 incidents of full suspension for 1 or 2 days -87 after school detentions

2008 - 0 incidents of full suspension -12 after school detentions

Staff Opinion Data•Improved student engagement to above state mean.

•All areas of the Staff Opinion Survey rose from well below state mean in 2005 to within or above state mean in 2007 and remained relatively stable with minor downward fluctuations only from 2007-2008 possibly due to uncertainty about the effects of the imminent merger

Parent Opinion DataParent School Opinion Survey response rates improved and satisfaction moved from below to above state mean in the areas of student behaviour; stimulating learning; and school improvement from 2005 to 2008

Professional Supports

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

School Vision

Leadership

School Success

Decision Making

School's Understandings

Strategic FoundationsPromotion in the community

Decision Making

Success celebratedParallel leadershipClear vision

IDEAS PROGRESS RUBRIC

Cohesive Community

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Community support of vision

Community school planning

Collective reponsibility of students

Contributions recognised

Culture of blame

Pedagogy

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Community support of vision

Community school planning

Collective reponsibility of students

Contributions recognised

Culture of blame

3D Pedagogy/ Teaching, Learning Assessment

Home / school Communication

Student achievement measures

Teaching based on authoritative pedagogy

Pedagogy linked to vision

Shared understanding of successful pedagogy

Infrastucture Design

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Physical Resources

Use of Time and Space

School Curriculum

Time for Reflection

Infrastructural Design

Physical / Human Resources

School Outcomes

0 20 40 60 80 100

Student achievement

Morale

Community Pride

Five elements

Effective learning community

Professional Supports

0 20 40 60 80 100

Professional Learning

Collaborative Learning

Physical/human Resources

Teacher External Networks

Professional Learning Reflects Vision

What about the core business of learning and teaching?

In 2007 our Year Five AIM data showed that our students scored above the Like School Group in every area and near or above the State average in some.

Our Year Three data was equal to Like School in almost all areas. The online Literacy data showed that the year three students had improved by one years growth in the last five months of 2007.

The 2008 Literacy online testing for years 3 to 6 showed many students had continued to show improved outcomes increasing by at least 1 progression point and some students by two or three.

2004 - 2007 the data trended upward for Year 5 in Reading, Spelling & Writing until in 2007 spelling results were notably positioned above like and state schools. These results continued to improve in 2008.

Year 3 data showed an upward trend in all areas ( with some minor fluctuations)

Reading Levels improved from Years 3-5 and in 2007, more than 3% of year 5 students were reading at level 5.

This occurred at a time when the % of ESL students increased from 39% -53%

What were the reasons for this improved achievement?

•there was a new common understanding about what effective teaching and learning was at Meadow Fair North born from our School Wide Pedagogy

•a positive school learning environment created by a new sense of support and a willingness to open the doors ( walls) and change teaching practice and the external supports to do so

•a strong sense of commitment to and a pride in our achievements, big and small.

• a strong focus on professional learning not only from external sources but also importantly using collegiate expertise and support

•the opportunity and a structure to have meaningful conversations about “things that matter”

•parallel leadership was emerging – collective responsibility, changed leadership team structure

We were also working to find new ways to involve parents within the learning community and to create real opportunities for them to give feedback

The development of the Meadow Fair North Learning Community was clearly visible through our success at bringing our community inside the school.

Each week we offered adult English language classes, parenting sessions, multicultural childcare and play group activities. These happened in classrooms side by side with student learning areas and were made possible through our strong links with outside agencies and the support of our multi-cultural aide.

This was a powerful way of demonstrating our vision in action to our students and the wider community.

Wouldn’t it be a powerful thing if data could also be collected and acknowledged on the other changes that had taken place between 2005 and 2008 at our school..

•the embracing by students of the ethos that what is important in life is ‘to be a participant not a passenger’

• their ability to articulate our school vision and enact upon it

• the changes that saw students engaged in learning together and supporting each other to achieve goals

•the strong sense of pride demonstrated by students and the way this extended beyond what happened inside a classroom

•the way students embraced the concept of leadership and showed it in large and small ways….

•the willingness of staff to try new things

•the support given to each other to ‘get the job done’

•the desire to find the window of opportunity to connect with every child

•a stronger focus on across school moderation to ensure that we managed across school transitions well and to acknowledge that we all played a part in the life and learning of every child who attended our school.

•the request from staff that in 2008 we develop a teaching learning space where professional learning can take place, displays can be put up, professional conversations can be initiated. This is different to the staffroom which is often not conducive to these types of activities.

In three years we grew from

this… to this!!

A Personal Reflection

It has been amazing to see how much capacity has been built in staff and students over such a relatively short time.

Throughout the three years we experienced many of these moments…

New IDEA? What do I do with it?

Still all a bit of a fog

Ah ha

The art of skilfull discussion.

No knots!

The enemy

Perseverance and

stamina

The power of teamwork

Celebrate the milestones

Finding alignment

So what??Meadow Fair North in reality has ceased to exist. The building has been sold, resources packed into boxes, given away or disposed of.

However the people have become a part of a new school “Broadmeadows Valley Primary School”. The capacity that was built in all members of the school community still exists and cannot be contained in cardboard boxes.....

As I listen to conversations about pedagogy in the new learning neighbourhoods between new groups of teachers,

as I hear people challenging each other and working to build shared beliefs and understandings,

as I engage in discussions with students about our shared responsibilities to build a sensational new school ....

I know that the staff and students who were there for the long march forward at Meadow Fair North, will NEVER return to a place where pedagogy is a “dirty” word and teaching and learning was a one way exchange behind closed doors.