Our 2024- 2026 Strategic Plan has been developed through a process of extensive collaboration with our old scholars, governing council, students and staff members. I am grateful to their commitment to engage in a courageous discourse to set a clear path for our school, and our students and their families. Our school has been transforming itself, but without a collaborative and aspirational vision for change, our community would not have clarity or coherence in the strategic direction of the school.
We began with what we know, our history and traditions and the environmental, technological, economic, social challenges we face. We acknowledged that our world is changing rapidly and that education has a vital role to play in developing knowledge, skills, capabilities and values that enable people to contribute to and benefit from a more inclusive and sustainable future. Today’s increasingly complex and fast-paced world brings new and exciting opportunities to enhance learning, while at the same time requiring us to navigate globalisation, technological innovation and a changing work environment, among other dynamics. This context provided us with the roadmap to develop our overall three-year School Strategic Plan Towards 2030: Our Future, Our Place, Our Woodville, which outlines our purpose and priorities for the next three years.
As Principal of our School, I am keenly focussed on the future and to ensure that an education at Woodville High School continues to enable our young people to reach for the stars despite adversity, Ad Astra Per Aspera. At the heart of the Plan is our commitment to inspiring and equipping our students to embrace whatever challenges and opportunities the future presents. A Strategic Plan can inspire and unite the whole school community. Our work together has shaped our strategic plan that will capture the hearts and minds of everyone in our community by providing a clear purpose, vision and mission. The collaborative process of creating a strategic plan has a powerful effect on our school community and can help us harness education as a power to change the world. By nurturing a love of learning, goodness, creativity and ingenuity, we give our students the knowledge, skills and capabilities they need to make their way through the many challenges that they will encounter. In the words of Nelson Mandela, “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”.
Our strategic plan will be aspirational, concise and actionable, and implemented over three years. Each year we will identify actions we are committed to and review and monitor our progress, growth and achievements. It is through this evaluative and reflective process that we take the opportunity to celebrate short term wins, recommit to the plan, and of course, to revise the plan. The plan is agile, dynamic and will respond to the changes as they occur around us. It will keep us focussed on what matters, preparing teachers and students alike to be change agents in their local and global communities.
Thank you to the staff, families and students who were part of the Co-Design Team who led the development of the Strategic Plan. There will be a launch of the Woodville High School Strategic Plan and details will be released shortly.
SEQTA
Our last communication on the 7 August 2023, addressed the multiple challenges that Woodville High School encountered while integrating the DfE EMS platform and its associated modules, specifically the Timetable and Teacher Toolkit. We communicated the steps that were undertaken, including the establishment of a committee comprised of representatives from every facet of our school community. The results of this collaboration led us to transition to the use of SEQTA as our chosen Learner Management System.
We are enthusiastic about sharing the draft of our SEQTA implementation plan with our community. This plan was developed by school leadership through consultations involving the Strategic Implementation Committee, the Department for Education’s Director of ICT, Sean Cummins, his team, as well as consultants from Education Horizons (SEQTA).
The commencement of the SEQTA implementation is scheduled for the current term, commencing on our week 7 student-free day. During this, our SEQTA consultants will facilitate comprehensive training for all staff, focusing on cultivating their knowledge and skills in utilising the Attendance and Pastoral Care components of SEQTA. Subsequently, our Curriculum Leaders will dedicate a substantial portion of their time to scrutinizing the student-facing platform. Their task is to make informed decisions pertaining to the configuration, functionality, and user-friendliness of our existing curriculum platform, as well as the seamless migration of ongoing teaching units into the new Learning Management System.
This transformative journey will involve the active participation of students, staff members, and parents/guardians of our community. Our shared aspiration is to strengthen communication with all members of our community, facilitate quality learning and teaching, data analytics, offer support, and provide guidance to our community throughout the process of implementing our new LMS, SEQTA.
To ensure an informative experience, we are committed to delivering regular updates regarding this journey. We warmly welcome constructive feedback and suggestions from our community members, as their insights are invaluable in shaping the successful realisation of this endeavour.
Old Scholar’s Annual Dinner
On Tuesday 22 August Luke and I had the pleasure of attending the Annual Old Scholar’s Dinner together with our Senior and Middle Years Head Prefect and Deputy Prefect and the Prefects from the Learning Portfolio.
Professor Lester-Irabinna Rigney PhD was the guest speaker, and he highlighted the importance of Equity, Inclusion and Democracy to provide equal opportunities for all young people to experience success and reach for the stars. He highlighted 40,000 young people across the nation are not in our schools and their potential remains untapped.
It was incredible to hear the stories of our old scholars and through their experiences and reflections understand its history, traditions and how the school has transformed over 108 years.
