27 Jul 2017
On Wednesday 20th July we were extremely fortunate to have a visit from Glenn King and Ashleigh O'Mahony from the Premier's Implementation Unit, Jan Green, our Director of Education and the Executive Director's Representative, Paul Wood. We presented our progress on the implementation of our literacy "Power Up!" program as well as our Numeracy Visible Learning approach that has already demonstrated significant improvements in learning outcomes for our students. In the Power Up program, all students have been actively engaged and initial data shows that 90% of theYear 9 students have demonstrated more than one year's worth of growth over the first two terms. In the Numeracy program, over 90% of students reported by survey that their understanding of numbers and numeracy has increased significantly in the first term of its implementation.
Paul Wood (right) Jan Green (adjacent) Ashleigh O'Mahony (left middle) and Glenn King (left) watching the presentation of our literacy and numeracy initiatives.
Glenn and Ashleigh have visited schools all over NSW and Western Australia and complimented the work that we are doing with students as "best practice" and "a highly engaging way to tailor individual learning to meet every student's learning needs." In fact, Mr King commented that our programs inspired him and he felt refreshed after visiting us and talking with students from Year 9 involved in the program. He will be presenting our school's progress to the premier, Gladys Berejiklian in the coming weeks.
Glenn King (left) and Ashleigh O'Mahony (right) discussing the successful outcomes of our literacy "Power Up!" program and Numeracy Visual Learning approach.
Our students had the opportunity to have a group discussion with the visitors and express their responses to the implementation of our literacy and numeracy programs. Many students commented that these programs have expanded their knowledge and impacted on their learning in a very positive way. One student commented:
"Before having these programs I would have trouble understanding the work in our classes. Now I have the opportunity to improve my skills and knowledge and it really helps my learning."
Some of our students giving positive feedback on their outcomes as part of our literacy and numeracy initiatives.
Our Principal, Mr Kitteringham, had some proud comments to make about our overall progress:
"We have the right to feel incredibly proud of our students and staff who have displayed outstanding tenacity and courage in developing such programs that we are incredibly proud of. More importantly, the students and the data tell us that 'it works!'."
Our Principal, Murray Kitteringham, delivering a presentation on our literacy "Power Up!" program.
Sir Joseph Banks High School is certainly delivering on high quality innovative programs with encouraging results and we intend on continuing to expand these programs for the benefit of all students in Stages 4 and 5 over the next three year planning cycle.
Be sure to check out our photo gallery for more photos of the visit:
http://www.sirjosephb-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/gallery/minister-s-cabinet-visit