Sonia Glowgowski

The principal and one lead teacher were available to attending this session. Shannon school is in the early stages of implementing a revised school curriculum so a discussion around the key competencies was timely. The school is being extremely careful in assessing and implementing the curriculum. The key messages discussed by senior management centred on how to align the school’s present Virtues Programmes with the competencies and how to ensure that this is portrayed in children friendly language. A result of this session is to relook at the school’s student profile pages before the next student reports.

Trevor Bond

One of Shannon school’s lead teachers was unable to attend so a senior management teacher attended this session. The principal, lead teacher and deputy principal decided that the questioning models and rubric would be invaluable for extending the students’ thinking and questioning skills. As a result the school is in the process of arranging professional development sessions for term three staff meetings on questioning. Feedback to staff, immediately following the Trevor Bond session, highlighted the need for teachers to examine their present groupings of children and a number of teachers have already implemented change in this area. The deputy principal immediately instigated a number of questioning techniques and strategies into the senior school.

Learning@Schools09

The Shannon School two lead teachers and principal attended the 2009 Learning at School Conference. The principal concentrated professional development around the implementation of the revised curriculum. One of the major outcomes of this was rethinking on community consultation and the implementation of this for term 3 and 4. Because the school is in the process of initiating new technical contacts, the lead teachers concentrated on discussion with a number of technical and product advisers. The outcome of this is the establishment of ties with a number of companies and the purchase of hardware and software specifically aimed at enhancing the school’s programs. The school is now in the process of establishing a new technical relationship in order to improve the present school ICT infrastructure. The lead teachers have both initiated new programs into their own classes.