Welcoming Principals from Serpentine Primary and Chelsea Primary
We are bringing together Principals and APs/DPs for our fourth Principals’ Forum.
This session will be open to all Principals and Assistant Principals. Join the forum to this event and to discuss, share, and ask our panel about their school improvement journeys.
Thursday, August 19, 2021
7:30 PM - 8:45 PM AEST Melbourne Time
Access the Recording
About the Panel
Serpentine Primary School
Kendall Lange,
Principal
Stephanie Le Lievre, Deputy Principal
Kendall Lange is an experienced educator who has taught at a range of schools across Western Australia and internationally in London. He has spent the last 5 years as principal of Serpentine Primary School and in that time gained Independent Public School status, successfully completed the Fogarty EdVance Program and overseen a dramatic improvement in student achievement and school culture. He was previously the Principal of Tambellup Primary School, a school with an excellent reputation in the field of Aboriginal Education, which was recognised an Exemplary School by the WA Education Department Expert Review Group in 2012. He is a firm believer in using evidence based practices and making effective use of the last Education research to improve outcomes for students.
Stephanie Le Lievre is a Deputy Principal & Level 3 Classroom Teacher with a background in speech pathology. She spent five years in the Kimberley region as a Literacy Coordinator with a large involvement in the Kimberley Schools Project. She is now the Deputy Principal of Serpentine Primary School and the Think Forward Educators representative for the WA branch.
Over the past five years Serpentine Primary have developed our own teaching and learning handbook detailing our whole school evidence-based approaches to classroom instruction, lesson design, planning expectations and assessment in order to ensure improved teacher knowledge and achieve a greater level of consistency between classrooms. We have developed a fine grained curriculum in literacy and numeracy and invested heavily in our performance development process, implementing a coaching model involving regular coaching sessions, lesson observations, video reflections and goal setting.
This had led to the creation of our High Quality Teaching matrix, a document outlining various levels of proficiency in all key areas of literacy and numeracy and providing teachers with a clear pathway for improvement. Across the school we have a consistent approach to data collection with assessments carefully selected, benchmarked and colour coded for teachers based on school and grade level expectations. This also informs our performance development processes allowing us to use student achievement data to inform discussions about staff strengths and areas for improvement.
Chelsea Primary School
Taylor Irish, Principal
Taylor Irish is an aspirational principal who is a dad of four children under the age of 9 and a sports loving fitness advocate. Balancing a role as a dad, principal and still trying to get a kick in local football. It's hectic & chaotic at times, but I wouldn't change a thing, love leading my school and being a great role model to my kids and the broader community.
Christine Hulse – curriculum leader for year P-2 is an experienced and knowledgeable teacher who has the perfect balance of warmth and being assertive. Has been a teacher at Chelsea for 10 years.
Tanya Whiteside – curriculum leader for 3-6 is a dynamic, approachable doer, she gets things done, she goes about her business quietly, she is knowledgeable, flexible, and open minded leader. Has been at Chelsea since mid-2020.
This is Taylor Irish’s first role as Principal of a school that had sliding enrolments, and a poor reputation within the local community.
School Profile (pre 2019)
A low-to medium social economic status
Declining enrolments – once a school of 350 students, at the beginning of 2019 our number where 2029 students, with only 29 new prep enrolments
An interesting reputation within the local community
Below like-school NAPLAN data, just below state standards across all domains
The science of reading had been introduced in prep/grade 1 during the 2018 school year
New Principal – Change model 2019
Evidence based practises
Science of Reading – Whole staff professional development
Introduced EDI – leaders trained by Lorraine Hammond – joint PD with Bentleigh West PS - Joe Ybarra
Upskilling teachers capacity
Introduced DI for spelling (spelling mastery)
New waves mental maths
Retrieval practice, cognitive load theory, how student learn,
High expectations and accountability
Restructuring leadership team
Consistent scope & sequences (low variance curriculum)
Looking at what has worked at Chelsea and honouring the things that do work – well established wellbeing program where already in place when I arrived.
At Chelsea Primary, we are on a learning journey. As for all schools, COVID-19 has slowed things down with regards to implementing the practices on a consistent basis. However, the pandemic has given us the opportunities to access free professional learning and continue to build that capacity across the school for all staff, not just our teachers, but our integration aides as well.
Principals & APs/DPs
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About the host
Jacquie Burrows (Principal, Churchill Primary School)
Jacquie Burrows is Principal of Churchill Primary School in Victoria, Australia. Churchill Primary uses an Explicit Direct Instruction approach, teaching the five components of literacy based on the science of reading. Jacquie has overseen significant increases in NAPLAN literacy results using this approach, and expects to see this trend continue.