Strategic Operational Plan 2018

INSPIRED LEARNING

1.1.1  Priority: Improving Literacy Across the Curriculum

2018 saw good progress in the area of literacy across the Junior School under the strong leadership of the Junior School English Leader, Carmen Gaspersic.

• The introduction of the assessment framework, criterion scale, lead to more accurate assessment of writing and teacher planning
• Resourcing for the teaching of literacy has grown and staff have access to a much higher standard of resources to support literacy teaching

In the Senior School, a Literacy Sub-committee made a number of recommendations to sustain literacy improvement in Years 7-12, including

• annual staff Professional Development on NAPLAN papers
• ongoing interventions in Year 7 and 9 where students do not reach the top 3 bands in NAPLAN in reading and writing
• the appointment of a Senior School Learning Enrichment Co-ordinator for 2019.

1.1.2  Priority: Improving Numeracy K to 6 

• The appointment of a new Junior School Mathematics Leader, who has a strong background in leading mathematics across a number of schools
• The development of a new structure and the purchase of core resources for supporting staff in planning  and effective delivery of mathematics across K to 6

1.2.1 Priority: Design and Innovation

• The appointment of a new Head of Design and Innovation
• On-going development of Stage 4 Mandatory Technology Curriculum
• The School committed to the AIS “Deep Learning Project”, which assists the School to prepare students for their futures and their development with new work order skills 
• Commenced the development of ‘effective partnerships’ in consultation with parent experts in innovation, and with the University of Technology Sydney

1.2.2 Priority: Creative Arts

A review of the Creative Arts occurred during 2018, examining

• levels of student participation in the co-curricular and curricular offerings of the School
• level of satisfaction for curricular and co-curricular offerings in Creative Arts (MMG 2017-2018)
• results achieved in both curricular and co-curricular offerings in Creative Arts (HSC, Showcase, external competitions, performances)
• levels of alumni and parent involvement
• staffing (qualifications, experience)
• opportunities (school and community) and any additional relationships that might be developed
• resources and facilities in relation to present and future needs.

The Creative Arts Review found an overall strength in the areas of Drama, Visual Arts and Music, based on the long-term service and experience of the teaching staff and leaders in these areas. The MMG Survey Data, and Student and Parent Forums showed strong support.

A final report was presented to the Principal early in 2019 for review and consideration as future plans and strategies are developed to enhance the place of the creative arts within the School .

1.3.1 Priority: Positive Education Pre-K to 6

The Positive Education program and philosophy was introduced in the Junior School

• Students participated in activities where they were able to develop their social and emotional skills, character strengths, cyber safety, looking for the positive, develop their resilience and build relationships
• Students formed connections with others across the school during House Groups and have participated in daily mindfulness activities to develop self-regulation skills and to learn how to be in the moment

The Positive Education Program was also introduced to all ECEC educators in two separate professional development sessions. The ECEC team reflected on the detail given in these meetings and were able to link many established practices to this program. ECEC has continued to incorporate Positive Education practices and mindfulness into their daily program.

1.4.1 Priority: Personalised Learning

• Continued to investigate ICT solutions to support and record the individual learning journey of each individual student, which can facilitate easy access by parents, staff and students
• Reviewed the enrolment process to better cater for personalised learning for incoming students
• Implemented a SeeSaw pilot program in the Junior School, and following on from its success, commenced planning a full rollout of this program across all year groups in the Junior School in 2019

OUTSTANDING TEACHING

2.1.1 Priority:  Staff Appraisal

Key achievements include

• The development of key performance indicators for assessing staff performance against the School’s five Spheres of Influence - Role, Professionalism, Ethos and Hills Original (and Pedagogy)
• A 360° Performance Appraisal process was initiated for twenty-two Head of Department/Head of House positions
• The School engaged Educator Impact to custom build digital software for appraising all Hills Grammar staff.  This software is confidential interface between the appraiser and the appraised, and has the capacity to produce feedback reports for staff appraisal conversations 
• In December 2018, a soft launch of this platform occurred with four Executive staff members, providing the opportunity to critique the automatically generated analysis reports and ensure it met the School’s desired outcomes     
• By the end of February 2019, a live version of the software will be ready for launch with all Hills Grammar Staff

2.2.1 Priority: Staff Development Framework

Staff Development Framework (SDF) - Positive feedback from staff about the effectiveness of the SDF in creating synergies across all teacher learning programs continued throughout the year. Teachers and leaders appreciated that the design ensured no duplication of accreditation, professional development (PD) or Teacher Performance and Development (TPD) requirements and that the templates provided were skewed to ensure the explicit link between teacher learning and development, with student learning outcomes. They also stated that the Teacher Professional Growth Portfolio (an Office 365 Staff Notebook) designed by Staff Development, had revolutionised their access to the information they valued and needed and provided an explicit pathway to aligning with School standards, as well as further improving the personalised learning approach for teachers at Hills Grammar.

Professional Learning Plan/Maintenance of Accreditation Program (PLP) - This program is unique to Hills Grammar, designed to meet new NESA requirements for Teacher Accreditation and Teacher Accreditation Authorities. It was developed in view of both the School’s learning priorities for teachers and students, as well as the pending TAA Registration of the School in 2019. 100% of teachers who engaged in the School’s Professional Learning Plan/Maintenance of Accreditation Program completed their online Teacher Growth Portfolio by December 2018. Teachers were surveyed about the usefulness of the program to their learning, growth and teaching practice. A considerable amount of resource went into the provision of professional learning, mentoring and coaching of the leaders who ran the PLP/Maintenance Groups throughout the year.

Proficient Teacher Program - Eight teachers engaged in the PT Accreditation Program, with five progressing to be accredited at PT by Hills Grammar Teacher Accreditation Authority. In relation to goal 2.2.1, an emphasis on highlighting alignment with the School was increased in this program. For example Standard 7 of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) “Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and the community”, was analysed and interpreted within the School’s Standards 8 – 11. After the completion of their accreditation evidence, the Principal met with each candidate to provide specific feedback on their learning and teaching and further opportunities to align with the School’s expectations and standards. 

Teacher Performance and Development Program (TPD) - This program within the SDF was particularly leveraged in 2018 with Goal 2.2.1 in mind, to foster alignment of teachers with the School’s new Staff Profile and HG Standards 1 – 11.

• 99% of teachers said that the Teacher Performance and Development sessions provided by Staff Development assisted them to set SMART goals that were enriching, stretching and satisfying, and that led to improvement in their teaching
• Open responses varied, showing that work needs to continue across the School in nurturing an understanding of the Staff Profile, School expectations and fully leveraging the unique opportunities for positive growth as professionals within the Staff Development Framework Programs.

Hills Grammar Learning Lounge - The Learning Lounge Program continued to contribute positively to the building of a rigorous, collaborative teacher learning culture at Hills. Hills Grammar Endorsed Provider registered over 30 courses with NESA in 2018 and uploaded attendance to teacher NESA eTAM accounts of over 700 hours of PD. The statistics on engagement were impressive and revealed once again, the commitment of our staff to their learning. Teachers were able to easily leverage Learning Lounge Courses to dovetail with the learning required to meet their TPD goals, which enriched their use of the SDF Programs. The program also enabled a huge leap to take place in our own teacher capacity to design and deliver PD to their peers, and for some, to an external audience. PD, modelling and mentoring was provided by Staff Development to our teacher presenters to build confidence in sharing their expertise and passions with other teachers, and evaluating their practice against the APST and HG Standards. Anecdotal and qualitative feedback from teachers was consistently excellent. Feedback via surveys from external visitors, required due to our NESA Endorsed status, was also excellent.

MMG Education Results - In relation to Goal 2.2.1, re engagement, MMG Survey results for Professional Learning and Development in 2018 scored in the “Very High” range for Senior Management, ECEC, Junior and Senior School teachers. Support Staff response was in the “High” range.

2.3.1 Priority: Staff Wellbeing

Key implementations have included

• The appointment of the Director of Human Resources and Director of Advancement and Engagement – two roles with a specialised focus on aligning of our brand and implementing strategic systems that have the capacity to create a culture of care.  
• The introduction of a new organisational structure that includes a Pre K to 12 executive team - ensuring all sections of the School are represented, and that staff have the opportunity to be visible and well informed about all movements across the School.
• A change in the format to the General Staff Meetings – where all staff are encouraged to share with the School community any important events, milestones and innovations occurring in their sphere of influence.
• Staff Wellbeing Week –all staff are invited to participate in a week of wellbeing seminars, massage and physiotherapy consultations, social events and specialist information sessions on superannuation.
• Regular get together for teaching and support staff, including morning teas and end of term events.

2.4.1 Priority: Succession Planning

The focus was to build capacity both within our existing staff and those we attract to the School – with the aim of creating a robust plan for succession. 

These steps included -

• Organisational Chart – Finalising the current School organisation chart, as well as mapping future capabilities as roles become vacant. 
• Role Justification Process – a formal process, whereby, Executives complete a role justification template to demonstrate the continued need for the position within the School. 
• Recruitment – The following new recruitment tools that have been developed and implemented:
  • Recruitment Policy,
  • Pre-screening of candidates by the HR department,
  • Employee Application Form, which the applicant submits along with their resume,
  • Working at Hills Grammar (applicant) and Welcome to Hills Grammar (employee) employment brochures.
  • Preliminary interview questions provided to applicants attending first interview - based on the School’s Values Framework – Respect, Integrity, Service and Excellence. 
  • Induction – Re-mapping of the New Staff Induction Day, including the development and introduction of the Staff Induction Handbook.

2.4.2 Priority: Organisational Structure

A new organisational structure is fully in place and all positions filled.  Work continues on ensuring clarity around roles and effective communication and collaboration.

School Leadership Planning Day are scheduled regularly trough out the year to ensure expectations, roles and responsibilities are explicit amongst senior leaders going forward. School Leadership Manual was finalised.

UNIQUE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

3.1.1 Priority:  School Database

The task of preparing for the introduction of a new school wide database was set with the 2018 strategic operational plan. 

• Synergetic was selected to replace all MAZE functionality, impacting most areas of School operations. 
• A Project Manager was engaged to oversee the engagement of stakeholders and ensure project milestones were maintained.
• The School formed a Synergetic Project Implementation group mid 2018 who met regularly throughout the project
• The School maintained and met all Synergetic milestones including ultimately the Go Live date of 7 January 2019. 
• Synergetic is now in use throughout the School and MAZE has been archived. 

3.1.2 Priority:  Capital Works and Master Planning

• In 2018 $1.5 million was spent on campus refurbishment including the creation of
  • Centralized administration (NEXUS)
  • Development of a new Senior Study Centre and library
  • A new Year 12 common room
  • Reinvention and refurbishment of classroom environments and the creation of external learning spaces across the campus continued.

ORGANISATONAL SUSTAINABILITY

4.1.1 Priority: Financial Systems

• A full review of process within the Accounts Department was complete during 2018. 
• This involved a number of meetings and reviews with the Accounts department team to understand their process and systems together with their roles and responsibilities. 
• Detailed reviews of the finance team provided the information required to form revised roles and responsibilities, with the intent to create efficiencies and streamlining process and procedures.

4.1.2 Priority: Enrolments

• Significant changes in resourcing occurred and the department was restructured to include a Registrar and an Assistant Registrar.

4.2.1 Priority: Registration and Accreditation 

• Curriculum planning days were included in the staff Professional Development days, and Senior School departments focused on the ongoing project of ‘Transforming Units of Work into Units of Inquiry’.
• Junior School teachers – under the direction in curriculum of the Head of Curriculum K-6 – continued to update Units of Inquiry and adapt work into a new format for English and Mathematics.
• The Heads of Junior School and Senior School and the Director of Learning and Teaching worked with various staff on NESA compliance requirements in preparation for the May 2019 inspection.

4.2.2 Priority: Risk Register

• Risk Management was the focus of discussions at School Council and a process to complete the audit and reset policy ad practice in this crucial area of the school’s operations finalized. The bulk of the work in this goal will be conducted in 2019.

4.2.3 Priority: Complaints

• Policy rewritten and procedures outlined for  School Council Approval during 2019 and finalised and published (February 2019)

4.3.1 Priority:  Environmental Sustainability

• Held over to 2019 although sustainability initiatives such as Internal lighting converted to LED rolled out during the year.

4.4.1 Priority: Advancement & Engagement

• Director of Advancement & Engagement reviewed and restructured the team, with two vacant positions becoming available – a Communications Advisor and an Administration Assistant.
• The School Receptionist was assigned to work within the Advancement and Engagement team, as well as the School Events Co-ordinator.

4.4.2 Priority: Alumni Engagement

• Hills Grammar Alumni were surveyed in the last quarter of 2018.  The results of the survey were presented by MMG to the Alumni Manager, Director of Advancement & Engagement and Principal.

4.4.3 Priority: Whole School Survey

• The MMG survey was completed across the student, staff and parent community.
• MMG presented the results to the School Executive in January and to Council in their first meeting of 2019.
• Data used to inform key focus areas and strategic priorities for subsequent years. Data reported elsewhere in this document

4.4.4 Priority: Visibility

• Recruitment for a Communications Advisor and an Administration Assistant, to help advance the School’s visibility through digital and social communications, and campaigns that are combined with general media.