Pursuit of Personal Excellence

by Deputy Principal, Dr Liam Herbert

A student-centred academic culture focused on engaging classroom learning is central to excellent academic results and strong outcomes for students. The College has undergone a re-focus on the impact of teaching in the classroom through highlighting student and learning successes. 

A question that is ponded regularly by the academic team at Lauries is how can we adequately prepare our students to be successful in the 21st century while ensuring that we are providing a liberating education and adhering to the EREA Learning Statement. This statement calls EREA schools to continue to provide liberating experiences for students. Indeed, our work at Lauries has focused upon not only developing our students socially (which traditionally is our strength) but academically as well.

The College has focused on challenging students to achieve their personal sense of academic excellence. How this has been achieved can be explained through four key pillars - learning environments, teaching, learning and assessment, building capacity and developing, sustaining and scaling school improvements.

Learning Environments

The College has taken considerable steps to not only improve the physical classroom environment but also the learning environment. All students have a right to learn and since the implementation of the Agreed Practice Framework almost three years ago, students and staff have very clear guidelines about what a Lauries classroom looks like. The ideal Lauries classroom is centred around the acronym of ‘GROW’, which stands for Growth Mindset, Respectful, Organised and Welcoming.

Teaching, Learning and Assessment

Once again, our Agreed Practice Framework calls teachers in every lesson, to clarify and articulate what students are doing, why they are doing it (both locally and for the real world) and what success looks like at the end of the lesson. We ‘supercharge’ and highlight the personal and collective success, where possible. Our Senior teachers have also been challenged to find the positives in student assessment, rather than focusing on the improvements that could be made. We have also attempted to make our assessment as accessible as we can for all students, through scaffolding, feedback and reducing the number of assessment items in the Middle school.

Building Capacity

Every Monday after school, teachers meet in small Professional Learning Teams (PLTs), focused primarily on improving pedagogical practices within the classroom. Regular professional development is encouraged, and teachers work together to enhance the use of ICTs in the classroom. 

Develop, Sustain and Scale School Improvements

Through our College Strategic Plan, each member of the College Leadership Team is tasked with leading a portfolio. Within this, innovation and development are encouraged rather than stifled. Middle leaders are empowered to lead their areas, where once again, success is highlighted and promoted through multiple modes.

I am excited for the future of Learning at Lauries. Our continued focus on academic excellence and improvement will continue, where academic excellence is not only valued and promoted, but so is the development of the whole student.