Interim Report: Year One

Interim Report:
15 January 2020

Prepared for:
The New South Wales Department of Education

Prepared by:
A/Prof Scott Eacott
Prof Chris Davison
TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................................3
THE SCHOOL .......................................................................................................................................................... 3
SCOPE OF INQUIRY .................................................................................................................................................. 3
REPORT STRUCTURE ................................................................................................................................................ 3
LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE ......................................................................................................................4
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE ................................................................................................................................... 4
COMMUNICATION AND DECISION MAKING ................................................................................................................... 4
AN APPROACH TO SCHOOL LEADERSHIP ....................................................................................................................... 5
STAFF AND STUDENT WELL-BEING ...................................................................................................................6
STUDENT WELL-BEING ............................................................................................................................................ 6
TEACHER WELL-BEING ............................................................................................................................................. 7
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATIVE AND SUPPORT STAFF (SASS) AND STUDENT LEARNING SUPPORT OFFICER (SLSO) WELL-BEING ........ 7
TEACHING AND LEARNING ...............................................................................................................................8
EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION .................................................................................................................................. 9
CONSISTENT TEACHER JUDGEMENT .......................................................................................................................... 10
NEW INITIATIVES .................................................................................................................................................. 10
AN EMPHASIS ON ACADEMIC SUCCESS ...................................................................................................................... 11
CURRICULUM AND PATHWAYS ......................................................................................................................13
SUBJECT CHOICE ................................................................................................................................................... 13
COMMUNITY EXPECTATIONS .........................................................................................................................14
COMMUNICATION................................................................................................................................................. 14
CLOSING THE FEEDBACK LOOP.................................................................................................................................. 14
RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................................................................................................................15

Evaluation of Griffith Secondary School Reform Page 2

Interim Report: Year One [January 2020]

This interim report provides an overview of
the data generated during the first year
(2019) of the school consolidation reforms in
Griffith (NSW).
Data has been drawn from focus groups /
interviews with the executive principal,
school executive, teachers, students, and
parents / community members.
Consistent with the goals of the Review to
Achieve Educational Excellence in
Australian Schools (Gonski Report, 2.0), the
Independent Review into Regional, Rural
and Remote Education, and the recently
signed Alice Springs (Mparntwe)
Declaration, the work is focused on
improving the outcomes for students.
The School
Murrumbidgee Regional High School
(MRHS) is the consolidation of Griffith and
Wade High Schools. Enrolment figures for
2020 (as at 10 Dec 2019) have MRHS at
1309, an increase of 10 students from 2019.
The two sites have close to parity with
Griffith at 658 and Wade 651.
The consolidation has amplified a number of
issues in regional education such as: the
barriers and challenges of attracting and
retaining high-impact educators; monetary
incentives for staff and inconsistencies in
systemic processes; difficulties finding
quality casual staff; access to high-quality
professional learning and ongoing support
networks; increasing teacher workloads; and
the effective use of technology for classroom
teaching and the work of educators and
support staff.
While it is difficult to de-couple these from
the consolidation reform, they are separate
to the scope of this inquiry. Therefore, they
are noted, and included in findings where
appropriate, but they are not the explicit
focus of this work.
Scope of inquiry
The evaluation is a longitudinal study (2018-
2021) of the school consolidation reform in
Griffith, NSW. There are five focus areas for
the evaluation: i) leadership and
governance; ii) staff and student well-being;
iii) teaching and learning; iv) curriculum and
pathways; and v) community expectations.
Each fieldwork visit by the research team
(currently twice annually) is followed-up with
a public overview that is available through
the school.
Report structure
This report is structured around the five key
areas of the evaluation (see Table 1). A brief
summary of the report structure can be
found in the below table.
Table 1. Report structure
Section Overview
1 Leadership &
Governance
2 Staff and Student Well-
Being
3
Teaching and Learning
4 Curriculum and
Pathways
5 Community
Expectations
6 Recommendations

The structure simply is not working. The
Principal is getting pulled in all directions
and the Deputies are all over-worked.
Teacher, Dec 2019
The unique structure of Murrumbidgee
Regional High School (MRHS) – one school,
two sites – creates both challenges and
opportunities.
As with past research team visits, two
substantive issues are: i) organisational
structure (e.g., roles and accountabilities);
and ii) communication and decision making
processes and procedures.
Organisational structure
Despite the ‘one school, two sites’ model,
the organisational structure of the school
remains somewhat unchanged. There is the
executive principal (working across both
sites), deputies, and heads of departments
on each site – the exceptions being Special
Education and Learning Support, who have
one Head of Department located on a single
site (one at Griffith the other at Wade).
In 2019 approximately $1 million of
Resource Allocation Model (RAM) funding
has supported additional roles in the school.
This will increase to close to $2.1 million in
2020. This funding supports the salaries for
two additional deputies (bringing the total to
six across sites), a personal assistant for the
executive principal, a business manager for
the school, technology support, and student
learning and support officers (SLSO).
Evaluation of Griffith Secondary School Reform
Interim Report: Year One [January 2020]
While on the surface the organisational chart
looks consistent with other schools, the ‘one
school, two sites’ model brings an additional
complexity to roles.
As MRHS reaches the end of the first year
of the school consolidation, it is timely to re-
visit role descriptions and related
accountabilities and responsibilities.
Consistent with the previous feedback (July
2019), there is a timely need to explicitly
articulate role descriptions for the Executive
Principal, Deputy Principals, and Heads of
Departments, Teachers, and School
Administrative and Support Staff (SASS) /
SLSO, in the day-to-day and strategic
leadership of the school.
With the end of the 2019 school year
approaching, and the opportunity to re-cast
roles at the commencement of 2020, it is
timely to renew roles to best meet the needs
of the new consolidated school.
Recommendation 1a: Revisit and revise
role descriptions to ensure operational
matters are explicitly linked to roles.
Attention to these matters is imperative for
improving the effectiveness and efficiency of
school leadership at MRHS. It will explicitly
embed accountability for school activities in
role descriptions.
An important action is to link the
accountabilities in roles to the overarching
purpose of the school and its desired
outcomes. This is further touched on under
‘school leadership’.
Communication and decision making
While communication has improved in some
areas, it remains an enduring issue. A key
requirement is the need to explicitly
communicate activities and expectations
and attach accountability to delivering on
those actions.
Page 4
Since the previous visit (June 2019), many
members of the school community have
noted an increased volume of information.
However, much of this is limited to the
ongoing school build. While this remains an
integral part of the reform, there is a want for
communicate and decision making that
explicitly advances improving outcomes.
Recommendation 1b: Continue to refine
communication and decision making
channels with explicit accountability
articulated for delivering on activities and
expectations.
A consistent message during the focus
groups was the absence of clearly defined
policies and procedures. In general, many of
the policies can be found at the systemic
level (e.g., the NSW Department of
Education). What appears to be problematic
is the localised version of such policies
(and/or consistency across sites) and/or the
inconsistent application of procedures in
making decisions and communicating
outcomes. Explicitly articulating role
descriptions, responsibilities, and
accountabilities will go part of the way to
addressing these matters. Establishing, and
abiding by, school level procedures for
executing such responsibilities are also
imperative to effective and efficient school
leadership and governance.
An approach to school leadership
Currently, there appears to be no clear
framework for school leadership at MRHS.
Recommendation 1c: Adopt an explicit
leadership framework to guide MRHS’s
work in improving outcomes.
Drawing on recent and ongoing work on
high-impact leadership in regional, rural and
remote Australia, here we offer a framework
built on:
Clarity – Coherence – Narrative
Evaluation of Griffith Secondary School Reform
Interim Report: Year One [January 2020]
Clarity: Many debates about schooling
come down to differences in the purpose/s
of education. In the absence of an explicitly
articulated purpose, others will impose their
version and make judgements. The first step
towards high-impact school leadership is
having clarity of purpose and being able to
express it. This requires generating a
context-sensitive purpose for MRHS.
Coherence: A second defining feature of
high-impact leadership is coherence of
activities. With clarity of purpose is it easier
to assess whether activities are coherent
with the school achieving its desired
purpose. This is not about right or wrong
and instead, whether the activities of the
school are consistent with the articulated
purpose/s.
Narrative: The third distinctive feature of
high-impact leadership in context is the
generation of a narrative. Having
established the purpose/s for which a school
is working and demonstrating coherence,
the school generates its own story. This
need not be the same as other schools. It is
about crafting the story of MRHS.
The above approach of clarity-coherence-
narrative allows for reflection and
refinement without the need to prescribe any
one way to go about education. To support
this framework, here are five reflective
questions:
What educational benefit is sought through
this activity?
Have a diverse range of social groups been
recognised and valued in decision making?
Who has the most to gain and lose in this
activity?
How has the history of the school (and
community) been recognised in this activity?
Are we offering something new or just a better
(more effective/efficient) way of doing what we
are currently doing?
Page 5

Staff morale is at an all-time low.
Teacher, Dec 2019
The primary measure of changes in staff
and student well-being are captured in the
questionnaire data. This data is
supplemented through the focus groups with
staff and students during each fieldwork
visit. As we now have baseline (2018, Year
Zero) and Year One (2019) data we can
make some comments on changes over-
time.
Table 2. Thoughts about school (students)
Table 3. Sense of belonging (students)
Evaluation of Griffith Secondary School Reform
Interim Report: Year One [January 2020]
Student Well-Being
Based on the questionnaire data, there has
been a decline in what students think about
the school (Table 2), their sense of
belonging (Table 3), achievement
motivation, and perceived teacher support.
Data from student focus groups indicates
perceptions of losing (quality) teachers,
deteriorating student behaviour, and their
learning being impacted by stressed out or
over-worked teachers.
Both sites do have active Student
Representative Council (SRC) and these
groups provide a conduit to building student
success and voice in the ongoing reforms.
Recommendation 2a: Enhance processes
to acknowledge and act on (or explain why
not) student input in ongoing activities.
Page 6
Teacher Well-Being This may include the need for more social
and bonding opportunities for staff within
For staff, there has been a substantial and across sites. With a significant influx of
decline in thoughts on being a teacher new staff in recent years, this social support
(Table 4). When combined with focus group will be invaluable in building a team
data, there remain significant issues with environment across MRHS.
staff well-being that require urgent and
timely attention. In addition, and elaborated further in the
next section (Teaching and Learning), there
is a need to create time for teachers to work
Table 4. Thoughts on being a teacher together (within and across sites) to develop
teaching and learning programs for MRHS.
Percentage of
teachers indicating
often / very often Achieving this may require cutting back, or
I am content with my 2018 61.9 phasing in (again, see Teaching and
profession as a teacher 2019 37.5
Australia 86.1
Learning section) initiatives to enable staff
time to develop high-quality, context-
I am satisfied with being 2018 52.2 sensitive programs.
a teacher at this school 2019 23.8
Australia 81.9
It is only possible to improve outcomes with
I find my work full of 2018 60.8 high-quality teaching and learning programs
meaning and purpose 2019 35.0
Australia 83.5
delivered by staff that feel supported and
resourced to undertake the work.
I am enthusiastic about 2018 67.4
my job 2019 42.5
Australia 87.8 Recommendation 2b: Develop some
systems and structures (without adding to
My work inspires me 2018 58.7 staff load) that support staff to deliver their
2019 35.1
Australia 78.3 core business within and across sites in a
sustainable way.
I am proud of the work I 2018 78.3
do 2019 67.5
Australia 93.4 School Administrative and Support Staff
(SASS) and Student Learning Support
I am going to continue 2018 58.7 Officer (SLSO) Well-Being
teaching for as long as I 2019 48.1
can Australia 79.0
Including support and administrative staff in
going discussions and considerations of the
impact of the reform is important and vital to
Other data generated through the staff the success of the consolidation. To
questionnaire indicates low (and declining) maximise the effect of this group of staff
beliefs about the emphasis on academic there is a need to explicitly include them in
success of students, colleagues, and school the planning of activities and developments.
leadership. This includes having their voice
acknowledged and valued and also ensuring
In sum, there are serious issues with staff that they have a physical space within the
well-being at MRHS. school.

To address this, there is an urgent need to Recommendation 2c: Ensure that SASS
create the conditions for staff to feel and SLSO have access to staff spaces and
supported and able to do their job to the are considered in relevant discussions that
best of their ability. impact on their work.

Evaluation of Griffith Secondary School Reform Page 7

Interim Report: Year One [January 2020]

Have we even merged? It is not about
what Griffith or Wade used to do, but
what is Murrumbidgee doing?
Student, Dec 2019
It remains too soon to make any definitive
comment on the impact of the school
consolidation on student outcomes (e.g.,
NAPLAN, HSC). However, it has been
raised in multiple focus groups (both in June
and December) that the ongoing reforms are
impacting on students.
Based on the data generated through the
focus groups, questionnaire, and made
available to the research team, four areas
that warrant attention are: i) the excellence
and innovation agenda; ii) consistent
teacher judgement; iii) the effectiveness of
new initiatives; and iv) an emphasis on
academic success.
Table 5. Achievement motivation
Evaluation of Griffith Secondary School Reform
Interim Report: Year One [January 2020]
As a background to the focus areas it is
worth noting two key data points from the
student questionnaire: academic motivation
(Table 5) and perceived teacher support
(Table 6).
With regards to academic motivation,
despite some movement it has remained
relatively stable over the period 2018-2019.
Slightly below national benchmarks, the
motivation to achieve top grades, choose
the best opportunities upon graduation, and
be the best at whatever they do remains
above 83%. Ambition and wanting to be the
best in class (both around 70%) potentially
speak to an emphasis on academic
success.
Students’ perception of teacher support is
an area that requires attention. Across all
the items there has been a decline in the
period 2018-2019. Even on the highest
scoring items, ‘the teacher helps students
with their learning’ and ‘the teacher gives
extra help when students need it’, are only
indicated at most or every lesson 73% and
61% respectively. Only 51% of students felt
that teachers are interested in every
students learning in most/all lessons. These
perceptions have an impact on teaching and
learning and then student outcomes.
Page 8
Table 6. Perceived teacher support
Excellence and Innovation
The MRHS motto of ‘Excellence and
Innovation’ articulates an agenda for the
school moving forward.
In support of this work, it is noted that Heads
of Department have been granted one
period per cycle to work through some of the
complexities of the consolidation. There has
been the appointment of an Instructional
Leader. Professional Learning Teams have
been established, with a one period be cycle
allowance (representing a $500,000
investment). A New Ways grant initiative has
been established offering $10,000 for cross
site projects designed to improve outcomes
(seven grants have been awarded). A key
goal here, and highlighted in the quote at
the top of the section, is how does MRHS
develop its approach moving forward.
Across all focus groups (e.g., teachers,
students, parents and community members),
there remains a concern of a divide across
the two sites and the absence of a unified
position.
Evaluation of Griffith Secondary School Reform
Interim Report: Year One [January 2020]
This is highlighted in the questionnaire data
from teachers and how they work with
colleagues (see Table 7). Looking at the
data from the 2018 (Year Zero, baseline),
2019, and compared with the Australian
benchmark, there is a need to consider how
best to bring the staff (both within and
across sites) together to develop MRHS
programs that best meet the needs of
students.
While it is easy to reduce this matter down
to time, there is more to it than that. We
cannot generate more time. Rather, there is
a need to find ways to bring staff together
(without adding to teacher workloads) to
develop MRHS specific teaching and
learning programs. This works closely with
earlier recommendations around explicit role
descriptions and responsibilities /
accountabilities, but simultaneously
empowers educators to develop programs.
Recommendation 3a: Establish systems
and structures to bring teachers together
(within and across sites) to develop MRHS
specific teaching and learning programs.
Page 9
Table 7. Working with other teachers work), teachers (e.g., feedback, supports /
scaffolds), and resources / materials (e.g.,
Percentage of
descriptions, marking criteria).
teachers indicating
often / very often
Discuss how to teach a 2018 59.8 Recommendation 3b: Establish a process
particular topic 2019 53.9
Australia 72.8
to ensure consistency of programs and
expectations (across all aspects of
Collaborate in planning 2018 57.6 teaching and learning) across sites.
and preparing instructional 2019 45.1
materials Australia 68.4
As the school continues to evolve the
Share what I have learned 2018 66.3 development of an explicit set of MRHS
about my experience 2019 47.5
Australia 65.7
expectations is imperative.

Visit another classroom to 2018 26.1

learn more about teaching 2019 22.5
Australia 18.8
New Initiatives
Work together to try out 2018 44.6
new ideas 2019 31.3
Australia 44.1 New initiatives such as Passion Electives
and Learning Coaches were raised as
Work as a group on 2018 53.3 issues of concern in almost all focus groups
implementing the 2019 47.5
curriculum Australia 71.0 (e.g., teachers, students, parents and
community members) in both June and
Work with teachers from 2018 39.1 December.
other grades to ensure 2019 27.9
continuity in learning Australia 47.1
The primary concern is a perception of
variable quality and inefficient use of
instructional time.
A potential means of approaching this task,
Previous feedback (November 2018, July
and utilising existing structures such as staff
2019) has recommended a scaling back of
development days / staff meetings, would be
initiatives for 2019 and emphasis be given to
to focus on building consistent teacher
establishing shared and teaching and
judgement.
learning programs across sites (which
remain issues, see Recommendations 3a
and 3b).
Consistent Teacher Judgement
The consistent message from all groups is
Variability in teaching expectations has been
that such initiatives should either be phased
a consistent message during the focus
in (e.g., one at a time – one per year) or at
groups over the past two years (but
least suspended until the teachers have had
increasingly in student focus groups).
time to establish common teaching and
learning programs and consistent teacher
Developing MRHS specific teaching and
judgement within and across sites.
learning programs represents a timely
opportunity to engage with issues of
Based on the delivery of Passion Electives
consistent teacher judgement. Cross site
and Learning Coaches in 2019, the following
assessment and reviewing newly developed
recommendation is about assessing their
programs provides a productive stimulus for
value in helping MRHS achieve its purpose.
discussions around what is expected from
students (e.g., the quality and quantity of

Evaluation of Griffith Secondary School Reform Page 10

Interim Report: Year One [January 2020]
 Recommendation 3c: Establish a process Table 9. Emphasis on academic success
to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness (teachers)
of Passion Electives and Learning
Coaches (e.g., are they delivering on their Percentage of
teachers indicating
stated objectives) and sustain, revise, or
high / very high
dis-establish based on achievement of Teachers’ understanding 2018 43.5
expected outcomes. of the school’s curricular 2019 27.2
goals Australia 71.3

Teachers’ degree of 2018 41.3

An Emphasis on Academic Success success in implementing 2019 24.4
the school’s curriculum Australia 64.2
goals
Teacher questionnaire data indicates the Teachers’ expectations of 2018 38.0
need for attention to the School’s emphasis student achievement 2019 32.5
Australia 65.3
on academic success. This is a complex and
multi-faceted issue that requires attention at Teachers’ working 2018 42.4
all levels (e.g., leadership, teachers, together to improve 2019 30.9
student achievement Australia 63.6
students, and parents). As MRHS continues
to evolve, there is a need to consider the Teachers’ ability to inspire 2018 32.6
implications of this data for the school, students 2019 21.3
Australia 56.8
improving outcomes, and staff / student well-
being.

It is possible that changes in teacher data is

Table 8. Emphasis on academic success related to declining staff well-being, but all
(leadership) measures are well below national average.

Percentage of The need to establish MRHS programs, as

teachers indicating
high / very high mentioned in the student quote at the start
Clarity of the school’s 2018 30.5 of this chapter is imperative. Perceptions
educational objectives 2019 6.2 that colleagues have low levels of
Australia 56.6
understanding the school’s curricular goals
Collaboration between 2018 20.7 and their success in implementing them
school leadership and 2019 7.4 need to be addressed as a matter of
teachers to plan Australia 44.1
instruction urgency if student outcomes are to improve.

Amount of instruction 2018 20.7 The declining values for teachers’ ability to
support provided to 2019 7.4
teachers by school Australia 40.6 inspire students and working together to
leadership improve student achievement also requires
attention. When combined with data on
School leaderships’ 2018 35.8
support for teachers’ 2019 22.2 students’ perception of teacher support
professional learning Australia 52.7 (Table 6) it is possible that teacher attention
is not being directed that activities with
greatest impact on student outcomes.
While the leadership issues have arguably
been raised elsewhere, the very low
This is a complex issue and cannot be
percentages are problematic. All items are
limited to any one factor. Table 10 displays
well below national benchmarks and with
data from the teacher questionnaire on
significant declines in the period 2018-2019.
teachers’ perception of students’ emphasis
Although not as low, there is a similar
on academic success.
decline in teacher data.

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Interim Report: Year One [January 2020]
All items are well below national Overall, the low levels of parent emphasis
benchmarks and declining. As with teacher on academic success reported by teachers
data, it is possible that these are related to are contrary to focus group and submission
student well-being. However, the data from parents and community members.
perceptions of students’ emphasis on
academic success by teachers are very low.
This needs to be considered within any Table 11. Emphasis on academic success
intervention designed to improve student (parents)
outcomes.
Percentage of
teachers indicating
high / very high
Table 10. Emphasis on academic success Parental involvement in 2018 6.5
(students) school activities 2019 4.9
Australia 21.7
Percentage of Parental commitment to 2018 5.5
teachers indicating ensure that students are 2019 3.7
high / very high ready to learn Australia 25.0
Students’ desire to do 2018 13.1
well in school 2019 6.3 Parental expectations of 2018 20.7
Australia 35.3 student achievement 2019 13.6
Australia 40.7
Students’ ability to reach 2018 18.4
the school’s academic 2019 15.0 Parental pressure of the 2018 20.7
goals Australia 36.8 school to maintain high 2019 23.5
academic standards Australia 39.1
Students’ respect for 2018 21.7
classmates who excel at 2019 9.9
school Australia 44.0

While it remains too early to make any

definitive statements on the impact of the
Outside of school factors have always been MRHS reform on teaching and learning, it is
recognised as major influences on student unlikely student outcomes will improve
outcomes. As has previously been noted, under the current levels of perceived
the MRHS reform has amplified many of the emphasis on academic success. Mindful
challenges of regional and rural schools that this data is drawn from a single data
(e.g. staffing). source (teachers), it speaks to a larger issue
for the school concerning expectations.
Table 11 displays data from the teacher
questionnaire on perceptions of parental
emphasis on academic success. As with Recommendation 3d: Audit existing, and
other measures, on all bar one item they are evaluate new, systems and processes for
declining. All items are well below national how they contribute to improving student
benchmarks. The only increasing item is outcomes (both academic and non-
parental pressure to maintain high academic academic).
standards. This is consistent with other data
points (e.g., focus groups with community
members, email submissions) and could be
related to many of the other measures
already cited in this report (e.g., leadership
and governance, student and staff well-
being).

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Interim Report: Year One [January 2020]
 This is further complicated given past
practices that involved students working
across both sites (schools at the time) and
even with Marian College for subjects with
low enrolments. In short, the value-add of
the consolidation is not clear.
This was supposed to be about
creating more opportunities and choice.
Distance education offerings, such as those
I am just not seeing that.
from Dubbo, remain an option for students.
Parent / Community member, Dec 2019
However, as articulated by some senior
students, they are not as effective as having
face-to-face communication with a teacher
and/or having a teacher available on-site to
One of the articulated benefits of the school
assist with immediate matters.
consolidation reform was that MRHS would
be able to offer greater curriculum choices
What is required is a procedure for MRHS to
that would have an impact on the post-
make explicit to students, teachers, parents
school destination outcomes for students in
and community members what is required
the town. This would be achieved by
for a class to run, and if a class does not run
harnessing the resources – both teachers
on-site what the options are for students.
and students – of the two sites.
Recommendation 4a: Establish a
With the build still underway, and therefore
communication procedure explaining to
some physical assets still to be operational,
stakeholders what is required for a course
it is too soon to make definitive comments
to run and a list of options available for
on the impact of the school consolidation
when a course does not run.
reform on curriculum and pathways.

However, the issue of subject choices was

raised in focus groups with students, parents
and community members, and some teacher
groups. To that end, it does require some
degree of acknowledgement and a plan for
effective communication with key
stakeholders.

Subject choice

For parents / community members, and

more importantly students, any perception of
a reduction in subject choice is not
desirable.

Currently, there is a perception that the

subject choices available for students,
particularly in the later years, have been
reduced since the school consolidation
reform took place.

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Interim Report: Year One [January 2020]

Where is the benefit for kids in Griffith?
How is this merger improving outcomes?
Parent / Community member, Dec 2019
The significance of community expectations is
heightened in regional, rural and remote
communities. Griffith is no exception.
The consolidation of Griffith and Wade High
Schools into MRHS has been a topical issue
within the community since at least 2017.
To ensure positive relations with the broader
school community and to continue its integral
role in the social and economic fabric of
Griffith, MRHS needs to pay attention to two
key matters: i) communication; and ii) closing
the feedback loop.
Communication
Parents and community members want
regular, accurate and useful information
regarding the school and its activities. This is
important for building trust among the
community and a sense of purpose that the
school is moving in the right direction.
It has been noted in focus groups that there
has been an increase in volume of
communication throughout 2019. While this
quantity increase is welcomed, the primary
issue is one of quality and/or content.
Much of the communication, particularly during
the second half of the year, has focused on
the build. As noted previously, while the build
is an important aspect of the reform in the
medium- to longer-term, what the community
is after is accurate and regular reporting on
how initiatives underway are going to improve
outcomes for the children of Griffith and
surrounding areas.
Evaluation of Griffith Secondary School Reform
Interim Report: Year One [January 2020]
Recommendation 5a: Establish, using
multiple forms, regular and accurate reporting
of the progress of activities (linked to the big
picture of the reform).
With ongoing activity in the community against
the reforms, and regular local media attention,
it is important for MRHS to ensure that there is
accurate, timely available across multiple
platforms and media.
There has also been a consistent call for the
potential for greater visibility of senior staff at
parent and community meetings (e.g., P&C
meetings) to ensure a sense of being
acknowledged and valued in decision making
and communication.
Closing the feedback loop
Related to the above, and important to prevent
any mis-information being spread and/or
breakdown in trust between MRHS and
community, there is a need to ensure that any
consultation has an explicit closing of the
feedback loop.
This means that stakeholders are listened to,
acknowledged, and have explained to them
how their contributions are, or are not taken up
in ongoing activities. It is not about doing
everything that stakeholders suggest. Rather,
it is about acknowledging diverse social
groups, and then being explicit about what can
and cannot be done, and why. The framework
for school leadership provided earlier and the
five reflective questions can assist with doing
this work.
Recommendation 5b: Develop practices for
consultation that close the feedback loop.
That is, listening to stakeholders,
acknowledging their contribution, and
explaining why things are (or are not) taken
up.
The above recommendations will assist MRHS
in building a strong foundation of collaboration
with the community. At the same time, it will
negate mis-information being spread and
maximise the dissemination of accurate
information regarding what the school is and is
not doing.
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Leadership and Governance
Recommendation 1a: Revisit and revise
role descriptions to ensure operational
matters are explicitly linked to roles.
Recommendation 1b: Continue to refine
communication and decision making
channels with explicit accountability
articulated for delivering on activities and
expectations.
Recommendation 1c: Adopt an explicit
leadership framework to guide MRHS’s
work in improving outcomes.
Staff and Student Well-Being
Recommendation 2a: Enhance processes
to acknowledge and act on (or explain why
not) student input in ongoing activities.
Recommendation 2b: Develop some
systems and structures (without adding to
staff load) that support staff to deliver their
core business within and across sites in a
sustainable way.
Recommendation 2c: Ensure that SASS
and SLSO have access to staff spaces and
are considered in relevant discussions that
impact on their work.
Teaching and Learning
Recommendation 3a: Establish systems
and structures to bring teachers together
(within and across sites) to develop MRHS
specific teaching and learning programs.
Recommendation 3b: Establish a process
to ensure consistency of programs and
expectations (across all aspects of
teaching and learning) across sites.
Evaluation of Griffith Secondary School Reform
Interim Report: Year One [January 2020]
Recommendation 3c: Establish a process
to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness
of Passion Electives and Learning
Coaches (e.g., are they delivering on their
stated objectives) and sustain, revise, or
dis-establish based on achievement of
expected outcomes.
Recommendation 3d: Audit existing, and
evaluate new, systems and processes to
focus on improving student outcomes (both
academic and non-academic).
Curriculum and Pathways
Recommendation 4a: Establish a
communication procedure explaining to
stakeholders what is required for a course
to run and a list of options available for
when a course does not run.
Community Expectations
Recommendation 5a: Establish, using
multiple forms, regular and accurate
reporting of the progress of activities
(linked to the big picture of the reform).
Recommendation 5b: Develop practices
for consultation that close the feedback
loop. That is, listening to stakeholders,
acknowledging their contribution, and
explaining why things are (or are not) taken
up.
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