At St Bernardine’s Primary School, Regents Park, all eight Year 2 and Year 4 teachers actively participated in the professional learning, which was reflected in a significant improvement in student performance.
Primary Learning Leader Karen York said that this year's Year 5 results, compared to the same cohort in Year 3, showed an over 20% increase in ‘Strong’ and ‘Exceeding’ across all NAPLAN areas, including a 27% increase in Reading.
“We already have really strong, consistent practices at the school, but we very quickly saw areas where we could improve and some new practices that we could implement,” Karen said.
"We are thrilled with the improvement in student outcomes, and the positive impact this has had on their confidence and engagement across all areas of school life."
The school found the curriculum and teaching ‘snapshots’ particularly helpful, with the new strategies embedded into whole units of work.
"The snapshots not only provided fantastic support for our teachers but revealed invaluable insights, with our students embracing the more challenging material and showing us that we could set higher expectations for them.”
Data driving targeted strategies at Immaculate Heart
Immaculate Heart School Leichhardt also saw very strong improvement across all areas, reducing ‘Needs Additional Support’ significantly.
Primary Learning Leader, Marissa Hughes, said being able to narrow down the instructional practices that they needed to focus on and having the resources to support their teachers created more success for their learners.
“Being involved in the community of practice has been a professional highlight for me,” Marissa said.
“We all went in with a growth mindset, looking for positive change to help improve our learner outcomes.”
“A data-driven focus at a system level informed the professional development, ensuring we were targeting the right strategies and providing the right resources within our school’s context.”
Brisbane Catholic Education Head of Student Learning and Wellbeing, Marisa Dann, said that teachers have reported benefits academically and professionally, which is a testament to the dedication and willingness of the PLLs to share learnings and foster open, collaborative communication.
“BCE aims for excellence and engagement in foundational literacy and numeracy for every student to grow and thrive,” Marisa said.
“We are very pleased to see the impact of the professional learning in the classroom and, most importantly, that it is translating to such significant improvements for student outcomes.”
“The community of practice was aligned to the BCE Growing and Thriving model and one way in which we are making this document come alive in different contexts.”