Schools as text looking at the whole school

Describe the school in terms of its

demographics, appearance and
resources (be general here and do
not name the school).

Demographics
Private/independent school
Middle class and higher catchment area
Appearance
School grounds well-kept with lots of trees and
plants
Classrooms are empty of students work on the walls
(one thing I didnt like in regards to appearance of
the class rooms)
Tables and chairs in classrooms can be moved
around depending on the teachers and students
needs (part of their flexible learning program)
Planning new buildings (ie theatre)
Resources
Majority of the schools resources are online
heavily dependent on ICT
All students have their own devices
Smart boards
TV screens in the primary school for Apple TV this
will be coming into the high school soon

What were the roles and

responsibilities of the teaching staff
you observed?

Mentor Teacher (Year 7/8 HASS Teacher)

Teaches classes from range of subjects maths,
HASS, materials and ICT)
Preparing lessons for classes listed above
Pastoral care of students particular during home
room (during the week was in the process of
recording the students academic and personal
goals)
Emailing students about work/following them up for
work
Emailing parents usually responding to any
concerns parents might have
Emailing teachers organising reliefs, plans for next
year, organising final assessments
Attend staff meetings (I sat in on a HASS meeting)
Mark assessments and assignments/provide
feedback
Support/facilitate students learning in the classroom
Classroom management

After discussion with your mentor

teacher describe how policies and
processes of government,
administration and schools have an
affect on the work of the teacher?

Government
Schools are required to implement the Australian Curriculum
which is often changing. This means that teachers cant
reuse lesson plans each year they have to modify them to
meet the requirements of the new curriculum. For example,
the school was teaching the four required HASS subjects to
Years 7s by dedicating a term each to history, geography
and economics and embedding civics and citizenship into the
content due to the school only having three terms for year
7s. However, it has now been mandated that schools have to
dedicated a term to each of these subjects and not combine
them. The Teacher Registration Board (TRB) requires that
teachers do a minimum of 100 hours of personal
development every 5 years or 20 hours every year.
Administration
School administration determines what the teachers have to
teach in each subject (as well as what the curriculum says).
Policies of the school outline how teachers can handle
certain situations. For example, the school policy outlines
that when an assignment is overdue students will lose 20%
each day.
School
Teachers spend time with Learning Enrichment staff to
modify assessments for different skill levels. Teachers need
to ensure that they are consistent with the way they assist
students in the class. For example, during a test they cant

What did you observe nonteaching staff doing to support

teaching and learning in the
school?

help certain students more than others. Pastoral care is a

major responsibility of all teachers.
Groundsmen
Ensure that campus is well maintained and attend to any
areas of campus which have been damaged. For example,
they came to clean up and block off access to a broken
window and power point to ensure students and safe were
safe. They are also responsible for organising
companies/people to come and fix this sort of damage.
Reception Staff
Responsible for taking and redirecting phone calls to the
school. Responsible for organising paper work for the school.
Responsible for the signing in and out process.

Students
You will have observed the diverse
nature of your classes. How was
this diversity supported?

The school utilises the online program SEQTA (similar to LMS

system at Murdoch). This system is also the way they record
attendance and assessment/assignment marks. When the class
roll is taken small symbols will appear next to the names of
students who have learning/behaviour disabilities etc to ensure
that all teacher (including relief) are aware of the diversity in
their classrooms. These symbols can be made invisible if the roll
is being projected to the class.
In regards to students with dyslexia students can have
passages read to them and they are given support in their
reading and writing.
In regards to autism, in some classes Learning Enrichment staff
will be in the class assisting them. Teachers all have strategies
which they use to support and educate these students.
In one class I observed a Learning Enrichment staff member is
present at the beginning of the double period and if required she
would stay with the class for the second period. She was there
to work with a specific group of students. In the same class the
students were divided into groups. Groups at the back of the
room were independent learners who were able to get on with
their work by themselves and were more willing to ask
voluntarily for help from the teacher. Groups at the front were
those who needed more assistance (ie staying on task) with two
groups being assigned to either the class teacher or the
Learning Enrichment teacher.

Function of Schools
Did you observe the connection
of your schools with the broader
community? How did this
happen?

During this prac I didnt really observe a connection between the

school and the wider community. They were in the process of
organising fundraisers for charities and a service tour to South
Africa.

What do you think the function of

school is?

I believe the function of high school is

To prepare students for adult life by educating them in
life skills during one of my observation classes the
teacher branched off from what the class was talking
about and discussed the issue of drugs. She made it
clear to the students that nobody forces you to take illicit
drugs and that such substances are detrimental to your
health. The topic was still relevant to the lesson but I felt
it was a really clever way to discuss information like this.
Provide students with information and skills which they
may need for their future studies and jobs also
exposes students to range of topics
Teachers facilitate students learning
Provides students with an environment where they can
develop their social skills can act as an environment
which helps students learn what is inappropriate
behaviour (ie bullying) however in some cases this may
not occur
Place when teenagers can begin to shape their identity
and value/belief system

Reflection think about your

experiences during the week and
describe how your previous
experiences have informed your
view of teachers and schools.
Has anything changed?

The experience of the high school students I spent the week with
I felt was very similar to my own. With the only exception being
how reliant the school I was placed in was on ICT. I attended a
private school which was quite similar to the school I was at in
regards to demographics/academic/resources, I experienced
teachers who were both passionate about their jobs or still
working because they had to. This gave me quite a mixed
opinion on teachers however the teachers who loved their work
inspired me to study to become one as well as made me
passionate about certain subjects such as HASS and human
biology. From my observations this week my mentor teacher was

incredibly passionate about his work in all aspects, from lessons

to pastoral care. For example, in the previous week he had been
away due to surgery on his arm. He had organised work for all
his lessons to ensure his students were prepared for their tests
in the next week and even though his time off was something
that had to be done he still felt quite guilty about leaving his
students for so long. On his first day back he was focused on
gauging where the students were at in regards to content and
plugging the holes in their understandings of concepts from the
previous week. The students, both in his classes and past
students, really respected him and would talk to him when they
passed him in the halls. Like my favourite teachers from high
school, my mentor teacher certainly inspired me and gave me a
standard of teaching which I hope to reach as I continue my
studies.
Based on the observations and experiences I had during prac
week I dont feel like my opinions on schools and teachers has
really changed simply because I felt the experience were quite
similar to my own.