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School-determined next steps

The purpose of the school-determined next steps in the self-assessment process is to identify how the school will refine their self-assessment practices using the School Excellence Framework to support continuous school improvement. The next steps are discussed and finalised during the panel meeting.

Things to consider

Schools should consider the following guiding questions prior to the panel meeting, where the school determined next steps in the self-assessment process will be discussed and finalised.

  • How will you build on the effective evaluative practices that your team engaged in throughout this process?
  • How will you go about collecting evidence in the future so that it is readily accessible, allows for a streamlined process and shows the impact of your programs/interventions?
  • What resources will you need to allocate to facilitate ongoing self-assessment processes?
  • How will you strengthen student, parent and community voices in the self-assessment process?
  • What school self-assessment processes could you implement to ensure ongoing evaluation to support planning, implementation, monitoring, and reporting?

School-determined next steps samples

Cecil Hills High School

School context

Cecil Hills High School is a comprehensive coeducational school in a high-growth area in south-west Sydney with an enrolment of 1413 students, including a support unit and 83% NESB students. The school has a history of academic success and high expectations in all curriculum areas, including sport which is a core focus.

The enrolment area is very large and students attend from suburban and semi-rural areas. Teachers at the school have a strategic focus on developing respectful, responsible and successful learners in addition to exploring flexible, future-focused and innovative teaching practices. Teachers recently wrote and introduced new Year 8 electives courses based on project-based learning and the C.E.C.I.L skills.

Cecil Hills High School is experiencing significant enrolment growth at present and this is expected to continue into the future, with a proposal from School Infrastructure NSW to expand the capacity of the school. The proposed Western Sydney Airport is in the school's enrolment area and will provide significant employment and training links when constructed.

Cecil Hills High School was the subject of a CESE case study illustrating highly effective practices in the area of student wellbeing.

Areas of strength

The school has:

  • identified a key component to be addressed in the self-assessment process to support future improvement;
  • supported next steps by providing specific strategies with identified key personnel, and
  • identifies future strategies to support the collection of data to demonstrate evidence of impact.

Link


Kings Langley Public School

School context

Kings Langley Public School is situated within the Blacktown Local Government area and the Quakers Hill Principal's Network.

The school population in 2019 was 684 students, 23% of which come from a Language background other than English, forming 26 mainstream classes from Kindergarten to Year 6.

The school is well-supported by an active parent community, represented by a strong P&C who run the school canteen and uniform shop.

Our school has an enthusiastic and dedicated teaching staff, with a mix of early career teacher and experienced staff members. There has been a significant change in the executive leadership of the school over the past two years due to a number of retirements. The teaching staff is supported by a school chaplain, Learning and Support Teacher, English as an additional Language/Dialect teacher, a full-time school librarian and nine School Learning Support Officers.

The school is well-resourced, supporting a 2:1 student:device ratio in all classes across the school and interactive panels in all classes. The school has a strong focus on STEM, sport and the Creative and Performing Arts, featuring prominently in each of these fields across our network of schools.

The school embraces Positive Behaviour for Learning principles in all facets of school life, and we are proud to have, on average, one short suspension per year.

Areas of strength

The school:

  • clearly articulates what needs to be achieved and how it will be implemented;
  • identifies opportunities to build capacity through targeted professional learning, and
  • provides consideration of administrative practices to be addressed.

Link


Lucas Gardens School

School context

Lucas Gardens School provides educational programs for students with severe and moderate intellectual disabilities. Students range from 4 to 18 years of age. Our school has an exceptional staff with a wealth of knowledge and skills in special education, to support and enhance student learning outcomes. The school currently operates 8 classes with the potential to expand to 12 classes.

Lucas Gardens has a diverse student population from a range of socio economic backgrounds with 68.75% being from language backgrounds other than English. The educational programs are delivered within NSW Department of Education guidelines.

The school also offers unique learning opportunities through programs including, water familiarisation/swimming in our hydro centre and school based physiotherapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy. Lucas Gardens School enjoys strong support from service organisations and the wider community resulting in enhanced resources. Our priorities include quality curriculum implementation, best teaching practice as well as a strong focus on wellbeing and adding value to students' learning.

Areas of strength

The school has identified key focus areas to be addressed with:

  • specific strategies aligned to the SEF for driving continuous improvement, and
  • Inclusion of all stakeholders in the next steps towards improving self-assessment processes.

Link


Miller Technology High School

School context

Miller Technology High School is situated in the south-west of Sydney with a proud 55 year history. Our school, named after the Miller family, pioneer cultivators of vineyards in the area, continues to grow with a student population of about 690.

We are culturally diverse with 81% of students from Language Backgrounds Other than English (LBOTE) and 6% Aboriginal students. There is an Intensive English Centre (IEC) that provides English instruction and cultural orientation for new arrivals, refugees and international students. A support faculty, established in 2015 provides high quality educational experiences for students with special learning needs.

Miller staff and students focus on, and are energised through our school's motto of promoting growth and development. Our vision is that students graduate as confident, capable, well-educated young people full of hope. Importantly, while our interactive learning environments promote academic engagement in learning tasks, our core values of respect, inspire, safe and excel encourage our students to aspire to be the best they can possibly be.

As learning community we are dedicated and passionate about our vocation. A broad curriculum, with a strong focus on quality teaching, literacy and numeracy and a broad range of extra-curricular experiences provides a holistic, authentic, relevant and significant education.

Ours is a remarkable community in many ways, one in which each student plays an important role. We are all on a learning journey and courageously doing our best to learn and grow and to work towards a brighter future.

Areas of strength

This next steps summary:

  • identifies the key self-assessment processes to be addressed to support ongoing school improvement, and
  • identifies a strong sequential focus on building self-evaluation practices.

Link


Next steps example

When planning for improvement, the school has identified that there is a need to broaden our collective knowledge and ability to better measure the impact of programs in a more systematic and planned manner. The school needs to be clearer about the data sources (qualitative and quantitative) that will be used to measure the impact.

We will achieve this through:

  • professional development for all staff in effective evaluation
  • reviewing and amending the school plan so that the impact of the processes can be better measured
  • continuing to build upon school committee groups to forward plan and use the logic model described in 5 Essentials for Effective Evaluation (CESE)
  • regular monitoring, evaluation and action of milestones to support the implementation of the school plan
  • establishing processes to systematically use the SPaRO software to collect and organise data more effectively.
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