Ed Forum Meeting in JulyHello leaders, We have had some exciting developments on the Post School Pathways project that we would like to share with you, but again the busy schedules you all deal with have sent us a curve ball. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday morning 30thJuly but as discovered at a previous meeting, Monday mornings bring staff and planning challenges for most sites which in the past resulted in the cancellation of a meeting. A possible shift to Tuesday sees all of the DECD sites out of town for a special partnership day. Any suggestions perhaps later on Monday. A lunch meeting? Wednesday? Thursday? Hayley will send out a calendar invite just as soon as we can lock in a day and time that works for you all. Education Forum AgendaLocation: The Community Hub Date: To be determined (This has changed from Monday 30th) Time: To be determined (Originally 9am - 10am) Standing Agenda Items include updates on the following which are included further below: Time for Wellbeing, Children's Centre update, Community Board report, Mining Minds project updates, 30th Celebration update. As these reports will not be given at the meeting please review the included updates and feel free to raise any questions. Proposal: Angela Thompson will introduce Christa Sue Walker form Semann & Slattery who will preset a proposal on the Post-School Connections Project with school leaders. A second proposal for early childhood training options for school and post-secondary will be explored at the meeting. Time for Wellbeing UpdateTime for Wellbeing held a Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Training day on the 19th of June with 20 educators attending. The day was filled with fun and education in a way the educators could have a hands on experience. We went to the Community Garden and planet some seedlings, made a mindfulness Teepee and environmentally friendly seedling pots. We then returned to the Youth Centre to cook up a storm. The food was quick, easy to make and awesome to taste! The feedback from the session was great from all the educators who attended. Funding has now been allocated to some sites to continue with the SAKGP which is very exciting. All education sites had the option to have Life Ed visit their sites. Most sites took up this opportunity and had Life Ed visit in June. Time for Wellbeing sponsored these events and so far we have received very positive feedback. Woomera Area School applied for a grant through Time for Wellbeing for Youth Mental Health First Aid, which is a 14 hour training session for educators working with youth and adolescents. Sessions will be held on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th of July and Woomeara Area School. The cost is $75 and lunch is provided both days. To book in please contact Kara at Woomera Area School. BHP Update on NAIDOC & 30th CelebrationBHP celebrated NAIDOC Week with a range of activities both on-site at Olympic Dam and in our Adelaide office. At Olympic Dam, the week began with a flag raising ceremony and sausage sizzle at the Process Plant, while later in the week Kokatha Aboriginal Corporation directors Glen Wingfield and Michael (Chooky) Turner delivered face-to-face cultural awareness sessions aimed at sharing and educating people about Kokatha and Aboriginal culture. Meanwhile, in Adelaide office, a digeridoo (yidaki) player visited, Kokatha director, lawyer and leader Khatija Thomas sat down with OD’s new Asset President Laura Tyler for an ‘on the couch’ session mid-week, and a NAIDOC-themed ‘quiz lunch’ was held to test attendees’ knowledge on indigenous culture. In terms of the 30th celebrations, we’re continuing to plan for a Family Day on Saturday, 17 November in Roxby Downs. We’re currently in the process of locking down the finer detail but the day (tentatively scheduled for 3pm-9pm) which will include interactive activities, historical displays/information, entertainment, mine equipment displays etc. We will be asking local community groups/organisations to get involved and will publicise that information very soon. Post School Pathways Project UpdateAt our next meeting Angela Thompson would like to introduce Christa Sue Walker form Semann Slattery who will be joining us for the Post School Pathways Project. This project centres on supporting secondary students in the Olympic Dam area with enhanced opportunity from years 10 to post school the output of this work will take the form of a well-researched and tailored model describing how best to link secondary students to BHP and other local business in the Olympic Dam area. A proposal for this project will follow shortly. IntroducingChrista Sue Walker from Semann & Slattery
Christa Sue works in social research as an Associate at Semann & Slattery. She has expertise in research design, data collection and analysis methods and has worked to lead and support a wide range of research endeavours. She has a keen in terse in using data to tell the real story of places and people. Transforming Pedagogy UpdateTransforming Pedagogy led by Dr Alma Fleet has taken participants through 3 professional development sessions and educator-led, site-based practitioner enquiry projects. The final session is coming up on Wednesday 1st August, and we would like to invite you all to attend this final session of presentations which will run in the Community Hub from 4pm - 7.30pm. Some of the practitioner enquiry questions pursued by educators across sites this year include the following: "What teaching strategies make students feel like they have a voice in their learning journey?" Roxby Downs Area School "How can I make teaching fractions more engaging by using hands on materials?" St Barbara's Parish Primary School "What elements cause children to feel like they have power or hierarchical significance within the group?" Out of School Hours Care educator "What strategies can I use to effectively teach modified SACE and the Australian Curriculum in the once classroom?" RDAS Special Educator "How does playful pedagogy influence students perception of themselves as learners?" Andamooka Primary School and Rural Children's Centre "What strategies can we put i place to organise the space that include's children's voices when we move to a new space?" Roxby Downs Kindergarten "How can I encourage everyone to respect environments?" Roxby Downs Childcare Centre Coaching and Mentoring Project UpdateThe Coaching Clinic launched with two back to back evening sessions on April 9 and 10 with qualified coach and experienced educator Lorraine Madden of Semann & Slattery. Twenty five participants from education and community are participating in this intensive to learn coaching theories, leadership skills and practice coaching strategies in a very practical workshop experience. The first session defined coaching and explored models of change and determine readiness for change. Participants practiced active listening skills and rapport building, identified and discussed their own strengths and how to work with someone's strengths, having completed the VIA character strength assessments on themselves online. The second session covered goal setting, using a solution focused approach, practicing key skills and an introduction to the core coaching skill of asking powerful questions. Participants on both nights practiced and applied what they were learning in small groups. Sessions 3 and 4 were very practical workshops where participants were able to begin practicing coaching conversations with each other and begin to apply the theories they had learned. This project has now concluded for the year and we will be bringing case study and survey feedback to you later in the year. Student Leadership Summit UpdateThe first half day Student Leadership Summit launched in Term 1 with students exploring what wellbeing means to them. They discussed emotional intelligence, resilience, growth mindset and ways to care for each other and themselves. They learned about Hedonistic vs Eudemonic wellbeing, and explored the PERMA wellbeing model. Students learned about appreciative enquiry as a process through which they could approach projects aimed at improving the wellbeing of students in their school communities. During session 1 students and teachers formed groups to compete in a 'marshmallow challenge' where they had 18 minutes, 20 spaghetti sticks, 1m of tape and 1m of string to create the tallest free-standing structure with the marshmallow on top. After this challenge they reflected on their teamwork, collaboration and leadership. At the end of the session students began to dream up ways in which wellbeing could be improved and cultivated at their schools. These ideas were then narrowed down to options they would take back to their peers for consultation and feedback. In week 2 of term 2 the second Student Leadership Summit was held, with students from St Barbs, Roxby Downs Area School and Andamooka Primary all in attendance. With 20 students participating, they were able to report back on what their schools want through a process of consultation, with some schools still in the dreaming phase and some closer to designing their projects. With students ranging from Yr4 to Yr12, it is wonderful to see the inter-school collaboration as well as the development of young leaders working together to improve the wellbeing of their peers. At this summit young leaders were challenged to make the best paper plane they could working with a partner, and in reviewing their leadership behaviours discovered how important listening and clarifying understanding are to success. Each school group was given some strengths cards to help the to identify their own strengths and the strengths they see in each other, so that they can acknowledge and utilise their strengths as they move forward with their projects. Before the third and final session Angela Thompson and Hayley Scrivens visited Andamooka Primary School and Roxby Downs Area School to conduct grant writing sessions with students. At the third and final summit students worked in their school groups to complete their grant applications to Mining Minds for grants of $1,000 to go towards their projects. Student leaders also created posters in this final session that communicated one or two significant messages on wellbeing that they had taken away from the sessions. We finished up with a celebration lunch and are currently working on short music videos with photographs of the students holding their wellbeing message posters to send to the schools. We look forward to seeing the development of the wellbeing projects across these schools and intend to have students report on their success later in the year in short interviews to be aired on the Community Hub radio show 'The Hub Cap' on RoxFM. Leadership in Education UpdateIn May we had our first session of Leadership in Education with Colin Slattery. Session 1 was focused on 'Developing Self' as Colin took participants through their DISC behavioural analysis reports. The reports generated from the online test participants were asked to take in advance of the session gave them a profile of their natural and their adjusted (work) style. Colin led the group through the reports as they sat in their workplace groups which was a very interesting exercise. On a short visit following session 1 Colin was able to take two workplaces through group report analysis, providing insights and helpful information to support communication and team dynamics among leaders. In the session on developing self Colin showed a short talk by Brene Brown on 'The Anatomy of Trust'. Participants worked in small groups to discuss how sharing honestly with their colleagues can build trust with the people they are leading. The next session is on the subject of developing people, and we look forward to hosting Colin again next week on Tuesday 24th from 4pm-8pm in the Community Hub. The E.I Book Club meet Mondays 11am @ the Community Hub to read stories that support emotional literacy and growth mindset, to sing songs and play together. Hayley Scrivens leads this group of local parents who share morning tea together and talk about their parenting experiences as they work to support their children's developing emotional intelligence. In May this year Mining Minds launched an Emotional Intelligence Parent Enquiry Group Pilot with 5 parents. This group began with goals of pre-planned responses for emotionally-charged parenting scenarios as well as learning about how temperament affects the way children respond to various parenting strategies. We have explored the difference between a teaching moment and a connection moment and how we as parents can increase our own emotional intelligence as well as developmentally appropriate expectations of our children. We continue to meet weekly. |