Silver linings: How PLC Sydney made the most of remote learning

PLC Sydney Principal Dr Paul Burgis chats with Junior School students.

The coronavirus induced transition to remote learning presented a huge range of challenges to schools and families, with many parents fearing that their children would be disadvantaged by the disruption.

But at PLC Sydney, it was far from a bad experience. In fact, “it was a great win”, says Principal Dr Paul Burgis, thanks to swift action and a lot of hard work.

PLC Sydney Principal Dr Paul Burgis.

By the time NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the closure of schools as part of the non-essential services lockdown, PLC Sydney had already taken classes online.

“We started on the Thursday before the premier made it official on the Monday,” says Dr Burgis.

“We decided when the curve really took off that we would try to avoid having a case and look after our staff [who] were particularly vulnerable because of adult-to-adult transmission.”

Using Zoom video conferencing software for lessons and Google Classroom for homework and assignments, the school of almost 1400 students didn’t skip a beat. Even the technology cooperated, with PLC Sydney encountering far fewer problems than anticipated.

The hardest part was keeping students engaged with learning, especially in the early years.

“For years 3-12, it worked really well. We were primarily concerned for the young ones,” Dr Burgis says, “they need more assistance.”

To provide that, PLC Sydney employed a “multi-modal framework” with lots of activity-based learning and problem solving tasks, supplemented by explanations and individual follow-up, he says.

“Power Up Wednesdays” allocated a day every week to creative, physical and wellbeing projects to help students cope with the emotional burden of isolation. A competition to “Walk Around the World” saw the girls collectively take enough steps around their homes to get to Florence, Italy; while the “Portrait in Isolation” project challenged students and staff to express their feelings in a self-portrait. The evocative results are now on exhibition at the school.

Year 9 student Emylene Kuoch’s self-portrait for PLC Sydney’s Portraits in Isolation exhibition.

“We also did a living history project, where students wrote their experience of working at home to pass on to future generations. One of the museums in Sydney thought it was a great project and they’re going to do something with it,” he adds.

“I’ve been really impressed by how calmly the girls have gone about things. Across the whole school the students have been fantastic. We haven’t had any increase in wellbeing issues; if anything slightly less.

“I want to pay tribute to the teachers for that. The comment from the students was that the teachers were really there for them.”

Positive outcomes from remote learning can be felt throughout the school, Dr Burgis says. Zoom has worked so well that they’ll be incorporating it permanently for classes at PLC Sydney’s Jindabyne-based Winter School. Boarders stranded overseas and in country NSW have been able to return to school virtually, and taking P&F meetings online has tripled attendance.

Year 12 student Helena Law’s self-portrait for PLC Sydney’s Portraits in Isolation exhibition.

Parent information sessions have gone digital too. Dr Burgis describes PLC Sydney’s inaugural webinar for 130 prospective parents as logistically challenging but ultimately successful.

“I presented, one of our vice-captains spoke and we did a virtual tour of the college. Our executive were all on standby to chat. Parents typed in questions and I answered as many as I could and the executive were all typing away answers.

“We got quite a few enrolments so I think we did okay.”

As constructive as these past few weeks have been though, nothing can replace the social aspects of school, Dr Burgis says.

“Students really missed their peers. After a while, working from home becomes a bit like Groundhog Day, every day follows the same pattern. Face to face we read the nuances and enjoy the physical company of others.”

Remote learning has many advantages but it’s exhausting in the long term and requires heavy lifting from teachers, students and parents to make it work, he acknowledges.

“I’ve really appreciated how the staff, teachers and executive have come together really well to make sure the learning worked. That’s been tiring though. This is normally a long weekend with a professional development day but we’ve given the staff an extra day off. They’ve been working hard and they’ve just done a huge professional development task on the job.

“We’ve been really grateful for the support of the community and because of that it’s worked well.”

High performance education: Central Coast Sports College brings out the best in bodies and minds with unique program

Healthy bodies, healthy minds … Central Coast Sports College takes a holistic approach to education.

A little independent school near Gosford is making big waves with an active education model that sees students playing sport for two hours every day.

Founded by principal Paul Chapman in 2013, Central Coast Sports College (CCSC) in Kariong is a “proudly progressive” co-ed, K-12 school that emphasises physical activity and goal setting to help students achieve their dreams — on and off the field.

Mr Chapman says that many of the school’s former students are currently playing sport at “a high representative level”. He offers the example of recent graduate Trent Buhagiar who now plays A-league football with Sydney FC while another, Cooper Griffiths, is one of the top 100 tennis players in the country.

 

True grit … Central Coast Sports College principal seeks to build resilience in students.

Not all students at CCSC can or even want to become professional athletes but the school’s holistic approach to developing the body as well as the mind fosters deeper academic engagement and promotes better health and wellbeing, Mr Chapman says.

“Our goal is to inspire students to be the best they can be”, he says.

“One of the things we’re very proud of is the vast majority of our students end up in the workforce or higher education because they set a goal and they achieve it. Some of our students didn’t get the ATAR they wanted but got into their preferred course through alternative pathways,” Mr Chapman says.

Academic or athletic, success comes down to resilience, he says.

“I believe talent is a myth. In her book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, [famed psychologist] Angela Duckworth says talent is just the speed at which we learn something.

“We know that every student learns at different rates and speeds. We’re trying to really hard to introduce mastery teaching, which means students don’t move on until they’ve mastered a topic. Some kids take two weeks to learn something, others take four weeks. We’re very much against rushing kids along just because they’re a certain age.

“We don’t promote competition in the classroom and we don’t believe in ranking students or external awards. We believe in developing grit in the students.

“They don’t need to be a star but they need to be keen to learn and play. If they give it a shot and work hard, they’ll be successful here. It doesn’t matter about their ability, we have a wide range of developmental levels and we manage it really well.

“A lot of kids come here at a very low level and I’ve seen them develop into high performers,” Mr Chapman says.

On target … CCSC teaches students to set goals and achieve them.

The active days at CCSC are good news for parents too. With sport integrated into the school day, there’s no need to ferry kids all over the city for games and training sessions.

This aspect of the school has proved so attractive that “a few families have moved interstate so they can send their kids here,” Mr Chapman says.

Easing the time pressure on young families is one of the school’s guiding principles and with three boys at the school he’s a beneficiary too.

“It’s very much about bringing balance back to family lives. As a parent, I haven’t had to do any extracurricular activities,” Mr Chapman says.

The school’s no homework policy is based on similar reasoning.

“I don’t think we have a right to inject ourselves into family time. We have plenty of students who get their work done in the classroom and want to go home and play. There’s no rush to grow up here; if a child wants to climb a tree, let them.”

Letting kids be kids … CCSC students are encouraged to play in their free time.

Some parents may wonder how CCSC students get through all their school work with so much sport and no homework. Mr Chapman attributes the school’s efficiency to streamlined days and a teacher/mentor model that uses technology to achieve time savings.

“Our days are a half hour longer than the average and we tend not to fluff around. We don’t have assemblies or chapel.

“We leverage technology. All the students’ work is online. Right now, we have a student in Spain training with a football talent agency who is keeping up with his school work online.”

Even more important is the investment teachers make in building long-term relationships with students, he says.

Explaining that students retain the same home room teacher from Kindergarten to Year 2, from Years 3-8 and from Years 9-12, Mr Chapman says: “The home room teacher is a mentor. They really get to know the children, spending time with them every day. They help to facilitate work experiences and formulate life goals.

“If the students are engaged in the classroom there’s no reason that they shouldn’t get through the curriculum during class time. When you move from control to engagement, you have more time to concentrate on teaching.”

“The biggest thing about us is we are really authentic, we do our best and it comes from the heart.”

For more information about Central Coast Sports College and to book a school tour see: www.ccsc.nsw.edu.au

St Lucy’s: A special school for special students now expanding into the secondary years

Growing … St Lucy’s School is moving towards K-12.

Wahroonga’s much-loved Catholic primary school for students with intellectual disabilities is offering Year 7 places next year and adding subsequent year levels to become a K-12 school by 2024.

“Rising demand for special education and the popularity of St Lucy’s School are the driving forces behind the school’s expansion,” says Principal, Mr David Raphael.

“Population growth in northern Sydney has led to an increasing demand which needs to be catered to, for students and families,” Mr Raphael says. “We have students from Parramatta to the Central Coast.”

Responding to demand … St Lucy’s principal David Raphael with students.

St Lucy’s School currently has 105 students at its main campus in Wahroonga and offers satellite programs for another 30 children at schools in Narrabeen and Narraweena, on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.    

An ambitious building program commencing next year will see the construction of 16 new classrooms to modernise the school’s learning environments and cater for an eventual 100 secondary students by 2024.

“We’re designing a whole new complex to create a purpose-built facility for students with special education needs and we’ll re-purpose the old classrooms for the library and other uses. We’re building a car park for staff with a kiss and drop area to take traffic off the road and increase safety,” Mr Raphael says.

New era … drawings for St Lucy’s planned complex.

St Lucy’s School adheres to principles of the Reggio Emilia philosophy of education that emphasises experiential learning and the symbolic “languages” of the creative arts.

“All students who come into the school have a diagnosed intellectual disability and quite often they have other disabilities as well.”

“We accept each child as they are and work with their interests on an individual basis to help them access the curriculum. By communicating through artistic expression, their interests in the Arts helps to lead them on their learning journey,” Mr Raphael says.

Art of communication … at St Lucy’s, students learn to express themselves through the Creative Arts.

This approach is especially well-suited to students with intellectual disabilities, he says.

“We have a student who was non-verbal and loved the Art Studio and painting; he liked a very dark palette — almost black. On this particular day, his teacher asked him what colour he would like to paint with and he replied, ‘Blue please.’ It was the first words he’d ever spoken and through this language of art making, he has gradually acquired more traditional language skills,” Mr Raphael explains.

With about 60 per cent of St Lucy’s students on the Autism Spectrum — the development of communication skills is at the heart of the school’s mission to foster independence and self-determination.

The school uses an integrated approach incorporating technological aids such as Proloquo2Go, a symbol-based communication app that helps students express themselves with voice-output communication, and Key Word Sign. The school’s staff are proficient signers and the school offers workshops for parents and siblings to learn the basics of sign language to facilitate intra-family communication. Teachers are supported by two teacher’s aides per class and the school’s occupational therapist, speech pathologists and psychologist.

Tech talk … the Prolo2Go app helps St Lucy’s students to acquire communication skills.

Preparing students for adult life will be a central aim for secondary students, Mr Raphael says.

“We’re introducing a Life Skills curriculum developed by the NSW Education Standards Authority. This means that Maths, English and the rest of the NSW curriculum subjects can be designed for the individual student,” he says, describing it as a “competency-based approach to education” that will result in a Record of School Achievement or Higher School Certificate credential.

“In years 9 onward, we’ll be introducing a VET program. Our situation gives us access to a whole range of industrial and retail sites to give our students work experience in the community,” Mr Raphael says.

The school’s commitment to practical education is seen in its Mathematics with Meaning program that teaches children real-life applications of numeracy such as how to use money and identify bus numbers.

“The functional elements of life need to be deliberately taught so that students can be as independent as possible in their adult lives and as effective as possible in the community and be advocates for themselves in the adult world,” Mr Raphael says.

But St Lucy’s is more than just a school, it nurtures the whole family, Mr Raphael says.   

“We try to offer as much love and support as we can not only to students but to parents and siblings as well. Siblings can often feel a bit left out. It’s very important to support the family as much as we can. We do this through our pastoral care, through our psychologist, through our community nights, and by providing a place for parents just to come here and talk to each other about their children and their challenges.”

“We’re passionate about what we do,” Mr Raphael says, and consequently the school’s influence is felt well beyond its immediate community.

“We have a number of very supportive schools nearby: Prouille, Abbotsleigh, Knox, Santa Sabina, Shore. They engage with our students as play buddies, participants in our Creative Arts programs, student volunteers at our holiday program and camp, and other student immersion experiences. It’s very powerful for the visiting students and they often go back and help raise funds for us. We advocate for children with disabilities generally to be included and accepted; simple things like lift access at a train station can make a huge impact.”

For more information on St Lucy’s and its move to K-12 please see their website: stlucys.nsw.edu.au