Woodville High School

Context

Woodville High School was established in 1915 and celebrates over 109 years of providing education. Since 1915 Woodville High School has transformed as a school and is committed to a unified vision: A human-centred learning community that nurtures belonging, transformative growth and success for every learner. Woven into the fabric of the western suburbs the school is an active member of the City of Charles Sturt and enjoys a vibrant Old Scholar community.

Woodville is multi-ethnic, multi-faith and being multicultural is one of key strengths that defines them. Woodville takes pride in their students coming from over 80 different cultures including 19.5% Vietnamese and 8.92% Aboriginal learners. WHS caters to learners in Years 7-12 with a current population of 1252. The school attempts through all areas of the curriculum to foster appreciation of different perspectives and world views, interact respectfully with others, and take responsible action to build a more just, peaceful, inclusive and environmentally sustainable world. The school’s motto is: Reach for the Stars which captures their purpose, connects their vision, core values, and graduate qualities. The metaphor for Reach for the Stars is a symbol for aspirations, imagination and dreams, where each child shapes their own narrative and vision for the future. 

Woodville’s strategic plan entitled: “Towards 2030: Our Future, Our Place, Our Woodville” outlines a vision that honours the school’s history while reflecting a strong commitment to the school’s diverse learning community.  The Strategic Plan comprises the following four constellations:

• Future-focused Learning
• A Vibrant and Collaborative Community
• Improved Health and Wellbeing
• Transformational Leadership and Governance

The strategic plan was co-designed with students, educators, industry, parents, old scholars, and academia, including representation from the UniSA Education Futures. The strategic planning process created opportunities for representatives from the full school community to have a voice in sharping the school’s direction. The school’s strategic plan is aligned with the DfE Public Education Strategy and serves as a reference point ongoing decision making, planning and resource allocation. In the next three years (2025-2027) the school will focus on the four constellations and convert the vision into ideas that can be harnessed into tangible services and strategies for improvement and growth. 

To support the school’s superdiversity, WHS provides Bilingual School Support Officers (BSSOs) to support Vietnamese and African students, a multi-faith prayer room that reinforces aspirations of a “faith-friendly organisation,” Aboriginal Community Education Officer (ASETOs), Aboriginal Education Teachers (AETs), an Aboriginal centre named after Professor Lester Irabinna Rigney, and an extensive English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EALD) program. WHS is also a Special Interest Music School (SIMC) for students who have special abilities or an interest in music. A significant number of students attract funds through the Disadvantaged School Index and 40% of students are on School Card.  WHS also offers an extensive pastoral program called Thrive. Most staff have vertical house group responsibilities that include 10-minutes each day and a 55-minute lesson each week related to local and global citizenship reinforcing the school’s mission, vision, and values. WHS’s school leadership structure is also a key feature at the school. The student leadership team and multicultural parent groups play a central role in decision making related to curriculum, teaching, and learning, including extra-curricular offerings.

Artist Statement: Thomas Readett is an Established Artist and a Ngarrindjeri man who was born and raised in Kaurna Country (Adelaide, SA) where he continues to practise and live. Thomas’ practice spans drawing, painting, video, music, advocacy, and education. This mural was created with the theme of Irabinna (Warrior) to represent the Irabinna Centre on which it resides.

Towards a Culturally Responsive School

WHS prides itself with an on-going commitment to its superdiversity. In the words of Anna Mirasgentis, the school’s principal, “At Our Woodville, we value and celebrate the rich diversity of the cultures, genders, backgrounds, talents, and aspirations in our school community. We see students’ backgrounds and experiences as assets for learning and wellbeing and we foster an inclusive culture that acknowledges and values a diverse array of perspectives. Diversity is the school’s first core value, and the school has had a strong commitment toward fostering intercultural understanding through the Executive Team and Leadership Team. This commitment to Diversity is reflected with the engagement of the CRS project.

Since joining the school in 2021, Anna has had a commitment toward ensuring every student at WHS has equitable opportunities and the personalised support they need to succeed. Teachers know their students well, including their diverse linguistic, cultural, and religious backgrounds. They know how the experiences that students bring to their classroom affect their continued learning. They know how to structure their lessons to meet the physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of their students. Anna believes every individual is unique and has a personal narrative, a story of experiences that influences what they question, the answers they seek, the possibilities they see, and the ways they come to know truth. She wants the learning experiences at Woodville High School to be personal and enriched by our core values, diverse perspectives, and experiences of each member of the learning community. Her expectation is for teachers and mentors to encourage learners to explore and consider deep questions, and big ideas, the rich tapestry and diversity of students’ family lives, the local and global communities to which they belong, and the interests, passions, aspirations, and questions they have in their life and for the future. It is this feeling of being known, valued, and understood that provides the foundation for learning, wellbeing, and success.

Anna and Luke Smith (Deputy Principal) saw the CRS project as an opportunity to use a whole school approach to embed intercultural understanding and competency in every aspect of the school as the school at the time was developing a new Strategic Plan. In the development of the Strategic Plan, all stakeholders recognised the commitment and significance of this work. All staff within each constellation committed to developing a culturally responsive school.

As Anna and the Executive and Leadership Team were developing a new school strategic plan for 2024-2026, the Department for Education in South Australia released its new strategy for public education. There were strong interconnections between WHS aspirations and the DfE’s purpose statement and areas of impact. Students, staff, and families participated in aligning the public education strategy with WHS’s Strategic Plan. This resulted in the development of a 2024 Implementation Plan that incorporates the school’s context, achievements, and areas for growth for 2024. This has been branded as a public facing document for its community. See below:

How the school ran the professional learning

WHS has adopted the Simon Breakspear model of Teaching Sprints. This includes all teachers working in Professional Learning Teams (PLTs) of small groups of 3-4 over four-week cycles where they focus on small incremental shifts in their teaching practice to improve teaching. Within PLTs, teachers are provided High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS) targeted at improving reading, writing, and numeracy. Based on student and staff feedback, there is now a focus on HITS related to culturally responsive strategies in 2024-2026 to improve academic achievement, attendance, wellbeing and engagement. 

Four lead teachers were chosen to engage in the Culturally Responsive School project in 2022-24. Each were chosen as strong advocates and skilled practitioners in this area. 

1. Belinda Parker – English/Literacy Coordinator
2. Bronan Economou – Aboriginal Education Coordinator
3. Laila El Assaad – HASS/English Teacher
4. Rebecca Sykes – Arts/Global Projects Coordinator

In the first year of the project, the role of the teacher leaders was to use CRP theory to inform two action research cycles in their own classroom practice. In Year 2 of the project (2023), the group of 4 Teacher Leaders presented to all staff in Term 1 at the school’s EALD Hub Strategy Student Free Day to showcase the impact they were having with CRP in their classrooms. All staff were then given the opportunity to express interest in joining the PLT on CRP through an opt-in process. Eight new teachers opted-in to partake and each was assigned a teacher leader as a mentor. Lead teachers then facilitated workshops to engage with theory related to CRP and action research. Readings were done collectively at times and allocated and shared in other instances. Teachers were encouraged to choose readings that were relevant to their life-worlds and teaching practice. Informed by CRP, the new group of teachers each led their own action research projects in the second year of the project, while the teacher leaders shared impact during parent evenings, staff bulletins, and with classes where students were involved.

School Support for Professional Learning

The following supports were provided by the School Executive Team as enablers for professional learning related to Culturally Responsive Schooling:

1. 1. Teacher Leaders were provided 4 full days of release time to attend CRS workshops at UniSA,
   2. Opportunities for Teacher Leaders to facilitate all staff PL on CRS,
   3. CRS working group within the school’s existing PLT structure,
   4. Three PLT meetings per term (1.5 hours each),
   5. Breakspear Sprint Cycles with a focus on impacting:
      • One student working above standard,
      • One student working below standard,
      • One Aboriginal student.

Plans for the future

The following captures WHS plans for the future with respect to a whole school commitment to being culturally responsive:

• SIP actioned by the PLT cycle to embed CRP.
• PL for all staff aligned to the Strategic Plan,
• Develop our own pedagogical framework where the heart of the framework is CRP,
• Classroom observation focused on CRP as reflected in every staff member’s PDP,
• CRP information incorporated into induction for new staff,
• PDP template – CRP goal is embedded – use this as an opportunity to develop pedagogical approaches related to drawing from learner lifeworld’s (asset based) rather than a decontextualised strategy.

Conclusions

The following are key affective shifts experienced at WHS during this project:

1. School Community Agency: As part of the Strategic Planning process and the commitment to CRP has provided opportunities for students, parents, alumni, and staff to work collaboratively and make informed decisions about the future of Woodville High School. The student leadership structure is one example where students have always been actively engaged but are now more explicitly encouraged to bring their “lifeworld’s” into decision making and student representation is increasingly reflective of the diversity of the school. The Strategic Planning committee brought together parents, industry, alumni, students, staff, and academia – another example of a more concerted effort to deeply engage all stakeholders. Lastly, the Pride Club, through the action research process has increasingly become a hub where students feel safe to share, engage in reflexive dialogue and enact school wide change.
2. Structurally Embedded: A key aspiration of the school leadership from the outset of this project was to embed commitments to culturally responsive pedagogies school wide in structures and policies beyond individuals. Through the strategic planning process, teachers unanimously felt that diversity is the school’s greatest asset and one that needs to be centred in curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. As a result, CRP is now embedded in the school’s strategic priorities, professional learning program, teacher professional development plans, and the very vernacular of the school’s aspirations. Undoubtedly, there have been affective shifts in classrooms evidenced through the action research projects of this collaboration but the most significant impact in the words of one teacher leader is that CRP is “now weaved into the fabric of our school – it’s part of who we are now.”

The following are key takeaways related to our collective learning from the project: 

• The Power of Change – is reflected through the leadership of all stakeholders.
• Clear Communication – throughout the project, clear communication is pivotal to ensure consistency in application, sustainability and creating a common language.
• Collaboration with Leadership: the importance of providing opportunities for the Teacher Leaders to regularly share their learnings with the Leadership Team
• Celebration and value of our diversity as an asset

The following are key learnings the WHS team gained during this project:

• Leading change is complex,
• Learning something you are passionate about supports successful outcomes,
• If you want change to be sustainable, you need strong alignment between the strategic direction of the school and each classroom,
• Mentoring and coaching other staff was rewarding– it gave a holistic perspective of CRP and developed our leadership skills to build capacity and efficacy of other teachers,
• Developing intercultural competence created an inclusive culture, improved relationships with students and improved the connection and belonging to our Woodville. Their lifeworld’s and perspectives were valued in the classroom building confidence and self-efficacy.