Tag: Bruce Titlestad

ACC Swimming – Inter-School Competition

April 30, 2018

Dear Parents of Swimmers competing in the Inter-School Competition

At the ACC Council of Principals meeting on the 5th April , we were presented with some background and history on the time frame of the ACC A Division Swimming Carnival. The carnival was originally held on a Friday evening and then in the early 1980’s was moved to an “in school” time model. During the 1980’s and early 1990’s student spectator numbers were very high with the stands usually full, but with very few parents at the carnivals. From the mid 1990’s to the current day, there has been a steady decline in student spectator numbers to the point that most ACC swimming carnivals have few or no student spectators. During the same time period the number of Parent spectators has increased and the overall standard of the meets has improved in terms of swimming and event management.

The ACC Council was then asked to consider undertaking some research with the ACC schools and community to ascertain if the general consensus is that we should consider moving the A Division Swimming Carnival back to a twilight/evening event. The purpose being to increase the opportunity for families to attend the carnival and to raise the community profile of our top swimming division.  At this point in time there is no suggestion to move the other carnival divisions. The move would also allow other divisions opportunity to swim indoors.

Community Survey

The ACC is conducting a “Have Your Say!” survey through social media channels. This is simply to provide a snapshot of community thinking on the suggestion and a rough gauge of interest in making the change. The community survey will be open to anyone to complete. Schools have a part to play in helping the ACC gauge community thoughts on this matter. Should you wish to voice your thoughts, the link to the public survey is below.

ACC Social Media Survey – Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KMH9GVZ

Bruce Titlestad

Head of Secondary School

SEQTA – what to expect and some guidelines

November 23, 2017

 

Dear Parents

SEQTA is an amazing tool for schools and I would encourage both students and parents to check it regularly.

Please note that SEQTA is a resource to supplement teaching NOT an online substitute for the relationship between a teacher and student. Your child spends 320 minutes a day in personal contact with their teachers – and your child has every opportunity to receive help, ask questions and take ownership of their work. I would encourage parents to  grow the independence of their children rather than to expect SEQTA to be the prime source of information.

SEQTA is a great insight for parents – but again, the conversations that are then initiated between parents, teacher and student are of the most value.

I would encourage parents and students to ensure that they are aware of the documents attached to each course: course outlines, assessment schedules and other resources are available in SEQTA for reference, saving or printing at any time. I would also encourage parents to ask for help and to keep an eye out for the SEQTA information evenings which are often run at the start of each year.

Teachers will on occasion deviate from their teaching plan because students may require extra time for understanding and consolidation. That is part of good teaching and might disrupt a plan previously put in place.  We all know that parents and teachers constantly adapt as the needs of children evolve. Individual teachers will decide the format or formats for the submission of work – sometime these may be in hard copy, sometimes they might be uploaded to SEQTA, emailed or handed in on USB. This will depend on the nature of the task and the format the teacher feels is best. Teachers are striving to meet the expectations below. Some teachers already exceed these and use SEQTA very extensively. The expectations below are our target and while many staff will go beyond these, staff are not expected to.

 

The SEQTA experience for parents

Duncraig and Carramar Secondary

 

Cover Page

The purpose of the cover page is to contain an overview of the course. It should be an easy reference for information about the entire year of work.

It contains a copy (or a link) to the assessment schedule, program and syllabus.

 

Assessments

  • The assessment schedule should be developed at the start of the year. Lower school students are to have the entire semester of assessments visible to parents and students. Year 11 and 12 are to have the entire year’s assessments visible
  • Assessment titles should include the weighting and clear labels that are succinct.
  • Task sheet/assessment description and marking guide/rubric are to be added at an appropriate time.
  • Marks for summative assessments should be made visible, within three weeks of the assessment being finalised.
  • If there is more than one class, all marks are to be made visible at the same time.
  • Exam marks are to be released at the end of the exam period.
  • Formative assessments can be visible with a weighting of zero.
  • Assessment feedback will be placed in the Marks Book on a regular basis.

 

(Lesson) Planning

Students, parents/carers and other staff should be able to see what has been planned on a week-by-week basis (as a minimum). Clarity in lesson naming is essential.

 

Lesson Resources

It should be clear where students can access resources and links. Students may be required to enter homework themselves on occasion.

 

Documents Section

This is used to store documents that parents/carers might need to access at any point of the year.

Documents include anything from a Parent Information Night slide show, Curriculum Handbooks, and the Assessment Policy.

Bruce Titlestad

Head of Secondary

Welcome back to School

May 1, 2017

I have had a wonderful Easter break and I hope that our students and families have had the chance to have a similar experience. Welcome back to School!

 

This Easter included a first for me as I took on the role of the Easter Bunny. I discovered that bunny suits are hot and that the eyes are in the wrong place to see anything. I also discovered that that my years of reluctance to look silly were unfounded and that the pleasure the exercise gave the children in our house was well worth the effort. I do know that I have probably set a precedent and that a Santa suit may just be coming my way.

 

 

The break also gave me the chance to have a few days where I could choose to do one thing at a time. One of these things included teaching a friend how to cast with an old-fashioned Penn “Jigmaster”: an overhead fishing reel that is durable and reliable, but which takes some skill to avoid horrible over winds and time wasted on untangling rather than fishing. No phone, no interruptions and nothing to do but enjoy the experience of the beach as the sun rose. My friend learnt to cast. Neither of us caught a thing. We did nothing but spend an hour on the beach.

 

Our lives are often over-filled. We get news and information every second; events haven’t happened unless they are photographed and shared; conversations are punctuated by phones rather than pauses: the “next” has become more important than the now and our minds race all the time.

 

I am certain that much of the stress that students and the adults around them experience is driven by us being constantly connected to multiple demands. Our children often have little chance of giving true priority to the individual components of that incessant stream. Everything seems equally demanding and often the loudest demand assumes an importance that is not warranted. People have never had this volume of stimulus and demand and we flit from one item to the next like demented digital dragonflies skimming the surface. This is altering the way we deal with relationships, our families and our own mental and physical health.

 

Much of our tension builds in insidious ways without our conscious knowledge and many of us have reached the point where at a gut level, we know that things could be better yet we seem to be unable to do more than yearn for something different. Technology enriches our lives, yet as adults we need to work out how to manage that – and model healthier approaches for our children to copy. On occasion “being out of touch” may be the key to actually “being in touch”.

 

The following links to a talk by Stephen Bartlett which highlights many of the things that people have mentioned to me over the past few weeks.

 

 

Similar talks (e.g. Allison Graham’s TED talk on emphasise the same concerns and is more articulate. I would encourage you to engage your child in conversations about technology. Technology has its place, but many of us are concerned that social media and the social demands of technology are shaping a world where our children have less.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5GecYjy9-Q)

 

Dr. Cal Newport Quit argues that we should quit social media in this video.

 

My apologies for the irony of giving you links to technology in order to make points about it.

 

Head Of Secondary Duncraig, Mr Bruce Titlestad, extends a warm welcome

February 1, 2017

It is a pleasure to start another year. 2017 has hit the ground running. Our year started with the new Year 7 group on the Friday before everyone else started. It was an exciting and for some, slightly nervous, day: but by the time the group went home at lunchtime, they all seemed settled, happy and looked like secondary school students.

 

On Monday we had our first assembly and it was a great pleasure to have a large group of students who performed strongly in their final year in 2016 join us. Vinola Adams spoke to the assembly from the perspective of a highly successful ATAR pathway and offered students valuable insights into the things that contributed to her success. Flynn Ironmonger, our top VET student, managed to get some time off work and spoke about the importance of finding and pursuing one’s passions. We were very proud of our students who worked so hard last year and who used their teachers so effectively. All of our VET students achieved a Certificate 2 or higher and our median ATAR placed us in the top 50 schools out of the 190 schools in the state offering ATAR pathways. I’m sure that you have seen the information of the website and on the School’s Facebook page.

Pictured below:

First Row R-L Chelsea Thomas, Samantha McLaurin, Jana MacAdam, Grace Jumeaux, Nathan Wong, Abbey Bradstreet

Second Row L-R Voila Adams, Dhaval Vaghjiani, Clare Runciman, Michaela McGurdy, Elise van Rooyen, Jenny Kim

 

On Tuesday the entire school spent the day at the HBF stadium at the annual swimming carnival: Timae was placed first; their first victory since 2005! Both Carana (second) and Alethea (third) were competitive and worthy opponents. The spirit at the carnival was fabulous as we had a day of continual racing and even managed to get results and make awards at the close of the day. Our appreciation goes to Nerina Cordner and her PE team for their organisation; to the parents and alumni who assisted; to the students who swam – and to the parents who joined us as spectators.

 

After 2 days of wonderful rain, the sun is shining and our students and teachers are energetic, enthusiastic and determined to make 2017 a great year.