Organisation: Department of Education
Job Title: Deputy Principal – Senior High School
Word Limit: 350 to 500 words per criterion
Location: Eaton Community College
Demonstrated capacity to provide effective leadership in a diverse range of educational settings
My knowledge of teaching and learning styles is reflected in my ability to implement differentiated planning and pedagogy that considers students’ varying abilities, learning styles, interests and needs. I have successfully led, supported and mentored staff through strategic planning, curriculum change, current educational reforms and innovative pedagogy that meets the needs of all learners. As a highly organised professional and effective leader, my ability to maintain a strong rapport with students and staff, while meeting their needs, results in the provision of effective support through various educational processes. This has been demonstrated through the leadership roles I have been entrusted with throughout my teaching career. These positions have ranged from Year Project Leader at Carnamah District High School to Acting Assistant Principal Secondary at my current school, South Coast Baptist College.
The experience and knowledge I have gained as a result has equipped me with the expertise to develop strategies for relating positively with staff and students, and the ability to encourage them to successfully strive for better learning outcomes for the students. My experience has demonstrated to me that positive reinforcement produces positive results and developing a positive team culture gives the team ownership and responsibility of issues so they are in a position to provide a positive outcome. My approach depends on the circumstances, but experience has taught me that informal approaches tend to be more relaxed and engender a willingness to participate.
My awareness of current issues is continually being renewed and, combined with my ability to communicate effectively, allows for and promotes change in school direction. I see my role as one of supporting the Principal and assuming responsibility for the Principal’s duties when he or she is unavailable, encouraging the team to share in the vision of the school and encouraging the team to focus on the students’ learning needs as the highest priority. I have developed positive relationships with and between staff by facilitating the development of a social committee to facilitate staff functions. At Georgiana Molloy Anglican School, I created a social tennis event that was held fortnightly on a Friday afternoon. This illustrates how I have been able to utilise a variety of means to actively develop strong interpersonal relationships with staff at all the schools where I have been employed.
In addition, by developing leadership aspirations in others, I have been able to affectively delegate tasks, leaving staff feeling empowered rather than overworked. For example, at South Coast Baptist College I was able to significantly develop the roles of three teachers, the current Head of Mathematics, Acting Head of Curriculum and the Relief Co-ordinator.
As Deputy Principal of Concord High School, I am confident that I will provide an organised, secure and stimulating environment where all staff are valued and supported through processes of change, curriculum differentiation and the implementation of innovative pedagogies that support student learning outcomes.
High level of interpersonal and public relations skills that demonstrate the ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships to achieve planned outcomes
My energetic and positive outlook often inspires others, allowing me to promote high levels of success for all students. I am sensitive, patient and have well-developed communication and interpersonal skills that assist with building and maintaining relationships and engaging students, staff and parents. My consultative approach allows all stakeholders to work together in a spirit of cooperation, with a focus on enhancing learning opportunities for all students. This is demonstrated through my focus on open and productive dialogue with students and parents to ensure that all issues are successfully and efficiently resolved, resulting in issues that are dealt with before they escalate, thereby establishing a sense of partnership, process and success between all parties.
Through consistent communication and documenting specific concerns, I ensure that my colleagues are aware of any ongoing difficulties. Furthermore, I use my communication skills to provide succinct feedback through parent-teacher interviews regarding welfare, social and behaviour management issues relating to students. By maintaining a collaborative focus, underperforming students are appropriately assisted within the school environment and at home, and effective individual learning programs can be implemented to further increase student learning outcomes. Getting to know staff and students in a positive environment made dealing with difficult issues much easier.
My adoption of an open door approach where all members of the learning community are comfortable to approach me and discuss matters in both formal and informal contexts, reinforces effective communication and strengthening of relationships. The use of staff newsletters, information nights and committee meetings to ensure that all members of the learning community are clearly informed and are provided with the opportunity to express their points of view, ensures a positive and defined school culture where the whole-school community is committed to a common vision and purpose.
I take the time to get to know students on an individual level, showing interest in their extracurricular activities. This has facilitated my ability to get to know all students on a first name basis and heightened my view of them as contributing members of the school community and not just an academic statistic. Furthermore, this enables me to put suitable processes in place for targeted students to ensure that they are supported in the learning process.
My interpersonal skills are highly developed through my active involvement in numerous aspects of the school and the broader community. For example, when acting as Assistant Principal, I was involved in interviewing families who wished to enrol their child in Year 7 for 2014. This process required a thorough understanding of the school’s systems and the ability to effectively communicate the strengths of the college to the student and parents.
At South Coast Baptist College I lead a team that has coordinated parent, student and teacher interviews, a Secondary ‘Meet and Greet’ barbecue, Year 7 Transition Night, and parent and student information nights. All of these events were enthusiastically well attended and provided a venue to foster deep relationships between parents, students and teachers to further improve educational outcomes for students.
Demonstrated professional knowledge and the ability to apply this knowledge to ensure a high level of educational outcomes for all students, (e.g. Aboriginal students, students from diverse ethnic backgrounds and students with special needs)
My knowledge of outstanding behaviour management strategies, best practice in teaching pedagogy and the Mathematics curriculum is extensive. Additionally, with a strong understanding and broad knowledge of and sensitivity to the needs of Aboriginal students, I am committed to achieving high outcomes for Aboriginal students in partnership with the school and wider community. I understand that Aboriginal cultural issues need to be approached with support, knowledge and dignity. In line with education policies, I am a firm believer that Aboriginal students should achieve equality of educational opportunities in order to improve learning outcomes. This is illustrated through my expertise, knowledge and experience achieving excellent results in Mathematics in Senior Secondary and my application of diverse strategies teaching students with a variety of needs. I apply this knowledge to the teaching of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) students as well as those with a culturally different background. For example, I successfully motivated Aboriginal students while facilitator of the Aboriginal Homework Class at Carnamah District High School. I have also been directly responsible for the dissemination of information on best practice in behaviour management strategies at Toodyay District High School; and have trained and mentored staff in best practice for classroom management strategies and differentiation of curriculum at South Coast Baptist College. This ensured best educational outcomes for all students and has been acknowledged as being highly successful.
Respecting the cultural and learning needs is paramount in developing strong relationships with the students and families. I have demonstrated this by acknowledging the importance for all students to have equitable access to learning opportunities to achieve their full potential. Aboriginal students require flexible learning approaches based on individual needs and cultural understanding that allows them to develop into active successful students. Facilitating teams to plan teaching and learning programs to cater for students with specific needs and respecting the cultural and learning needs is essential. Incorporating indigenous perspectives into the lessons that I teach in my classroom, has shown extensive improvement in the comprehension of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Instead of using motorbikes for numeracy, I utilised something that the indigenous student in Foster can relate to, that is contextual and interests them.
As Deputy Principal, I will utilise my knowledge and experience to work collaboratively with members of the local Aboriginal community in order to maintain school attendance and implement programs that sustain and improve the performance of Aboriginal students. I am committed to closing the achievement gap for Aboriginal students and I strive to maintain and uphold standards that reflect my learning about nurturing and valuing of the cultural identity of Aboriginal students in order to assist them to be successful and lifelong learners.
Demonstrated capacity to manage staff, physical and financial resources
My experience and knowledge of managing staff, physical and financial resources over several years has cumulated in my current role (over several years) as Acting Assistant Principal, Head of Learning Area – Mathematics, and my role as Head of Curriculum has increased my appreciation of the responsibilities and duties of the role of Deputy Principal. This includes ensuring optimum staff performance, the ratio of teachers to students remains as close to 13:1 as possible and all staff have an equal teaching load. This means also assessing the number of teachers and staff to ensure that, as the school grows, the correct number of teachers are planned for and recruited. I also manage the peripheral staff, such as cleaners and maintenance people, ensuring there are sufficient to perform the duties without having an excess.
For example, I was involved and instrumental in the development and successful implementation of the Performance Management Process at South Coast Baptist College as well as developing and implementing a performance management review of the Mathematics teachers as the Head of Learning Area – Mathematics.
As the Head of Curriculum I was responsible for the performance management of eleven Heads of Learning Area. This included explaining the process to the teachers prior to it beginning in order to allay any potential associated anxiety; providing the staff with a questionnaire and paperwork; observing the teacher’s classroom environment; giving immediate feedback after the observation; and conducting a concluding performance review interview with each staff member to discuss strengths and weakness in teaching pedagogy and potential areas of growth. Using diplomacy and my excellent communication and management skills, this feedback and counselling was done in a positive manner, focusing on the solutions rather than the problems. Graduate teachers were also given a mentor who was not their direct line manager for extra support and advice of a more informal nature.
When it comes to managing physical and financial resources, I have considerable experience in planning the monthly budget and expenditure to be adhered to, ensuring there is no waste. If any waste is discovered, then a review is undertaken to find ways to eliminate it, either by reducing expenditure or by ensuring resources are correctly utilised, thus ensuring that targets are adhered to and no waste or over expenditure has occurred. During my time at South Coast Baptist College, I successfully managed the whole secondary budget as the Acting Principal of Secondary, the Year 11 and Year 12 pastoral care budget as the WACE co-ordinator and the Mathematics Learning Area budget as the Head of the Learning Area – Mathematics. Equipment maintenance is also vital to ensure no unnecessary expenditure is incurred as a result of repairs needed. I ensure careful records of stock are kept with a yearly stock take to ensure that stock remains in good condition, there is no loss, the optimum stock levels are maintained, and any discrepancy is rectified.
