Welcome to another episode of the Education Enclave podcast where I highlight excellence in education.

This edition has a twist, as my colleague Jess Howe is interviewing me.

 Jess asks me about:

* My back story in education

* How I became a principal

* What were the key actions to turn around Woori Yallock PS

* Key influences & supports

* Actions that led to a culture of continuous improvement that has been sustained

* Challenges I faced as a young leader

* Advice I would give to an aspiring leader

 I hope you enjoy the episode as much as I did, and thanks for listening.

In this episode I’m joined by Jess Wallace who I’ve worked closely with since 2011.

Jess has had some unique influences that have helped shape her into the outstanding educator she is today. 

For example, working at McDonalds while she was completing her teaching degree, as well as playing bowls from a young age, including representing Victoria which Jess still does.

We cover a lot of ground in this podcast, including the importance of high expectations, how Jess revolutionised the teaching of Foundation at Woori Yallock PS, how she became a very young literacy consultant, as well as career pathways for educators. 

I hope you enjoy the episode as much as I did and thanks for listening.

In this episode I'm joined by Bre Boyer who I've worked closely with over a number of years at Cobram PS.

The main focus of our conversation is on phonics, and the practices that Bre has implemented across the junior school.
The school's growth data from Foundation to Year 1 is phenomenal.
A big reason for this is the teaching being assessment responsive, i.e. meeting the needs of each student.

Another thing to note is that in 2023 Bre became the youngest Literacy Master Trainer across the state of Victoria.

I hope you enjoy the episode as much as I did, and thanks for listening.

Welcome to another edition of the Education Enclave podcast, where I focus on excellence in education.

Today’s guest has had a big influence on my career by encouraging me to pursue the principal role, and was then my mentor when I did in fact become a principal.

Chris Thomas is currently an independent consultant, who was previously the Director of Programs at the Queensland Education Leadership Institute, and before that he was a high performing principal at Yarra Junction Primary School in Victoria.

In this episode we discuss Chris’s pathway in education, why he became a teacher, as well as key learnings he has had along the way.

Chris is a passionate educator, and is a strong advocate for all in the profession. We delve into some of his passions such as principal wellbeing, collegiate coaching and moral purpose. 

A big part of Chris’s work is facilitating Teach Like A Champion workshops, which are running all over Australia in 2024.

You can get in touch with Chris and check out what he is up to via his website at pwrdleadership.com.au

Enjoy the episode!

In this latest episode I’m joined by my friend and colleague, Matt Knight.

Matt has a super impressive CV, which we dig into by discussing his pathway into teaching, how he ventured into consultancy and everything between.

Matt has much to be proud of, but his number one is bringing about significant, sustained school improvement. Cobram PS, the school he led for several years, is still high performing three years after he ventured into the world of consultancy. Matt puts this down to the excellent culture the staff at the school have continued to work on.

As with previous episodes the conversation bounced around a number of topics. The main talking points were:

·      The parallels between leadership in sport, and leadership in schools (including Matt playing representative cricket for Australia in Under 17s)

·      The power of targets and high expectations

·      An idea on how to fix the staffing shortage across the state

It is likely we will have future episodes together so drop me a line if there is an area of education that you would like us to discuss.

Please enjoy, and thanks for listening.

In this issue I’m joined once again by Keay Cobbin, who was also my most recent guest on the podcast. There has been lots of positive feedback regarding our first episode together which you can listen to here.

There are so many topics that Keay and I could (and often do) discuss, and for this instalment we decided to delve into all things curriculum.

We both feel that post-COVID this is often the missing link in schools. In fact, many of the high performing schools we work with have gone back to curriculum this year as part of their school improvement agenda.

To start the podcast, I set the scene of what I’ve observed and learnt from Keay over the last nearly 15 years, and what I’ve perceived as the evolution of how Keay thinks about curriculum. 

Keay then builds on this to talk about how curriculum looked in her grade 3 classroom in 1975 through to how she thinks about it today. 

We discuss many of the influences, resources and mentors that Keay calls upon in this work and have played a part in Keay becoming a leader in this important component of education. 

These include:

·      Smagorinsky

·      Wiggins & McTighe

·      Debbie Miller

·      Jennifer Serravallo

·      Lucy Calkins

·      Mike Schmoker

From here we discussed the importance of allocating collaborative time, and building strong processes in the development of your whole school curriculum.

Late in our discussion I also reference a Dr. Rachael Gabriel tweet which makes an analogy between curriculum and cooking, which reinforces many of the points we discuss. As a point of interest, Dr. Gabriel also has a new book out that I’m keen to read.

Keay and I are aiming to consistently put podcast content out. Let me know if there is a particular aspect of literacy that you would like us to discuss in a future episode.

It might be that you pose questions as a result of some thoughts you had about this edition. 

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to another edition of the Education Enclave podcast, where it is my job to unpack excellence in education.

In this issue I’m joined by Keay Cobbin who has had a massive influence on me both personally and professionally. 

After teaching in Victoria for a number of years, Keay and her partner Steve Willy headed over to New York to work as consultants for a decade. On their return to Victoria, they have led the literacy agenda across the state via a suite of courses offered through the Victorian Academy of Teaching & Learning, and before that the Bastow Institute of Educational Leadership.

The mother ship course within this suite is Leading Literacy. Between 2010 and 2017 Leading Literacy had year in, year out consistently high evaluations from participants. This led to discussions on how the positive impact of Leading Literacy could be expanded to further impact the system. The outcome was to train some ‘Master Trainers’ who could facilitate an entry point course called Literacy Local Leaders. This course is offered in all areas across the state of Victoria. See below for the link to the intakes beginning in term 3, 2023.

https://www.academy.vic.gov.au/professional-learning/literacy-local-leaders

We kept our discussion quite broad in this catch up, but we did delve into Study Groups, sustaining school improvement, and Keay’s thoughts on system leadership.

I’m hoping to have Keay on the podcast regularly given her breadth of knowledge. Let me know if there is a particular aspect of literacy that you would like us to discuss in a future episode.

Enjoy!

Welcome to another edition of the Education Enclave podcast.

This episode has been a long time coming.

In this episode I’m joined by Flick Curnow who is the Assistant Principal at Woori Yallock Primary School.

In Flick’s career she has witnessed and helped lead the school from rock bottom to sustained excellence as one of the best schools in Victoria. The school hosts numerous visits each year from educators looking to learn from the practices and culture the school has developed. Flick and the other members of the leadership team are very generous with their time during these visits. In doing so, ensuring that their circle of influence goes beyond their own school community.

Flick and I discuss some of the key ingredients for school improvement, the impressive amount of professional learning she has completed in a short space of time, as well as Flick’s reflections on supporting two school communities she led as a result of tragedies.

I hope you enjoy the episode as much as I did!

Welcome to another episode of the Education Enclave podcast.

This episode is a discussion of chapter 5 of Debbie Miller’s book, What’s the Best That Could Happen? New Possibilities for Teachers & Readers. 

While you can listen to this episode as a stand alone, the best experience will be if you’ve read the entire book, as well as listened to the earlier episodes where we discuss chapters 1 – 4.

The talented group that joined me in this episode are the following educators:

Erin (& Audrey) Beissel
Flick Curnow
Cassie Ryan
Elena Ziebell

This was the final episode of our Study Group. What a fantastic text! While I would recommend this book to all primary educators, those educators who employ the workshop model in their classroom/school will get the most out of the text. Reading is the lens that Debbie Miller employs throughout, but it is easy to make connections to other areas of the curriculum.

The main topics we discuss in this episode are: high expectations, the importance of thinking, and the use of mentor texts.

A big thank you to my colleagues who joined me across the five episodes. It started out as a bit of an experiment, and I really enjoyed the deep thinking and ideas that you all generously shared. 

There has been a suggestion that we might find another text to study next year. First off, we will make it to the end of term, have a relaxing holiday break, and then start thinking about running another book club.

I hope you enjoy the episode 😊

Welcome to another episode of the Education Enclave podcast.

This episode is a discussion of chapter 4 of Debbie Miller’s book, What’s the Best That Could Happen? New Possibilities for Teachers & Readers. 

While you can listen to this episode as a stand alone, the best experience will be if you’ve read the first four chapters, as well as listened to the earlier episodes where we discuss chapters 1 to 3.

The talented group that joined me in this episode are the following educators:

Dearnne Backhouse
Flick Curnow
Dee McNamee
Cassie Ryan
Elena Ziebell

The main focus of our discussion is the importance of going narrow and deep with our curriculum, as well as allocating as much time as possible to develop and take ownership of curriculum.

I hope you enjoy it 😊