EDvance Teaching Intensives at Dawson Park Primary School

The EDvance Teaching Intensives provides the opportunity for teachers to develop and practice high impact instruction strategies. Since the intensives began in 2018, more than 500 teachers have benefitted from the week-long program. With a growing appetite for high impact instruction in secondary schools, 2021 was the first year secondary teachers joined the program.  The total group comprising of more than 100 early childhood, primary and secondary teachers. 

Another unique component of the Teaching Intensive is the opportunity for the teachers to develop their new skills by practising with ‘real’ students.  In 2021, over 80 Dawson Park Primary School students were keen participants and returned to the classroom during their school holidays, to assist in the professional development program.  

Georgie Wynne, Fogarty EDvance Program Director highlights the approach taken for participants to improve their teaching practice, is well supported by research where “95% of teachers transfer new skills to their teaching practice after receiving ongoing coaching, feedback and support.”

“There is also significant evidence to support the successful application of high impact instruction, particularly for students from disadvantaged communities. Many practitioners are keen to develop skills in this area as part of their ‘toolkit’ for successful teaching.”  

“The teaching intensive program provides teachers with a deeper understanding of this evidence-based approach and hands-on experience in the delivery of high impact instruction. This is supported by lesson demonstrations and individualised coaching from expert leaders in the field.” 

The Fogarty Foundation established the EDvance Teaching Intensives to encourage teachers to adopt high impact instructional practices for the improved educational outcomes of West Australian students and works in partnership with Dawson Park Primary School, Dr Lorraine Hammond Associate Professor from Edith Cowan University and Brooke Wardana, an early years literacy expert. These experts are instrumental in the program design and delivery and are supported by a group of expert teachers in the delivery of lesson demonstrations, coaching, the provision of teaching resources and individualised support.

Dr Hammond said that teachers who follow an explicit or high impact instruction approach, demonstrate and model everything; from blending sounds together to decode words, to writing a complex sentence with figurative language.

“While some students achieve success quickly, others need far more opportunities for practice,” Dr Hammond said.

“Teachers who follow an explicit instruction approach provide daily reviews of previously learned knowledge and skills so they become automatic; they can then be applied to more complex tasks such as reading or writing a short story.

“Critics of explicit instruction typically argue it is a deficit model that sees students sitting passively in rows all day engaging in rote learning. This is a misunderstanding of explicit instruction, which when done properly, is engaging, and rarely done for extended periods of time.”

Annie Fogarty, Chairperson of the Fogarty Foundation, said the Foundation was committed to identifying, supporting and developing programs that deliver educational opportunities with wide impact.

“By investing in teachers, school leaders and school principals, we hope to inspire excellence and high-quality instruction in schools and improve educational outcomes for all West Australian students,” she said.

The Fogarty EDvance team love to celebrate the achievements of our hard-working school leaders, and last week, we had the wonderful opportunity to acknowledge our Cohort 4 schools and the significant improvements they made during their School Improvement Program.  

Lisa Rodgers, Director General of the Department of Education WA, congratulated the school leaders for their dedication to their school improvement journey, recognising the unique nature of the program and its focus on building leadership capabilities as the mechanism to improve student outcomes.  

Cohort 4 consisted of 14 schools, with approximately 70 school leaders with a direct impact on almost 8,000 students.  

“As a result of their sustained commitment and hard work, every school that participated has seen improvements in academic and social outcomes for their students, with 60% of schools in the cohort having seen significant improvements in student outcomes,” said Georgie Wynne, EDvance Program Director. 

Bernadette Jones, Principal of Bullsbrook College, spoke enthusiastically about her school’s journey with the Fogarty EDvance team. 

“My wonderful team engaged with the program completely. For the first time we gave ourselves permission as an executive team to leave the school and take the time to be completely present at EDvance sessions,” she said. 

“We connected closely with our mentor, Peter, and felt very safe and trusting of his capacity to mentor and counsel us. That counselling from an independent person, with no connections other than that of advancing us within the Fogarty program was special. 

“We engaged with the readings and the learnings. We engaged enthusiastically with The Transformation Framework, the School Development Document, McKinsey and the OHI. 

“We have now engaged with the Alumni and I really feel that the Alumni has the potential to be as potent for the program as was the time we had as Cohort 4. 

“On behalf of the executive teams from schools in Cohort 4, a very warm thank you to Ingrid from our first couple of years, Georgie, Daniella, Caitlin, Annie, Peter, and the wonderful principal mentors, Learning Bar (TTFM), McKinsey (OHI) and all those open minded individuals who see the value of levelling the playing field of opportunities for all children across all schools.”  

Many thanks to Lisa Rodgers, Director General of the Department of Education WA; Dr Tony Curry, Director of Leadership & Employee Services, CEWA; Naveen Unni, Managing Partner Perth Office, McKinsey & Co; Megan Enders, Fogarty Foundation trustee; our Fogarty Foundation Partners and supporters; School Leaders and their EDvance Mentors, for attending. 

You can see the schools achievements in the Cohort 4 Report Card. 

Greenbushes Primary School is in the town of Greenbushes in the South-West of Western Australia, between Donnybrook and Bridgetown. The school is very small, catering for just 40 students from Kindergarten to Year 6, but despite the school’s size, they are part of a proud community who love to see their students succeed.  

Greenbushes Primary School joined the Fogarty EDvance School Improvement Program in 2019 with the aim of advancing educational outcomes for their students. The leadership team saw the need to provide their staff with more professional development opportunities, best practice research and tools, peer support and access to experts and additional programs.

Greenbushes is home to Talison Lithium Pty Ltd (Talison) the world’s leading lithium minerals concentrate producer. The mine has been producing lithium from Greenbushes since 1983 and works closely with the Greenbushes community to deliver projects that create sustainable economic, social, and environmental outcomes. For this very reason, the school requested the support of Talison for its involvement in the Fogarty EDvance School Improvement Program.

Lifting the capacity of the school’s leadership team to work together to create a healthy school culture and plan strategically to lift students’ educational outcomes was considered to be a key aspect of seeing real and lasting benefits for the local community according to Talison General Manager Operations Craig Dawson.

“We are a residential site with approximately 88 percent of our workers living within a 50 km radius of the Mine, so we take a close interest in education in schools across the Warren Blackwood region,” said Mr Dawson.

“Talison’s support for the Greenbushes Primary School goes beyond just providing funding on an ad hoc or transactional basis, we are seeking to add real value to the sustainability of the school and in turn to each and every child attending the school.”

Craig Dawson, Talison general manager operations

“The sustainability of the school is also equally important to our business being able to attract and retain a high- quality skilled workforce,” he said.

“When people are considering career choices it is very often linked to outcomes for their families and having a quality educational resource for their children is top of the list,” he said.

“We came on board because we could see the staff and school community believed it would achieve outcomes for students and be a tool for school improvement across the board.”

CRAIG DAWSON, TALISON GENERAL MANAGER OPERATIONS

The Fogarty EDvance team recently interviewed Kylie Loney, Principal at Greenbushes Primary School, about the school’s partnership with Talison and how the partnership is providing the Greenbushes community with great hope for the school’s future success.

Why did you apply for the Fogarty EDvance program?

Although staff at Greenbushes Primary School are highly experienced and skilled, opportunities for professional learning and collaboration with other schools are significantly limited in regional areas. We have been faced with poor academic results in recent years, but have had little capacity for change, when faced with barriers such as the cost of bringing quality training to the area, sending staff to Perth, and funding relief to cover classes in a regular teacher’s absence.

Our decision to apply for Fogarty EDvance was spearheaded by acting Principal, Chris Mott in 2018, prior to my tenure, which commenced at the start of 2019. Throughout 2019, staff worked toward developing a vision for the type of school we wanted into the future, and the types of evidence-based programs and resources we wanted to implement along this journey. My own positive experience implementing Explicit Instruction and overhauling lesson design at my previous school, gave me an insight into the approach encouraged by Fogarty EDvance, and led me to believe that this was exactly the type of School Improvement Program we wanted to participate in.

Despite Fogarty EDvance being heavily subsidised by the Fogarty Foundation, involvement in the program was still out of reach for our school. Although we could have budgeted to take part in the program, we would have been left with insufficient funds to purchase evidence-based resources, send staff to relevant training, and release staff from class as required, to work on school improvement plans. This would mean that we would see limited progress, despite our work with the Fogarty EDvance team.

What is your connection with Talison Lithium?

Having fostered strong partnerships with Talison Lithium, its contractors, other local industries and community groups, the school made the decision to capitalise on these partnerships and request support from Talison for its involvement in the Fogarty EDvance School Improvement Program. Talison quickly agreed to this proposal, demonstrating an understanding that having a good local primary school can work in their favour and attract a young, vibrant, and stable workforce. The success of Greenbushes Primary School will support the success of Talison Lithium, and vice versa.

How are they supporting Greenbushes Primary School with the program?

Without the significant contribution of Talison, which pays our program fees, as well as relief days to cover staff attending Fogarty Professional Learning, our improvement plans would be difficult to enact. The Fogarty EDvance team provides excellent support and planning frameworks, but the plans are reliant on funding for resources, professional learning and staff support. Within the school budget, we’ve been able to allocate funds for these things, safe in the knowledge that Talison has committed to funding our involvement in the program for the full three years.

What do you hope to achieve over the next 3 years as a Fogarty EDvance school?

Over the three years in which we are involved in Fogarty EDvance, we expect to develop whole-school plans for all aspects of literacy (our first priority) and numeracy. We are already in the process of implementing Explicit Direct Instruction across all learning areas, with a strong focus on early literacy, using cognitive science to drive the implementation of systematic synthetic phonics. Significant progress is already being made, which is giving staff, students, parents, community members and Talison Lithium, great hope for the future of our school’s academic success.

This term, our Cohort 7 school leaders had an opportunity to visit one of three EDvance schools to discuss their school improvement journey and observe high impact instruction strategies in classrooms. Gilmore College, Greenfields Primary School and Warriapendi Primary School hosted leaders and teachers from 14 schools, all of whom found the visit extremely valuable as they look to implement changes to teaching and learning in 2021.

Each school planned a packed agenda including an introduction from the school leaders, an overview of their school improvement journey, and the option to visit several different classes in action, from Pre-Primary to Year 7.

Feedback from leaders and teachers was overwhelmingly positive:

“I had an awesome morning – it was amazing to hear your change journey, showing us that all the hard work is worthwhile.”

“I enjoyed the school visit very much. Teachers were engaged and students were well supported 10/10.”

“Thank you for the insights into your context, the work you’ve been undertaking and the wonderful results you are seeing. Inspirational!”

Alumni schools can access school visits offered as part of the EDvance program.  To register your interest, please contact Daniella Hassett – daniella.hassett@fogartyedvance.au

Georgie Wynne and Stacey Plaut from the Fogarty EDvance team, along with members of the Swan View Senior High School leadership team (Cohort 7), recently visited Coodanup College to gain an insight into how they have successfully established a safe, calm, and orderly learning environment. The team at Coodanup College talked through the processes and practices that they have implemented over the last 5 years to ensure that the school was a safe space for learning.

Coodanup College use Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) as their schoolwide behaviour framework, which has been implemented with high fidelity as reflected by their data. The PBS committee create pre-organised packs for teachers to teach the behaviour expectations relevant to that fortnight. When students demonstrate the ‘focus’ behaviour, they earn points through the VIVO reward system which they can use to purchase items from the VIVO store, such as:

• Stationery, stickers, books, etc.
• Choosing the song of the week, from a curated list, to replace the school bell
• Ball tickets / leavers jumpers.

The team from Swan View Senior High School found the visit inspiring and motivating.  Highlights included seeing PBS in action and learning about the transformation of the College through RUOK Day, the Year 6 transition process and the implementation of the Zones of Regulation program.

It is impressive to see how the leadership team at Coodanup College have been innovative in the way they have established and maintained a calm and orderly learning environment. Specifically, the creative use of VIVO points (eg ball tickets), the playground obstacle course for Autistic students, and the school therapy dogs. Of note was also how well student services processes and practices are integrated within the school community to ensure the behaviour framework is owned by all staff. 

Coodanup College is available to host school visits once per term. For more information or if you would like to schedule a visit, please contact Kelly Bennett – Principal (kelly.bennett@education.wa.edu.au).

Find out more about the implementation of PBS in Secondary Schools here.

Cohort 5 of the Fogarty EDvance School Improvement Program had their final workshop on 10 November. Throughout the 3-year program, nineteen schools attended sixteen workshops with support provided in the form of best practice research and tools, professional mentors, peer support, the development of a rich school data set, access to experts and additional programs, to support school improvement. 

During their final workshop, the school leaders shared their school’s change stories for their next 3 years, discussed their achievements over the past 3 years, shared effective practises and key learnings from other schools in the cohort, reflected on their learning experiences since the beginning of the program, and celebrated their successes.

Fogarty EDvance uses evidence-based research to support school improvement, bringing together the best tools from education, business, philanthropy, and the community sector. The School Improvement Program focuses on building the capacity of school leadership teams to make informed evidence-based decisions, strategically plan and ultimately, improve student outcomes. 

“We believe that with strong leadership, and a clear and prioritised strategic plan whole-school improvement can be achieved. We are incredibly proud of the progress these schools have made over the past 3 years, and we look forward to the ongoing impact this will have on the ~8,000 students across these schools in the future,” said Georgie Wynne, Fogarty EDvance Program Director.

“Our Cohort 5 schools now have access to a range of EDvance alumni activities through the FED Alumni Network. This will allow them to stay connected to ongoing professional learning and supports from the EDvance program, including a group of like-minded leaders who are passionate about improving education outcomes for children of all backgrounds in Western Australia.” 

The Fogarty Foundation established Fogarty EDvance to significantly improve and sustain academic outcomes of students in disadvantaged communities in Western Australia. To date, EDvance has worked with 96 schools spanning 7 cohorts, impacting over 300 school leaders, and 42,000+ students across Western Australia.

Congratulations to the following Cohort 5 schools who have successfully completed the Fogarty EDvance School Improvement Program:

Students from Thornlie Senior High School, Southern River College, Cannington Community and Lynwood Senior High School recently had the opportunity to observe and interact with the dynamic research scientists at The Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research.

Sponsored by the Fogarty Foundation and selected for their keen interest in Science, the Year 10 and 11 students were invited to take part in the BioDiscovery Centre’s Perkins Profs Program. They were guided by leading medical research scientists through the lab techniques and knowledge used to understand medical research. Lab sessions included staining cancer cells, amplifying genes, an introduction to bioinformatics, viral outbreak, protein identification and the use of nanoparticles for drug delivery.

The Harry Perkins Institute is a world leading medical research hub, conducting innovative research that translates into lasting health benefits. A key focus of the Institute is to engage community and school groups into the world of medical research, through the Lotterywest BioDiscovery Centre.

Since 2018, the Fogarty Foundation has been sponsoring the Perkins Profs program for students from EDvance schools, with the aim of inspiring students to work towards a successful STEM career. In total, the Foundation has supported more than 120 students to take part in the Perkins Profs program.

Teachers from Cohort 6 of the Fogarty EDvance School Improvement Program had some inspiring workshops on High Impact Instruction recently.

Expert teachers, Brooke Wardana and Anthony Chiappalone, facilitated an engaging workshop about High Impact Instruction in the primary context. They identified the difference between direct and explicit instruction, before working with participants on developing a firm understanding of lesson design components, including the importance of the daily review, and lesson delivery.

Brooke and Anthony have a wealth of teaching experience between them. They shared their teaching expertise with participants, providing explicit instruction lesson demonstrations in literacy and numeracy.

Dr Lorraine Hammond spoke about explicit instruction as an efficient and instructional approach to teaching and learning. She explained how daily review reduces cognitive load and builds automaticity and workshopped the elements of the Explicit Instructional Model, including TAPPLE and Engagement Norms.

High Impact Instruction (or Explicit Instruction) is instructional practice that incorporates both lesson delivery and lesson design where grade-level content is explicitly taught using engagement norms and frequent checks for understanding. Lesson delivery relates to how you present the content (i.e. read with me) and check for understanding (i.e. randomly selecting student responses using popsticks). Lesson design refers to how new content is organised, presented and modelled to students (i.e. Guided Practice followed by Independent Practice). Teachers will also provide daily reviews of previously learned knowledge and skills so they become automated. High Impact Instruction practices involve explicitly showing students what to do and how to do it.

Successful conversations and organisational health were the topics of conversation at Cohort 7s School Improvement Program workshop this week.

In order to improve educational outcomes at schools, particularly over a sustained period time, it is important that the school has a healthy culture. Organisations need a healthy culture in order to have long term, sustained improvements. When school leaders know how to focus on their organisational health, they can positively impact student performance.   With a solid understanding of their school culture they can address issues and continue to improve areas of strength. At times, this includes having constructive conversations with staff, which is why these topics are important elements of the EDvance program.

Dr Renu Burr, Director at Burr Consulting and UWA Lecturer, facilitated a very informative workshop about the role of successful conversations to lead effective teams and organisations. School leaders were encouraged to reflect upon the power of well-formed conversations to create a high performance-high engagement culture in their schools while implementing change.  They then used a practise framework to conduct learning conversations that set high expectations, built trust and influenced others.

Rachel Howard, Chief of Staff at the Minderoo Group and engaged by McKinsey & Company, encouraged participants to develop a deeper understanding of how organisational health can drive better performance outcomes. Rachel worked with the school leaders as they examined Frame 2 (Assessing underlying mindsets) and 3 (Architect responses to improve Organisational Health) of the McKinsey Organisational Health Framework.  By implementing actions from the Influence model leaders can get staff actions aligned in the direction of the overall strategic plan.  They also began drafting a ‘Change Story’ for effectively communicating their school’s change agenda.

The Fogarty EDvance School Improvement Program focuses on building the capacity of school leadership teams to make informed evidence-based decisions, strategically plan and ultimately, improve student outcomes.

To find out more, visit the Fogarty EDvance website or contact the team at info@fogartyedvance.au or +61 8 6316 1600.

Many EDvance primary schools are already utilising evidence-based approaches in their strategic plans to improve the literacy outcomes for their students. These approaches are also advocated for in the Primary Reading Pledge – schools may wish to review the proposed plan as part of the Pledge, as there is certainly a clear alignment.

In 2020, approximately 50,000 students around Australia began high school with insufficient literacy skills. This cohort had similar numbers of students demonstrating low literacy in NAPLAN in Years 3 and 5, indicating that for most of these children, difficulties with reading had been identified at two key stages in their primary schooling but had not been remediated. 

Research indicates that these students are half as likely to complete school as their peers and have serious life-long educational and social disadvantages. All school systems and sectors, authorities, and leaders are therefore being implored to take the necessary steps to implement the Primary Reading Pledge  and have all students reading by the end of primary school. 

Five from Five, AUSPELD and Learning Difficulties Australia have corroborated to develop the Primary Reading Pledge; an evidence-based and realistic plan for schools to dramatically reduce the number of children who finish primary school unable to read proficiently. This will be achieved by providing primary schools with the resources and training to provide effective assessment and intervention.

The Primary Reading Pledge:

“To reduce to near zero the number of children who finish primary school unable to read by providing primary schools with the resources and training to provide effective assessment and intervention.”

We encourage Fogarty EDvance schools to look at the primary reading pledge and see how this maps to the work outlined in their strategic plans.