Last Wednesday, 5 April, the Across School Leaders along with Jill Farquharson and Madeline Gunn met at Cornwall Park District School to strategically map out 2017 and beyond, using the Community of Learning Development Plans provided in the Ministry of Education resource 'Personalised Pathways for Kids: through quality teaching in Communities of Learning.' Close inspection of the Development Maps allowed us to find where we were in our journey in terms of the establishment and functionality of the Community, and give us direction in terms of our next steps. There were also some important questions that arose during the meeting relating to some of our responsibilities as leaders.
A number of goals arose following some robust discussion around each of the six domains. The plan is for these goals to eventually be turned into a more detailed action plan that will make up a lot of our work for the rest of the year.
There was also some discussion around the type of questions Madeline would be asking when she visited the schools. We worked together to refine these and were happy with the succinct and relevant nature of the end product.
Following this, we spoke of the importance of having some direction when working with the various ISL focus groups at our meetings throughout the term. What did we want to achieve with each group and what would be the basis for discussions? Some members of the team agreed to meet at EGGs in Week 11 to nut out the content and focus of these gatherings, starting early next term.
Furthermore, the Progress Indicators are being developed so that we can track and celebrate our progress during the year. These will be ready in draft form this term.
To finish, Alaric spoke briefly on the recent PCT meeting at Parnell Primary School. Apparently this was a valuable gathering for those at the start of their careers.
