kvs annual report - koonwarra village school kvs annual... · 2018-08-14 · kvs annual report 2017...

School No. 2082

Annual Report 2017

KVS Annual Report 2017

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Contextual Information

Koonwarra Village School (KVS) opened its doors on 13th February, 2012 in the former Koonwarra

Primary School buildings – 20-26 Koala Drive, Koonwarra. The school is an Independent primary school

offering enrolment for children in Foundation-Grade 6.

Profile of the Student Body

At the time of the Federal 2017 School Census, 17 boys and 32 girls were enrolled at the school.

None of the 49 students had Language Backgrounds Other Than English, were indigenous or had a

disability.

In 2017, the school’s Socio-Economic Score remained at 94. This score is calculated from the residential

addresses of KVS students which corresponds to a per-capita funding amount of 58.7% of the average

Government School’s recurrent cost figure.

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2

4

6

8

10

12

Foundation Grade 1 Grade2 Grade3 Grade4 Grade5 Grade6

Boys

Girls


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Koonwarra Village School Board

It gives me great pleasure to report on the work of the KVS Board for the 2017 Annual Report.

The role of the Board is one of strategic direction, policy review/development, oversight and acts as a

liaison between leadership, staff and parents/community members. The board is governed by a Board

Governance Charter and informed by the constitution of the school. We have also used the guiding

standards for governing by Australian Schools Board template to undertake a range of self-assessment

exercises to improve and guide the work of the board over time.

The Victorian Registration and Qualification Authority (VRQA) visited in April for the 5-yearly scheduled

review of our school. The review looked at the minimum standards and requirements for school

registration as well as how our academic programs are delivered. We then worked through the report

and updated any area requiring review with all items completed by the end of June. We found the

process very positive and encouraging.

As part of our board policy review process, we made some minor changes to several policies as well as

developed two new policies:

• Behaviour Management Policy

• Student Welfare Policy

• Bullying and Harassment Policy

• Reporting Policy

• Mandatory Reporting Policy

• Critical Incident Plan

• Anaphylaxis Management Policy

• First Aid Policy

• Privacy Policy

• OH&S Policy

• Off-site Student Supervision Policy

• On-site Student Supervision Policy

• Attendance Policy

• Working with Children Policy

• Digital Technologies Policy

• Emergency Management Plan

In 2017, we also finalised our strategic plan which informed the direction and priorities of KVS over the

year, which was welcomed by our board members.

Reports are provided by the School Coordinator and the Leader of Teaching and Learning and align to

our Strategic plan. While the work of the board is primarily policy driven, these reports give insight into

operational matters that inform our decisions.

The Board also adopted a wage-banding and allowance structure for KVS mentors and Rachel

Carruthers undertook the Grounds Master plan, completing the stakeholder requirements gathering

phase and presenting a visual concept of the many elements.

In 2017 our KVS board members included Fiona McKenzie, Alyson Skinner, Rebecca Cooke, George

Dimitropoulos, Rachel Carruthers and from September 2017, Jamie Sutherland. During this year, we

accepted Moragh Mackay’s resignation. I would like to acknowledge the contribution that Moragh

made to the KVS board during her term.


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It is wonderful to see the achievements of KVS detailed in our annual report and it continues to be a

pleasure to contribute to such a wonderful and inspiring independent school.

Alyson Skinner, KVS Chairperson


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Program Highlights

Koonwarra Village School uses the Victorian Curriculum as the basis of its academic program. The

school’s Philosophy and Guiding Principles outline the broader framework in which teaching and

learning occurs.

The Village School Curriculum is a series of additional programs and elements integrated across all the

features of school life and overviewed on our website

Learning Contracts

At the heart of our teaching and learning

model is a comprehensive (KVS-created)

framework that allows incremental

development of the skills and attributes

to become an Effective Learner.

Learning Contracts provide a framework

for teaching and learning at KVS. The

intention is to support children to

become independent and effective

learners.

Contracts include a range of core

numeracy and literacy tasks that can be undertaken by each child independently. The Foundation level

contracts are simple in nature and aim to develop children’s awareness of their ability to make choices

which lead to success. As the children’s skills develop, the complexity of the contract increases and

they begin to share the decision making with their mentor about the order and timing of their work

tasks (Guided Contracts). Over time, the level of guidance from the mentor reduces until children are

working as Autonomous Learners.

Learning Contracts

integrate with a

structured daily

timetable which

includes periods of

small group direct

instruction and whole

group activities.

Sample contracts and

the contract pathway

are on our website.

http://koonwarravillageschool.org/teaching---learning.html

http://koonwarravillageschool.org/assets/traits-of-an-effective-learner-checklist.pdf

http://koonwarravillageschool.org/assets/all-contracts.pdf

http://koonwarravillageschool.org/assets/contract-pathway.pdf


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Playgroup & Foundation Transition Group

Held each Friday morning, the KVS

playgroup allows families who are planning

on joining the KVS community to become

familiar with each other, the school’s

philosophy and routines. Jenneke Kijlstra-

Shone facilitated the program at Nirvana

Park, Koonwarra, with the group joining

the KVS community for morning tea.

Nature Journaling

Nature Journaling is the regular recording of

observations, perception, and feelings about the natural

world from first-hand experience. The intention for

including regular nature journaling sessions in our

program is to expose children to the value of the

connection between people and their environment. We

have found that it also helps to develop stillness in the

children as they tune in to the sounds, sights and smells

of nature.

In 2017, students visited Mossvale Park with a focus on perspective and produced journal entries of a distant scene and a detailed close-up. As part of an exploration of how built structures can sit in the natural environment, Level 2-6 students visited the Victorian Desalinisation Plant and the Bald Hills wind turbines.

Other field trips were to the Cape Liptrap lighthouse for the sensational views of the Bass coast and closer to home, the Koonwarra Nature Reserve, to participate in the Aussie Backyard Bird Count. In just over one week we counted 43 different bird species and a total of 309 individual birds.


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Personal Learning Projects (PLPs)

PLPs are a series of sign-up classes where students have the opportunity to learn and practise skills

beyond those offered through regular curriculum activities. Generally, two PLPs are offered to Triskel

students each cycle.

In 2017, the children signed up for a wide range of PLPs.

The year kicked off with a snorkelling PLP visiting

Inverloch Pier and Harmers Haven. Also offered at this

time was skateboard deck art which saw our students

design, draft and then paint their designs onto a

skateboard deck.

During the Firefighting PLP, student learnt all about fires,

fire safety, protective equipment and procedures. The

hands-on elements, including wearing fireman hats, using

the fire extinguishers and high-pressure hose were very

well-received.

The ‘Rolling with Dan’ PLP was popular and students got to

hone their skills on skateboards and scooters at both

Leongatha and Inverloch skate parks.

As the year progressed, a Group

Facilitation PLP was offered for students

who are interested in running the whole

school morning meetings and weekly

Parliament sessions. As facilitators,

students need to call on a wide range of

skills, from

problem

solving and

decision

making, to

group

management

and communication. The PLP concentrated on building skills in voice

control, public speaking, maintaining focus, body language and following

procedures.

Nearly all of the older years students signed up for the Terrarium PLP

which involved students creating individual terrariums with their own clay

figurines and beautiful miniature plants to personalise their miniature environments.


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For the first time, our younger years students (Foundation and

Level One) participated in PLPs. This included a Ukelele PLP as

well as offering a student-led PLP program where they took on

the role of Mentor and led their fellow students through an

activity they were particularly ‘sparked’ by. These included art

projects using a wide range of

mediums, Irish dancing, whistling,

marimbas and four-square.

A 2017 highlight was the Billy Cart

PLP where students from Levels 1-6

worked over a number of Cycles to

see their designs come to life.

One Act Plays

Each year, KVS participates in the One Act Play Festival in Foster. In 2017, older years students worked

throughout lunchtimes, at home and on camp to ensure they created and performed in two truly

fantastic One Act Plays which were performed at the KVS Mid-Winter Gathering (a whole school

community event) as well as the One Act Play Festival in Foster, held on Saturday 19th August. The

costumes and set design won an Outstanding Achievement Award as did Siera for her role as Liliana

and Indigo for her role as Moonshot. A Crown Does Not a Princess Make took out the Most Enjoyable

Production Award.


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Kitchen Garden

KVS’s extensive kitchen garden

continued to thrive in 2017. The

KVS kitchen garden curriculum

incorporates the Victorian

Curriculum and the Village

School Curriculum. It involves

garden and kitchen activities for

all the year levels and builds on

the skills and knowledge

acquired in the previous year. Many activities are related

to growing, harvesting and cooking as well as delving into

the world of food production and processing. Older

students set about building their own food processors – a

solar dehydrator for the Level 4s and 5s and a solar oven

for the Level 6s.

Resource Smart Schools

The ResourceSmart Schools initiative is delivered by Sustainability Victoria in partnership with the

Department of Education and Training. Schools work their way through five modules which take action

towards minimising waste, saving energy and water, promoting biodiversity and reducing greenhouse

gas emissions. The ongoing monitoring of our actions works towards both reducing school costs and

lessening our demand for natural resources.

KVS’s

involvement in

ResourceSmart

Schools is

showing great

results,

helping the

school

document and

display

achievements in resource efficiency. In August, ten students from KVS

attended the Do More With LESS conference (the “LESS” being an

acronym for Leaders in Environmentally Sustainable Schools). The event

was run by CERES from Melbourne and hosted by ResourceSmart

Schools at Wonthaggi North Primary School.


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KVS students spent the day with a student from four other schools, exploring key issues in

environmental sustainability, participating in a range of hands-on activities, and discussing what could

be done back at school to implement sustainability initiatives.

Over the next Term, students established Green Club with most of the

older years students signing up. Green Club then formed two groups,

Level 2-3 ‘Evergreen Team’ and Level 4-6 ‘Peregrinus’.

The Evergreen Team chose three sub-groups, looking at increasing habitat

at KVS for kookaburras, frogs and owls. Peregrinus (named after the ring-

tailed possum - Pseudocheirus peregrinus) had a focus of waste

management at school. With the help of Alison Taylor – Resource Smart

Coordinator, an audit was conducted of the school bins.

We also had the opportunity to attend the

ResourceSmart School Awards. KVS, for the second

year running, was a finalist, this year in the Energy

category for our solar dehydrators / ovens project.

Over six hundred schools from across Victoria

participated in the program. Six students from KVS

travelled to the Melbourne Museum for the Awards

ceremony.

Camps

Throughout the year there are

several camping excursions to

support personal learning

projects (PLPs) as well as

develop student’s

independence, confidence and

resilience.

An annual event that kicks-off

each year is the larger

community Family Camp

(FAMP). All students, their

parents and siblings get

together over 3 days for a mix of

structured activities and

connection as a community. In

2017, FAMP was held at the

Yanakie Caravan Park.


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The camps continue to be as diverse as

the interests of the students and in

2017 included snorkeling at

Mornington Peninsula, hiking at

Wilsons Prom and for the first time, a

Camp exchange with Fitzroy

Community

School. In the first

half of 2017, a

group of ten

students and two

teachers from

Fitzroy Community

School (FCS)

joined in with class presentations and other activities. FCS camped in the

Art Shed and experienced the KVS-way as well as sharing some of their

favourite activities. This was the beginning of a collaboration with a like-

minded alternative school and a chance for some city-country sharing.

Some lovely friendships were forged as well. In the second half of 2017,

ten KVS students visited Fitzroy Community School.

The 2017 camp program wrapped up with our Grade 6 camp. Grade 6

students celebrate their final year together by firstly choosing a

destination for their camp and then fundraising. This year they chose

Walhalla.

Honey Harvest Day

KVS has its own beehives and as part of our Kitchen Garden

Program, students learn why bees are important to the environment

and how to care for them. In 2017 we had our inaugural Honey

Harvest Day to celebrate the annual harvest of honey from our

hives. Students and mentors dressed as bees, flowers, pollen and

pots of honey. Students spent the morning in a range of honey and

bee-based activities after a costume parade accompanied by honey

and bee tunes. Older students tasted a wide range of honey, tested

their bee-wisdom in a bee quiz and crafted pom-pom bees. The

younger students sang bee songs and played bee hoop games.


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KVS Film Night

This year KVS older year students entered the ACMI Screen It! competition.

This involved students creating stop motion or live animation movies

around the theme of Time. Groups started off by looking at basic

techniques, photo angles and inspiring examples. The groups then created

a storyboard of their ideas, developed sets and characters and wrote

scripts. There were three filming stations set up and each group spent

several hours creating films. After the filming, students edited their work

and added a soundtrack or voiceovers. All the films were showcased at our

school community Film Night.

2017 Graduates

Five students graduated in

2017. Students will attend

Korumburra High School,

Leongatha High School, Foster

Secondary College and Chairo

Christian College in

Leongatha. One student is

attending a secondary school

in Melbourne following their

family move at the end of the

year.

The group was sent off with a

rousing Graduation Ceremony

and dinner at the school.

Staff

Five teachers were employed for classroom duties in 2017. Sarah Maclean (B.Sci, Grad. Dip. Ed.

(Primary)) worked part-time with children in the Grade 2-6 group, Sandra Mayne (B. Ed, Grad. Dip. Ed.

(Teacher-Librarian)) worked full-time with children in Foundation-Grade 1 for Semester 1 and Jasmine

Wales (B.Ed (Early Childhood)), worked part-time for the 2nd Semester. Daniel Rosen (B. Arts, Grad Dip.

Ed. (Primary)) held the role of specialist teacher, working across the school in PE, Humanities and

Digital Technologies for Semester 1. Marni Speed (B. Applied Science, Grad. Dip. Ed. (Secondary)) held

the role of specialist teacher, working across the school in Science and Nature Journaling and Brad

Kijlstra-Shone (B. Sci, Grad. Dip. Ed. (Secondary)) as a specialist teacher focused across the whole

school on our Kitchen Garden program and for Semester 2, PE. Brent Crowley (Master of Teaching


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(Primary), B. Design (Multimedia)) joined us from Semester 2 and delivered Digital Technologies and

Specialist Maths.

Children in both classes were supported during the year by classroom assistant – Dinah Brownfield.

Fiona McKenzie (B.Com, Grad. Dip. Ed. (Primary)) was responsible for administration activities and

facilities and was assisted by Philippa Lloyd, Belinda Gray, Shannon Letcher and Natasha Rhodes. The

kitchen was coordinated by Kylie Box at the beginning of 2017 and Jacqui Haysom for the remainder of

2017, and Jenneke Kijlstra-Shone coordinated the KVS playgroup.

None of the staff identified themselves as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent

.

L-R: Shannon Letcher, Brent Crowley, Fiona McKenzie, Belinda Gray, Lizzie Price, Sarah Maclean, Brad

Kijlstra-Shone, Jasmine Wales, Marni Speed, Dinah Brownfield, Scott Egan, Natasha Rhodes.

Absent from photo: Philippa Lloyd, Jacqui Haysom

Staff Feedback

All teaching staff participated in Professional Conversations during the year which provided a formal

opportunity to provide feedback to the School Coordinator and Leader of Teaching and Learning about

their work experience. Mentors discussed issues such as work-life balance, timing and number of

planning days during the year.

During 2017, Mentors employed in the second half of the year were involved in a feedback session

about their Induction and our Induction checklist has been adjusted to reflect recommended additions.

All Mentors contributed to the information gathering for our Master Grounds Plan.

In October a Staffing Questionnaire was distributed which enabled Mentors to directly state their

preferred teaching levels, learning areas and days of work for the following year. This information was

used to prepare the timetable and spread of teaching responsibilities in 2018.


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VRQA Review

The Victorian Registration and Qualification Authority (VRQA) visited in April for the 5-yearly scheduled

review of our school. The review looked at the minimum standards and requirements for school

registration as well as how our academic programs are delivered. We then worked through the

reviewer’s report and updated any area requiring modification by the end of June. We found the

process very positive and helpful.

Grounds Master Plan

KVS has been enjoying the great new facilities from our 2016 building project and during 2017 we

began the design and consultation planning for a Stage 2 building project to extend the Triskel learning

space as well as an improved kitchen and kitchen garden spaces. We also undertook the requirements

gathering for our Master Grounds Plan which involved consultation with students, staff and families.

This has been led by Rachel Carruthers (Board member and parent).

Community Feedback

Parents and students have various forums in which to feedback their level of satisfaction on the

programs and operations of the school. The weekly whole school parliament allows students the

opportunity to input suggestions into the development of school activities and programs.

In June and December, parents were involved in formal meetings (20 minutes) with a panel of staff

members to discuss their child’s academic performance. This is also an opportunity for staff to receive

parents’ response to the semester’s activities. A presentation night is held in conjunction with the

distribution of Triskel students’ written reports. The activities on the night showcase learning activities

from the curriculum areas of Art, Science, Digital Technologies, PE and our Kitchen Garden program.

The aim of the evening is to give families a more experiential understanding of the skills their children

have developed during the semester. For Sun Room students, a presentation afternoon was held on

the last Friday of each cycle where children presented their work as a group and then showed their

parents their portfolios which include photos and work samples and teaching information including the

learning intention and skill development for each child.

Teachers maintain regular contact with parents via email, phone calls or direct contact after school

throughout the school year to ensure the flow of information between home and school is timely and

frequent. In the first week of Cycle 2, a Triskel Orientation session was held for new Triskel parents.

The purpose of the session was to overview how the Triskel space works and to give parents an insight

and understanding to the thought and consideration that goes into how the room is resourced,

structured and set out. It also allowed a chance to overview the contract pathway and to discuss the

strategies that were in place to support all students to develop their effective learning skills.

The first Friday of each school cycle a whole school parent meeting is held to cover a range of topics

and for parents to feedback any queries or concerns.


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Student attendance

The attendance rate of all full-time students who were enrolled at KVS for the whole year was an

average of 91.71%. Some students were absent for longer than usual periods of time due to overseas

and domestic travel and with a small cohort of students this can affect the overall percentage.

When a child is absent, parents are expected to notify a staff member by phone call, email, text

message or direct contact. If no contact has been received from parents, and a child is away for more

than one day, staff contact the parents to determine the cause of the absence.

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40

50

60

70

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90

100

Foundation grade 1 grade 2 grade 3 grade 4 grade 5 grade 6

Boys

Girls


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Student Outcomes

Written reports relating to student academic progress were provided to parents in June and

December, covering all learning areas as well as Self-Directed Learning and Social and Emotional

Learning. These reports were accompanied by a parent/teacher/student meeting, scheduled for all

families.

NAPLAN testing

Student Participation Withdrawn from Test

Grade 3 100% 0%

Grade 5 100% 0%

All students in eligible grade levels were prepared for the testing in the weeks prior to NAPLAN which

was held in May, 2017.

The small number of participants in some year levels means that results fall below the reporting

threshold therefore no data is available for comparison with previous years testing. KVS will continue

to support NAPLAN and other types of outcomes testing to ensure student achievement in all areas of

the curriculum.

Income by Funding Source

$172,460

$476,794

$133,589

$12,582

2017 Income

Tuition Fees (22%)

Commonwealth Govt.Recurrent (60%)

State Govt. Recurrent (17%)

Other (2%)

kvs annual report - koonwarra village school kvs annual... · 2018-08-14 · kvs annual report 2017...

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