During the holidays I looked at the calendar of events RHAC has planned for Term 2. There is so much on offer! If I went to every event and activity I would struggle to do much else! I happened to bump into a Senior School boy this week just after a soccer game which he proudly said RHAC won and that he had scored 2 goals. The energy, joy and satisfaction these extra curricular and sporting opportunities bring to students is so valuable for their future development and wellbeing.
RHAC’s 2026 - 2030 strategic intent document, which can be found on our website, speaks intentionally about relationships based on caring for each other.
- Students caring for their peers.
- Teachers caring for their students.
- Staff caring for each other.
I trust that the parent teacher meetings on Tuesday helped to strengthen teacher student relationships and deepen the care we give to our students. I was encouraged to hear several positive stories from parents and teachers during the day.
Teacher professional development is fundamental to the quality of education. If teachers teach well, and students respond by engaging in learning, academic outcomes improve. That is why Monday’s teacher professional development day was much appreciated by our staff. Mrs Stephanie Brown joined the college this year as our Head of Professional Practice. As the title implies, this role involves Mrs Brown working directly with teachers to refine what they do in the classroom to help ensure that students learn well and achieve good results.
This year, RHAC teachers started using the Great Teaching Toolkit. This is an excellent evidence-based professional learning package that gives every teacher a structured, personalised pathway to deepen teaching expertise. The toolkit emphasises 4 key areas:
- Understanding the content
- Creating a supportive environment
- Maximising opportunity to learn
- Activating hard thinking
The toolkit includes 360-degree feedback where teachers will receive feedback from their colleagues and read responses from student surveys. Feedback from students can sometimes be invaluable and make a great difference to their learning. Some time ago, I recall speaking to a student who said that he did not like Geography. I asked him why. Initially he wasn't sure, but then said that he did not understand the content because the teacher used “big words”. I shared the conversation with the Geography teacher who started using simpler language and it wasn’t long before the boy started enjoying the subject.
I am confident that this approach to teacher professional development will build on the excellent academic results we achieved last year in the HSC and the impressive academic work that our younger students are producing. I trust that everyone will have a great term ahead.
