Conservatorium High School Annual Report

24 Pages·2016·1.75 MB·English

by  Belcastro, Antonietta

Conservatorium High School
Annual Report

8147
Introduction
The Annual Report for 2015 is provided to the community of Conservatorium High School as an account of the
school’s operations and achievements throughout the year.
It provides a detailed account of the progress the school has made to provide high quality educational
opportunities for all students, as set out in the school plan. It outlines the findings from self-assessment that reflect
the impact of key school strategies for improved learning and the benefit to all students from the expenditure of
resources, including equity funding.
Dr Robert Curry
Principal
School contact details:
Conservatorium High School
Conservatorium of Music,
1 Conservatorium Rd
Sydney, 2000
http://conhigh.nsw.edu.au/
[email protected]
[phone]
Message from the Principal
In the year of the centenary of the NSW State Conservatorium of Music (1915-2015), the Con’s secondary arm, the
Conservatorium High School, maintained consistently high standards in public performance and found itself
inundated with record numbers of students applying for entry in 2016. In the academic domain, however, the
school’s HSC results were markedly weaker than those of the previous year. As the data presented in this Report
attest, the school’s scholastic achievements remained of a quality that marks it out as one of the State’s top
schools. Analysis of these data also revealed ample ‘room for improvement’ – indeed, more so than one might
have expected.

The school welcomed the implementation of the School Excellence Framework with its emphasis on evidence-
based strategies for improvement. A considerable amount of staff time was devoted to coming to grips with the
Framework’s long-term implications for this school and to giving impetus to strategies designed to realise the goals
and benchmarks articulated in the first year of the School Plan 2015-2017.

In the historic year of the Conservatorium’s centenary the school, too, wrote a new page in its history. Mrs Linda
Hurley, wife of the Governor of New South Wales, honoured the Conservatorium High School with the bestowal of
her Vice-regal patronage. Our Patron graciously accepted the school’s proposal that a special student ensemble be
formed which would play at our Patron’s request. And so came into being Mrs Hurley’s Consort; it performs at
Government House.

Dr Robert Curry
Principal
Message from the School Captain and Vice-Captain
2015 saw many wonderful student-run, fundraising events throughout the year. Some highlights includes the
“World’s Greatest Shave” which drew admirable participation from many senior students.

It was also a year in which the Student Representative Council [SRC] devoted much time to the raising awareness of
the topic of mental health, especially in young people. Mindful that mental health issues had not previously been
taken up by the SRC they decided to host a number of highly successful fundraisers for various mental health
organisations, for example, ‘Beyond Blue’ and ‘Black Dog Institute.’ The ‘Exit-By-Donation’ initiative at school
concerts and events succeeded in raising substantial funds for these worthy organisations. The Con High’s
wonderful running team also participated in City2Surf. Our team nominated ‘Batyr,’ a organisation which the SRC
chose because it believes in supporting lesser-known organisations. The school also benefitted from visitors and
advocates of mental health organisations. Twice last year, students had the opportunity to ask questions about the
real life events of mental health survivors. On R U OK Day, students and teachers alike contributed to a mural
saying what made them happy. The school managed to raise significant funds for these organisations.

2015 was also a great year in regards to the school’s social life, with the continuation of group activities that have
now become annual events: Trivia Night and the Amazing Race. During these events, students seized the
opportunity to demonstrate their leadership and teamwork skills, as well as displaying their great enthusiasm for
participation.
Last year, the new student-run drama club similarly demonstrated strong participation, exhibiting a love for theatre
and acting, while also making a valuable contribution to the success of the year 10s’ workshop-production of
“Shrek”.

We hope that these many events will be able to continue in 2016, and further wish a successful year to Dominic
and Kyra in their roles as School Captain and School Vice-Captain.

Ms Jane Anderson and Mr Nathan Moas, 2015 School Captain and School Vice-Captain

Message from the School P&C
The desire of every student at the Conservatorium High School is to be involved in music. Our students embrace
and thrive on the challenges that are presented to them at school because they want to be a part of the school.
Similarly, the opportunity to embrace the life of the Con High is available to all parents. Our own special section at
the Con High is the P&C. It takes a certain amount of Hutzpah to be involved in the functioning and progress of a
school. For many years the P&C has partaken in activities that either directly or indirectly benefit the school and its
students. Parents can be effective through the structure, formality and ethics of the P&C. It is at our meetings that
parents can meet to listen and learn about what is going on in the school and are free to raise and discuss issues
that affect our children. No school is wonderful or great by itself. It takes measured discussion, advocacy, and
tolerance on the part of every parent, student, staff member and school leader. By stepping outside the ‘comfort
zone’ parents can and should be a vital part of the continuity building a great school for our students.
In 2015 the P&C supported the school community in a range of ways-
- providing parent buddies for new parents
- maintaining the ever useful parent contact book, known as the Buzz Book
- providing the supplementary music program of the Soloist Concerts
- providing funding for Chess tutor and school house advisor roles
- providing funding for instruments or equipment as needed
- provided furniture for the canteen area
- sourcing, funding and managing the provision of a school canteen
- hosting afternoon tea to recruit members
- hosting the Welcome BBQ for new families and
- the Welcome to New Year Aesops party.
Like any organisation, the P&C depends on the key leadership of its executive. I’d like to thank most sincerely the
executive team of 2015: George Fong & Chris Batt (Vice Presidents), Val Simkins (Secretary), Cameron Nolte
(Treasurer), Binny Harris (Minutes secretary). Thank you to the Parent Coordinators who have worked behind the
scenes: Jo Blagg (Webmaster), Greg Thiele (Newsletter Editor), Bridget Quirk (Cafe & Canteen Coordinator), Eileen
Leather (Buzz Book coordinator), Val Simkins (Soloists’ Concert Coordinator) & Mary Loxley (Uniform Liaison). Year
Group Parent Coordinators are a vital link to all parents, thank you to Lindy Greenfield, Rosemary Quy Jenkins,
Elana Morgulis, Rachel Tsang, Jude Powell Thomas, Cherry Dutton, Cathy Davis and Greg Thiele. 2016 brings the
challenges of the constant need for parental involvement. This should not be a challenge to any of us if we care
about our students and the school. If you have a concern, question or idea, it will be up to you to raise it. If you’d
just like to come and help in any way, large or small, welcome! Our P&C really does make a difference to the lives
of all the students at our school.
Ms Linda Cumines, P&C President 2015

School background
School vision statement
The Conservatorium High School was established in 1918 as the secondary arm of the NSW State
Conservatorium of Music. The school is dedicated to the education of the whole musician; it remains the
State’s only specialist music high school. The school affords students a breadth of experience and training in
all aspects of music while providing them with an excellent, broadly-based secondary education.

School context
The Conservatorium High School is part of the NSW public school network with a net enrolment of 165
students. They are drawn from the greater Sydney region and from around the State. The composition of the
student body reflects the cultural and ethnic diversity of our region.
Staffed and administered by the NSW Department of Education, the school also avails itself of the
pedagogical expertise of top professional musicians and teachers, resident and visiting, many of whom are
employed by the Conservatorium’s tertiary arm, the Faculty of Music of the University of Sydney. In addition
to its special relationship with the University, the Conservatorium High also has strategic partnerships with
such music & educational institutions as Gondwana / Sydney Children’s Choir, Sydney Youth Orchestras, the
Penrith Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Choirs, the Australian National Choral Association and the
Kodály Music Education Institute of Australia.

Self-assessment and school achievements
NAPLAN 2015
The National Assessment Program tests all students in years 3, 5, 7, and 9 in literacy and numeracy development.
These tests provide rich information for parents, teachers and schools on individual student performance. From this
information, teachers and schools are able to identify areas of strength and where assistance may be required.
NAPLAN provides a single national scale of achievement across 10 bands from years 3 to 9.
As a student advances through the years, it is possible to see how much progress a student has made in their skill
development in literacy and numeracy. Typically, an individual student would move up the scale the equivalent of
one band between tests. This is not constant across the national scale as student achievement increases more
rapidly between years 3 and 5 and slows between years 7 and 9.
Year 7 starts at band 4 and ends at band 9. Year 9 commences at band 5 and finishes at band 10. For year 7, band 5 is
the national minimum standard while for year 9 it is band 6. At this level, students have acquired the basic elements
of literacy and numeracy required to participate in school at year 7 and year 9 levels respectively.
The performance in literacy development is broken down into Reading, Writing, Spelling and Grammar and
Punctuation. In Numeracy, students are assessed looking at Data, Measurement, Space and Geometry. Staff and
parents gain valuable information about the overall progress of individual students by analysing this data. Programs
of remediation and extension are developed in response. Please see specific data on these programs in the School
Performance section towards the end of this report.

HSC 2015
In the Higher School Certificate, the performance of students is reported in bands ranging from Band 1 (lowest) to
Band 6 (highest).
Compared to the State averages, Conservatorium High School students achieved excellent results in the 2015 HSC.
Compared to the 2014 results, however, our results were not as we would have expected.
There are many contributing factors in a school as small and as diverse as Con High, and with a 2015 Yr 12 cohort of
27 students and some very small classes, a great deal of the data is statistically insignificant and/or cannot be shared
in order to meet privacy regulations. Please see specific data on these programs in the School Performance
section towards the end of this report.

Self-assessment using the School Excellence Framework [SEF]
This section of the Annual Report outlines the findings from self-assessment using the School Excellence
Framework [hereafter SEF], our school achievements and the next steps to be pursued. The Framework
supports public schools throughout NSW in the pursuit of excellence by providing a clear description of high
quality practice across the three domains of Learning, Teaching and Leading.
This year, our school undertook self-assessment using the elements of the School Excellence Framework.
Learning: Evidence gathered over a number of years indicates that one of the most significant
impediments to student learning at the Conservatorium High is the level of students’ command of written
English. By engaging all Stage 4 students in the ACER Progressive Achievement Tests in reading and
spelling, and in punctuation and grammar we have been able to gauge the baseline of skills and
achievement of our junior students and to more accurately measure improvement over time. These tests
were undertaken in conjunction with the formal assessment of English Language Proficiency. More than
70% of Con High students are of a language background other than English and we have tailored learning
strategies to take account of this fact. (see SEF Learning, elements: “Wellbeing”, “Curriculum and Learning”
and “Sustaining and Growing” and SEF Teaching, element: “Data Skills and Use” - Delivering)
NAPLAN , HSC and SEF Data gathered demonstrate that CHS students are all achieving above national
benchmarks for all components measured; however, not all students are improving at the rate expected
i.e., achieving the degree of Value Adding. (see SEF Learning, element: “Student Performance Measures” -
Delivering.)
Responses to this evidence and our evaluation of it are to be found in the teaching domain.
Student wellbeing was enhanced through the piloting of a Year 7 Transition Program which saw the
Learning and Support Teacher [LaST] contact all primary feeder schools for incoming Year 7 2015 students.
Primary school teachers were asked to provide information about the social, cultural, academic and
learning characteristics of the incoming students. This information was then tabulated and provided to staff
at the commencement of 2015. This initiative has allowed for increasingly personalised and evidence-based
teaching and learning to take place in Stage 4. (SEF Learning, elements: “Wellbeing”, “Curriculum and
Learning” – Delivering). The LaS Team improved teacher communication through utilising Google Docs to
gather and analyse student data.
Additionally, the Learning and Support Team developed and workshopped a ‘Learning and Support Policy’
that outlined the different processes teachers are to follow when dealing with student behavioural,
academic and welfare issues. (SEF Learning, elements: “Wellbeing”, “Curriculum and Learning” –
Delivering).
In preparation for the introduction in 2016 of the Literacy Continuum and Common Programming
Proforma, the Literacy Co-ordinator drew on data from 2014 to create a whole-school approach to literacy
that focused on developing skills at a whole-text level. This approach was piloted in Stage 4 and saw the
Literacy Co-ordinator working with faculties and Head Teachers to develop assessment tasks and
corresponding programs the prime focus of which was developing students’ command of specific types of
texts. To support this initiative, the Literacy Co-ordinator designed a comprehensive teacher resource
entitled, “Scaffolding for Writing Success - a building blocks approach to literacy skills across the
curriculum”. This program also began “building the blocks” for school-wide explicit teaching and assessing.
(see SEF Learning, elements: “Assessment and Reporting” - Delivering, and SEF Teaching, element:
“Effective Classroom Practice” - Delivering).

Teaching: Internal data from Term 4, 2014 indicated that literacy continued to be seen primarily as
the responsibility of the English Faculty, despite the Department’s oft-repeated position that "literacy is
everybody's business". The Literacy Co-ordinator designed a program and ancillary resources called,
'Scaffolding for Writing Success: a building blocks approach to literacy'. The Co-ordinator then worked with
Head Teachers and faculties to create and refine appropriate assessment tasks, utilising the Stage 4 Literacy
Programming Proforma (see SEF Teaching, element: “Collaborative Practice” - Delivering).
The Conservatorium High was selected to participate in the Secondary Literacy Leaders Network. From this
initiative the Literacy Co-ordinator formed a ‘Selective School Literacy Network’ as a medium for
networking with schools that confront similar literacy issues. This work of this network will benefit our
implementation in 2016 of the Literacy Continuum and further development of programming proforma.
(see SEF Teaching, element: “Collaborative Practice” - Delivering). Our inter-school collaboration was
further enhanced through a collegial working relationship with school leaders at North Sydney Girls’ High
School (see SEF Teaching, element: “Collaborative Practice” – Sustaining and Growing).
The DP, ESL Teacher, LaST and Literacy Coordinator all undertook training in Teaching English Grammar to
assist all staff refresh their conversance with grammar. While this approach met with a measure of success,
it became apparent that the great majority of staff needed specific training to help them teach students the
literacy skills required of students classified as having ‘English as a Second Language or Dialect.’ Half of the
school’s academic staff undertook the Teaching English Language Learners Course [TELL] with a view to
improving their skills in this very important area. The remaining half will undertake the TELL course in 2016.
(see SEF Teaching, element: “Effective Classroom Practice” - Delivering)
The school executive team spent a day working with members of the Department’s High Performance
Directorate designing an approach to Explicit Teaching and Assessment specific to the educational needs of
our students. This was workshopped with the whole executive across 2 days of Professional Development.
These approaches were then worked into the Faculty Professional Development Half-Days that take place
during the Intensive Rehearsal Periods at the ends of term.
These two areas of Professional Development have resulted in the development of common Assessment
Proforma for Stages 4, 5 & 6, and Programming Proforma and the inclusion of “Literacy Markers” from the
Literacy Continuum and explicit Literacy criteria in every Stage 4 Assessment task for 2016. (SEF TEACHING
Elements “Collaborative Practice” & “Learning and Development” - Sustaining and Growing)

Leading: As a part of our ongoing improvement of Leadership at the Conservatorium High School we
conducted a survey of the school community with a view to ascertaining options for developing leadership
capacity in staff. We re-designated Head Teacher roles, initiated a system of Area Coordinators, and re-
designed the management of the Music Program to afford staff broader leadership opportunities.
We re-designated one Head Teacher position from Maths/Science to Administration in order to better
accommodate the needs of the school. The previous incumbent of the Maths/Science HT role generously
agreed to continued as HT – Maths without taking remuneration for the higher duties. The roles of area co-
ordinator started in 2015: Literacy Co-ordinator, Science Co-ordinator, and Kodály Pedagogy Co-ordinator.
To these was should be added the co-ordinating role entitled, Director of Choral and Vocal Studies
established a number of years earlier. (see SEF Leading, elements: “School Resources”; Sustaining and
Growing and “School Planning, Implementation and Reporting” - Sustaining and Growing)
The Music Program at Conservatorium High School, the core focus of the State’s specialist music school,
has undergone significant change over the last few years and the greater demands occasioned by these
changes are reflected in the upgrading of the position from “Assistant Manager – Music Program.” 2015 to
“Manager – Music Program.” With this upgrading of the role comes greater attention to projecting the
school’s mission to a wider audience (our external perspective) while at the same time strengthening and
expanding existing relationships with “partners” organisations, all of which serves to enhance educational
outcomes for our students. (see SEF Leading, element: “School Planning, Implementation and Reporting”; -
moving towards Excelling)
Our end-of-year strategic review made it clear to us that we needed a Head Teacher to oversee the
Teaching & Learning portfolio, as well as Administration. Consequently, we conducted an in-school
Expression of Interest process to fill this position (see SEF Leading, element: “Leadership” - Sustaining and
Growing)
The review also highlighted the need for more focussed leadership of and by the students. Two programs
were initiated and are being trialled in 2016, viz.:
1: Year Advisers in conjunction with our current House Patrons system, and
2. Re-balancing of the leadership team on the Student Representative Council.
The House Patrons (appointed after an Expression of Interest and selection process) were part of the
review team that looked into ways to achieve more effective leadership of student learning. After a number
of models were proposed to the school, it was agreed that the three House Patrons would take on two Year
Groups, one “junior” and one “senior”. The Year Adviser would, in subsequent years, follow these students
through to their graduation, becoming a leader of the group of students and a person to contact for
parents.
The re-balancing of the SRC ensured that Yr 12 do not overwhelm the SRC by having a majority of the 18
voices on the Council. The 6 House Captains may attend the SRC if they wish (at least one member from
each House must attend) but all are not required to attend at one time. The SRC is of the view that these
changes will accommodate Year 12 House Captains wishing to attend and, at the same time, will also
encourage other year groups and younger voices to actively engaged in discussion (see SEF Leading,
element: “Management Practices and Processes” - Sustaining and Growing)
These two strategies will be trialled in 2016 and be reviewed for their effectiveness towards the end of
2016.
The Senior Executive established, by way of a “Distributed Leadership” model, a Curriculum Leadership
Team to develop, refine, implement and review the school’s agreed Strategic Directions. Weekly meetings
ensured the momentum for change did not slack and that due attention was given to documenting
progress towards strategic milestones.
Our self-assessment process will further assist the school to refine the strategic priorities articulated in our
School plan and lead to further improvements in the delivery of education to our students.
Strategic Direction 1
A consistent approach to Literacy Teaching & Learning
Purpose
To ensure maximum effectiveness in the teaching of literacy it must be done systematically and explicitly in
all Key Learning Areas and the approach staff adopt must be consistent.
If all students are to achieve the literacy standards stipulated in Stage 6 the requisite skills must be
inculcated systematically starting in Year 7, i.e., students must be given appropriately sequenced
scaffolding.
Students must be equipped with the requisite literacy skills that will enable them to write, comprehend
and orally explicate intellectually challenging texts of a standard comparable with those used at the top
academically selective schools.
Overall summary of progress

Did we do what we planned?
Our Literacy focus for 2015 centred on developing whole-school approaches to the explicit and systematic
teaching of Literacy. As such, we developed the Programming and Assessment Proformas which guided
teachers through the process of selecting relevant literacy outcomes and scaffolding learning to achieve
these outcomes. Significant time was spent workshopping the Programming and Assessment Proformas at
executive and faculty levels to encourage whole school ownership.
Our explicit teaching was informed by significant testing undertaken by the ‘English as Another Language
or Dialect’ [EAL/D] teacher. Literacy weaknesses in individual students and in whole-cohorts were identified
and addressed through individual instruction, whole class remediation, and teacher professional learning.
Teacher professional learning was an essential component in the development of Programming and
Assessment Proformas. The Literacy Coordinator ran a number of Teacher Professional Learning sessions
that focused on scaffolding writing skill and the Literacy Continuum. In addition, the EALD teacher
conducted a session on EAL/D strategies in the classroom. Staff were given the opportunity to participate in
the TELL Course.
Did it have the planned impact?
Both of the following goals were achieved; evidence was collated and tabled at the Staff
Development Days in Term 4 during which all faculties presented their Programming and Assessment
Proformas.
1. To have teachers confident in being able to embed literacy strategies into their subject area
2. To have in place administrative and pedagogical systems adequate to provide support for explicit
literacy teaching throughout the school in 2016.

Resources
Progress towards achieving improvement measures
(annual)
<$>
Improvement measure Progress achieved this year
(to be achieved over 3
years)
100% of staff trained in 50% of staff undertook TELL training. $900 (course
TELL. CHS will host the TELL course for the remainder of staff
in Semester 2, 2016. facilitator)
100% of HTs are All HTs and Coordinators engaged in the development of $985 (3 days of
engaging in sharing the the Programming and Assessment Proformas during casual funding)
development of Curriculum Leadership meetings. 2016 will see the focus
proformas in ‘Executive shift to the implementation and evaluation of the
Sharing’. Programming and Assessment Proformas.
All KLAs use All KLAs developed Programming and Assessment $3000
Programming and Proformas and shared these at the Term 4 staff
(10 days of casual
Assessment Pro-formas development day. 2016 will see the focus shift to the
funding)
in Stage 4. implementation and evaluation of the Programming and
Assessment Proformas.
80% of staff seeking Testing, identification and building staff capacity was the $1550 (5 days of
assistance from EAL/D focus of the EALD teacher in 2015. Approximately 30% of casual funding)
teacher to modify staff sought her expertise in modifying assessments.
programs and
assessments.
CHS achieves 80% of the Teachers were made aware of the DoE Literacy Matrix, 0
‘Sustaining level’ targets which consequently moved us from ‘Starting out’ to
in the DoE Literacy ‘Developing’. 2016 will see the evaluation take place.
Matrix.

Next steps
• Implement and evaluate the Programming and Assessment Proformas.
• Implement and evaluate the Literacy Continuum Data Wall for Stage 4.
• Focus on Quality Teaching Rounds as a means of teacher professional learning.
Strategic Direction 2
A consistent approach to 21st Century Teaching & Learning Skills
Purpose
For 21st-century learners ‘being literate’ entails more than just general conversance with technology. It
means engaging creatively to the full with Information Communication Technology [ICT] pedagogy and the
ever-expanding potential of the digital environment. It entails broadening the scope of programs to include
critical thinking and collaborative skills designed to equip students for a broad spectrum of post-secondary
destinations.
Overall summary of progress

Did we do what we planned?
During 2015 the Strategic Direction 2 Committee determined to increase the use of the Library Learning
Centre, to develop a Bring Your Own Device Policy for the purpose of teaching and learning, to Increase
staff TPL relating to 21st century teaching and learning skills, and to monitor staff confidence in using 21st
teaching-and-learning skills.

Did it have the planned impact?
In 2015 the Library Learning Centre became the central hub of teaching and learning at Conservatorium
High School. A large number of classes came to utilising the space most effectively. The purchase of two
LED smartboards further consolidated the use of the learning centre and enabled both staff and students
to benefit not only from the use of technological tools but also from improved 21st teaching-and-learning
skills.
The BYOD Policy is currently in draft format. A BYOD portal has also been developed to accompany this
policy.
Staff TPL has been provided by internal and external trainers. Staff have benefited greatly from the
experience - many now utilise Google Apps in their daily classroom routines. Staff confidence has also been
monitored through staff surveys, one on one training and collaborative teaching.

Resources
Progress towards achieving improvement measures
(annual)
<$>
Improvement measure Progress achieved this year
(to be achieved over 3
years)
The learning centre became a hub of activity across Total Cost:
65% increase in student
2015. A majority of classes now utilise the facility and its
use of the Learning
resources.
Centre.
Astralvision 70 inch LED Smartboard and Trolley SmartBoard:
purchased for the Learning Centre to enhance the $4995.00
useability of the space as a 21st Century Teaching & Trolley:
Learning space. $795.00