The NSW Department of Education has hosted 330 staff from 92 small schools across the state to share experiences and expertise on how to best support students to reach their potential.
Public Schools Deputy Secretary, Deb Summerhayes said the Small Schools Conference was an important professional learning opportunity and chance to acknowledge and celebrate the work of some of the State’s smallest schools.
“Small schools are the hubs of their community and have a deep connection to students, their families and the broader local community,” Ms Summerhayes said.
“This allows them to be incredibly responsive to the needs of their community and create school environments where students are deeply known, valued and cared for.
“Importantly our small school leaders are passionate about ensuring that their students have access to opportunities and experiences that students in bigger schools have.
“Conferences such as this help create the school partnerships that allow our small schools to share, collaborate and dream big.”
The small schools conference was held at three locations; Dubbo, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga.
Rural, Regional, Remote and Unique Settings Executive Director, Dean White said it made a big difference for teachers and principals in rural, regional and remote small schools to know that local knowledge was highly valued.
“Today has been about providing small schools with the opportunity to connect and tap into the wealth of expertise available to their school and their staff,” Mr White said.
“Small schools have been proud to to be a source of knowledge while also accessing tailored information from the broader department.”
A Tamworth workshop even combined the two, and featured Duri Public School teacher Elle McRae, who shared her journey towards accreditation as a Highly Accomplished Teacher, with practical guidance and insights from the Regional, Rural, Remote and Unique Settings Directorate.
Statewide, there was a strong focus on curriculum implementation for small school principals and teachers, including practical evidence-based workshops to improve student engagement during the transition to high school and professional learning to strengthen planning, programming, assessment, and collaboration processes across key learning areas.
Other sessions included empowering School Learning Support Officers to better support student wellbeing in small school environments, an introduction to a new, culturally responsive framework for Empowering Aboriginal Voices in Education, and ways to create welcoming, inclusive and culturally safe school environments.
For this purpose, the NSW Department of Education has defined a small school as one where the principal has school leadership and classroom teaching responsibilities.
