As part of its commitment to developing the capabilities of teachers the Department is offering teachers the opportunity to undertake Teacher Professional Leave . This strategy directly addresses the Blueprint’s three priority areas for reform. Continuous development at both the school and system level will be supported through the Teacher Professional Leave initiative.

The aim of Teacher Professional Leave is to enhance teachers’ classroom practice and teaching performance in order to lift student outcomes. The professional leave will provide teachers with flexible opportunities to enhance their classroom practice and develop high-order skills and expertise which impact positively on student outcomes.

For more information regarding Teacher Professional Leave, please visit Sofweb’s Teacher Development webpage: http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/pd/tchdev/tpl/

Kambrya College is interested in investigating learning spaces beyond the classroom as a means of providing innovative, stimulating and authentic learning opportunities for students, and broadening the range of pedagogical options for teachers throughout the middle and later years. In particular, our proposal is to use a community of practice model through the establishment of links with individuals, community groups, organisations and other educational institutions (local, national and international). The key aim of this model is to develop networks beyond the classroom to create and maintain meaningful and engaging teaching and learning experiences for our students, teachers and the wider college community.

The underlying philosophy of Kambrya College is to help students to develop as global citizens with a strong sense of self and their place in the community. As such, we consider providing students with the opportunity to meaningfully interact as members of established and vibrant learning communities as fundamental to achieving this aim and are the core of our proposal.

Ben Forbes

I intend to explore ways to increase the College’s capacity to provide opportunities for students to extend their civics and citizenship awareness beyond the classroom. I hope to establish new links with numerous organisations in the local, national and international community that students will be able to interact with and collaborate with on a variety of projects. Through this focus I purpose to develop in students a clearer understanding of local and national governance and a stronger sense of civic duty. I desire to better engage students in their world through allowing them opportunities to experience the power of pro-activity in the civic realm.

Through creating strong and sustainable links with local organisations I hope, also, to enrich the college community and environment beyond the material classroom resources. As a growing school, the College needs to build infrastructure of strong community links and broader interaction between students and the community.

Alan Thwaites

The underlying philosophy of Kambrya College is to help students to develop as global citizens with a strong sense of self and their place in the community. Units of work at Middle Years have been developed to support students achieve this. To achieve this aim, we consider it to be fundamental to provide students with the opportunity to meaningfully interact as members of established and vibrant learning communities and organisations.

The core of our proposal is to investigate and establish partnerships with groups and organisations to nurture student connectedness to the community and reinforce the learnings as outlined in Victorian Essential Learnings Standards: Physical, Personal and Social Learning Strand, Civics and Citizenship Dimension.

My focus encompasses the area of environment with the intention of linking with environmental groups. We already have a long term links with the Melbourne Zoo through the establishment of a “Browse” plantation that will be harvested to provide food for giraffe, zebra, rhinoceros and other ungulates, Casey Council Waste Minimisation Program and we regularly participate as a school in the Melbourne Water Frog Census. However, we want to establish links with environmentally focused groups engaged in revegetation projects, wildlife rehabilitation and monitoring and so on. We are also seeking to link with other educational organisations, particularly those with environmental education goals.

Currently I am working with the Gould League, Friends of the Local Koala, Land and Wildlife (F.O.L.K.L.A.W.) group in the Mornington Peninsula, and the Melbourne Water Frog Census. We are seeking ways to form partnerships, going beyond visitations, so that students can feel that they are really making a difference in the community. Fostering a community volunteer spirit in children, assisting them to develop a sense of connectedness to the community and providing them with opportunities to understand issues that groups such as these are trying to address are primary goals.