Educational and Financial Report - Masada College

Reporting Area 11: School-determined improvement targets K—12Priority areas for improvement in 2011 as identified in 2010 Annual ReportArea Priorities AchievementsTeaching &Learning♦Expand teaching of Chinese includingintroducing it as alternative toHebrew in Year 7.♦Increased number of students choosing this as an elective and improved standard.Nine students in Year 7 studied Chinese and a Beginners and Advanced Class runfor Year 9 / 10 elective.♦Culture of Thinking focus to be aVisible thinking and metacognition.♦Students became aware of their thinking processes and were able to identify theirthinking mode. We developed a Masada Thinking Poster in line with BloomsTaxonomy that is displayed in each classroom.♦Senior School staff providing morestudent material on iRock.♦Students are becoming more independent and responsible learners through iRock.Student worksheets, outcomes and in some cases lessons were uploaded to iRock.♦ Restructure environment andteaching programs and use of specialiststaff in Preschool as preparationfor Year K.♦Students are very well prepared to enter Year K, with strong academic and socialfoundations for doing so and this has been noted by Year K teaching staff.♦Stream Year 9 core classes.♦Greater opportunities for enrichment for more capable students and support forothers.♦Introduce four elective system toreplace two in Years 9 & 10.♦Students are more engaged as they have chosen courses, some of which werepreviously mandatory and “one fit” for all. All students were catered for.♦Focus on taking Year 12 studentsfrom Top Band 5 to Band 6♦More students developed skills to take them from 89 to 90 plus in HSC courses. Theoffering of the ‘out of school hours’ Scholars Club assisted in this process.23