Hot Topics in School Staffing
With Brian Wheeler, Manager Schools' Recruitment Unit
VASSP and the VPA would like to invite members to this forum to share some time with Brian Wheeler, the Manager of the Schools’ Recruitment Unit and expert on principals’ remuneration and excess/ staff referral issues. This is a special opportunity to hear Brian and to put those questions you have always wanted to ask – places will be allocated on a ‘first come first served’ basis.
Cost: Free of charge
Date: Thursday 1 March 9.30am – 11.30am
Venue: VPA Offices, Unit 2, 13 – 21 Vale St, North Melbourne
Light refreshments provided.
Registration form: Hot Topics in School Staffing Forum
Induction and Welcome for New Principal Class
VPA Forum for New Leaders
Experienced educators will discuss the many facets of leadership and its complexities. Presentation will be followed by feedback and question time.
Presenters:
· Michael Small- former Assistant Regional Director of Southern Metropolitan Region, former Principal & VPA Life Member
· Jennifer Small- former Principal of Bentleigh West Primary School & VPA member
Date: Friday 2 March 10.00am – 12 noon
Venue: VPA Offices, Unit 2, 13 – 21 Vale St, North Melbourne
This forum will be free of charge and celebration drinks and savouries will be hosted by VPA Board members following the presentation.
Registration form: VPA Forum for New School Leaders
Overcoming the Roadblocks of Leadership
How to manage the demands of the job
VPA Forum for School Leaders initiated by the VPA Board
The forum will provide an overview of:
- Workforce Planning
- SRP and School Finance
- Building Effective School Leadership Teams
- Staff Management
- Working with School Council
- Community Relations
The forum will enable interaction with a panel of experienced VPA Principals with opportunities for feedback and exchange of ideas and effective approaches and strategies.
We will also ask for your input prior to the forum.
Cost: Members $30.00 (inc. GST)
Non- members $40.00 (inc. GST)
Date: Tuesday 6 March 3.00pm – 5.00pm
Venue: VPA Offices, Unit 2, 13 – 21 Vale St, North Melbourne
Light refreshments provided.
Registration form: Overcoming the Roadblocks of Leadership
School Based Consultation
The VPA conducted a workshop on School-Based Consultation with DEECD HR Manager, Sandra Davies and VPA Field Services Officer Terry Howard. Sandra kindly agreed to help present the workshop as several VPA members recently expressed a need to upgrade their knowledge in this area and, in particular, the role of the Consultative Committee in school operations. The workshop was very well received and a number of interesting points arose during discussion which included:
- The Consultative Committee is not a decision-making or leadership committee. Its role is to provide a forum for genuine consultation over proposals made regarding school operations by the Principal or staff. Decisions taken by school leadership may or may not change following that consultation.
- A local agreement is not a requirement of the EBA and should only be made if it is in the best interests of educational programs in the school.
- Don’t be reticent about reverting to the default position if agreement cannot be reached
- Whilst structured, scheduled meetings can be a good idea, cancel the meeting if there is nothing on the agenda.
- Try not to make agreement over consultative arrangements for extended periods. Circumstances within schools change and you may be locking your successor into unsuitable arrangements
- Think about the composition of a consultative committee. Don’t agree to a structure which is heavily biased towards one section of staff.
- Don’t do all the admin work yourself, rotate the responsibility for minutes and chairing
- Provide the committee with plenty of information regarding the issues under discussion
- Be prepared for some robust discussion. Often win-win situations can come out of such discussions and it is always useful to know if some staff may be dissatisfied with aspects of school operations.
The workshop was very popular and booked out almost immediately and we intend to run it again in Term 3 if there is still sufficient interest, so keep an eye out.
Running a successful Out of School Hours Care Program with the new legislation
With the new legislative framework from both the state and federal governments, the requirements to run Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) and holiday programs are greater than ever. The Victorian Principals Association (VPA) is concerned with this impact on Victorian government primary schools and in particular smaller schools. The VPA held a forum to address these concerns.
In this forum the VPA;
- Addressed a number of key issues about the effect of the new Federal and State legislative requirements on the operation of OSHC programs
- Presented ideas from key personnel from DEEWR(federal) DEECD (state) and Community Child Care managers
- Shared our recently developed Position Paper on OSHC
- Recommended structures to assist schools in meeting these new requirements
- Shared case studies
The session was co - chaired by Gabrielle Leigh, President of the Victorian Principals Association and Grace Conway, Principal of Westgarth Primary School.
Presenters included;
- Belinda Sims, Manager Regulations Implementation, Service Development Division, Office for Children & Portfolio Coordination, DEECD
- Barbara Romeril, Executive Director, Community Child Care and Cat Kimber, Professional Support Consultant.
- Joanna Harrison, Manager Child Care Benefit Program, Victoria State Office, Department of Education, Employment & Workplace Relations and Jackie Siu .
OSHC Forum Report- click on the link to access notes from the forum.
Shared Wisdom- OSHC
Shared Wisdom is a reourse to promote best practice in collaborative relationships and partnerships between Out of School Hours Care services and school leaders.
Click here to access this booklet- Shared Wisdom