[Year 12 IT Apps] OT - De facto student free day

[Roland Gesthuizen]

Yes, whilst it is staff business as usual .. many parents are voting with
their feet with attendance here around the 63% with 31% unexplained
absences. Those using FirstClass can just click on the PDA Summary icon to
bring up the juicy stats. I suspect asking them to break the long weekend
that they had tradionally planned for their family hasnt helped. It is going
to be a hard habit to break. Parts of rural victoria badly need the tourist
dollars so it is sad that are again frowning at the 'long weekends' that
used to pump money into their local economies.

Reading the nonsense in the newspapers, many people still seem to think that
a curriculum day is some kind of obscure break for teachers, or confuse
pupil=free days with public holidays. (sigh)  By illustration, the doctor
that is treating me should occasionally take some time away from his medical
practice to fine tune his craft in a supportive and reflective environment
.. not sharpen his skills by only practicing on his patients.

Back on topic .. my year 12 IT students came proudly into my office last
week, noting that the English examination had some kind of 'blogging'
question that they enjoyed answering. They have just finished their maths
exam .. now to get them to focus on their ITA exam (sigh) ..

Regards Roland

2009/11/2 Cameron Bell <bell.cameron.p at edumail.vic.gov.au>

> Sorry for the OT post, but couldn't think of any other vic-specific forums
> that I could ask.
>
> Well its Monday and tomorrow is the Cup Day holiday here in (metro)
> Victoria.
> As you would imagine, many people take today off to have a 4 day holiday.
> Due to this known behaviour many city schools used to have today as a
> curriculum day.
> Now thanks to the decision that all student free days must be taken at the
> start of the year (Except 1 report writing day and 1 at school discretion)
> we are all here.
> When I say "all" I mean all the staff and the 20% of the student population
> who has turned up. I have just had a class of 4 students and I bet I am not
> the only one across the city.
> What a monumental waste of our time and resources.
> Students and staff are actually running sweeps - not on the cup, but on how
> many kids will be in each class. What a joke.
> At least some classes are being collapsed on an ad-hoc basis as we see the
> numbers at start of each period.
>
> QUESTION: I, and the rest of our staff are genuinely curious as the
> situation in other Vic metropolitan schools - are we the norm or an anomaly?
> Is it a school culture thing?
> What is your attendance like today? Did your school move 1 of their student
> free days to today?
>
>
> Thanks in anticipation
> Cameron
>
>
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-- 
Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
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