Upwey High School principal Greg Holman, Monbulk MP James Merlino, Emerald Secondary School principal Wayne Burgess, Gembrook MP Tammy Lobato and Monbulk College principal Pam Glover celebrate joint funding for the trio of local government schools.By Ed Merrison
THREE government schools in the Dandenong Ranges received a boost last week with a $1.35 million State Government grant.
Monbulk MP James Merlino and Gembrook MP Tammy Lobato announced last Tuesday that Monbulk College, Emerald Secondary College and Upwey High School would each gain a facilities grant of $450,000 in addition to two extra teachers apiece.
The three schools put in a joint application for the funds, which will go towards a flexible learning centre at each school.
The grant comes from the Leading Schools Fund (LSF), which rewards schools by boosting their capacity to help students learn in different areas of speciality.
With year eight being the initial focus, sustainability will be achieved by involving many teachers across the three schools in the coaching and mentoring programs.
Two members of staff per school per year for three years will be contracted in order to release existing staff to take part in the coaching program, which will entail applying new learning strategies, staff and student leadership programs, and inter-disciplinary teaching, and will also explore new teaching formats and physical spaces for learning. Mentoring programs will allow coaches to share experience of teaching techniques throughout the staff of each school.
The schools’ principals were excited about the funding and the possibilities for collaboration and professional development it offered.
Emerald Secondary School principal Wayne Burgess said the program would allow an important opportunity to evolve and improve teaching practices.
“Unless we make a fairly noticeable change, teaching practices remain static,” he said. “Having an open area and a team teaching approach with the sharing of ideas, we can make sure that improvements actually happen.”
