Chocolate Biscuit Cake.

I just made my first chocolate biscuit cake. It reminded me of when I was a young fellow and my mum (God rest her soul) used to make it for us at birthday time. When she passed away we could not find the recipe. I was delighted to see that it is very popular here. They call it hedgehog, as they usually sprinkle the top with coconut or sprinkles. I got the recipe from Carolyn at school. I will try it out on the staff tomorrow at break time and let you know how it goes.

Teaching Practice

They call them teaching rounds. The training colleges do not supervise teaching practice here. They pay the school to do so! We had two student teachers recently for two weeks. The school got $450, we kept 20% and the teachers got the remaining 80%. The co-coordinator (post holder if you like) got $23.40 and the teachers $168.30 each. Two lecturers visited us but only to talk to the teachers, not to observe lessons. At the end the teachers fill in a detailed form which is not based on one lesson but on the whole two weeks. Even though you could have a situation where they know the student teacher or where the student teacher is a past pupil, the teachers are very conscientious and professional about their reports. They have to give a copy to the student also and explain what they have written. But because this is the system that they went through themselves, they accept that they must be objective and have no problem doing so.

Ferreting

One of the kids at school (Kieran) on Friday asked me if I would like to go ferreting Saturday. I have tried to say 'yes' to as much as possible while on the exchange, to enter into the spirit of things, so to speak. When he assured me that there would be no blood and guts, I went for it. So I met Kieran, Rhiannon, Amber and their mum Sandra at school yesterday morning. We went to a farm in Killarney where we eventually caught a rabbit. The rabbit was then sold for seven dollars to a local farmer who cooked it for dinner.

The process is simple. They put nets over the rabbit holes and then sent down the ferrets. They had three ferrets which cost about $35 each and had to be trained to come back out if they whistled to them. We had to try a few different locations before we were successful. They had prepared a nice picnic and the weather was good-no rain for a change! Another Aussie 'experience' ticked off my list.

Later on that evening they invited me greyhound racing in Warrnambool where we had a nice meal and good entertainment.

Greyhound Races

The Four Minute Shower

As a nation the Aussies are big into conservation and bio-diversity. Water conservation is huge here, especially as they have had a drought for the last eleven years. (Until I came and then see Saw Doctors, 'Songs From Sun Street, track 12!) The most common advertising is recommending that you do not spend longer than four minutes in the shower. You can even buy a four minute egg timer for the shower, entitled ‘Our Future’. It has a little suction pad to attach to the tiles. Yet you can, in certain places and at certain times water your garden for an hour. Another suggestion is that you shower the length of your favourite song. That is a problem for me, although I could let on that my favourite song was Bohemian Rhapsody or maybe share the shower with someone else and then I could have eight minutes!

Consultant not Inspector

I just had a mind shattering experience and needed to share with the group:

“My name is Coilín and I’m a…” …only joking.

Yesterday I had a visit, at 9.00, from our educational consultant. This is the nearest thing in this system to a Cigire, and also the furthest thing from a Cigire, as I will explain. Her name is Di and she is a treasure. First off she comes in and gives you a hug. Those of you who know me know how partial I am to hugs. Then she enquires how she can help. As a matter of fact she contacted me a few weeks ago to set up the meeting and to set up an agenda for my needs as well as hers. She visits the teachers regularly during the year and each principal once a term. Yesterday there were only three items on the agenda:

• The Annual Report to The School Community
  
• Annual Action Plan
  
• VRQA Compliance

The first is a thirteen page report that principals make to their school community at the end of each school year. (i.e. December). The second is a ten page document where principals outline plans that will be actioned next year. The last is like a Plean Scoile folder with just a set of minimum requirements/policies. This is checked each year to see that it is up to date and a form has to be filled in online to indicate compliance. [They each merit a ‘Blog' and if I get the time I will give more details. But not today!]

Anyway, I had a class from 2.00 to 3.30 so both of us (after the hug) put our heads down and tore into the tasks. As all this was new to me, she explained it in great detail and showed me where to get the information needed. There was no change in format on the first so I was able to follow what Mark had done last year. The AAP had changed completely. Last year it was a wish-washy document but now it is very specific, You need to have targets based on evidence and outline who and how these targets will be reached. If you remember the parents, staff and pupils were surveyed earlier in the year and she helped me interpret and use this data to complete the report. I now have two documents to write up but can see exactly how to do them. Unfortunately two o’ clock came and we had not even started the VQRA compliance. As a staff we had been updating policies during the year but they were everywhere. Other technical information had to be updated from various websites. I had to take a class. Di said that she would have a look at the folder and we would finish it after class. At 3.30 I arrived back to the office to find that she, with the help of the school secretary who knew where the updated policies and other information was, had completed the folder for me! I nearly kissed her but settled for another hug.

Is this not the help all us principals should be getting from DES? Don’t inspect me-help me.

P.S. Marg is a treasure also, but another ‘Blog’ and another day. So much to write and so little time…

Melbourne Cup

Today was Melbourne Cup Day and we had a sweepstake among the staff. All the classes had the same and there were prizes for the first three and last: sweets. Just before the race all the classes went to the hall to watch. Many had drawings of their horses and the cheering was enthusiastic, so much so that we could not hear who won. We had to wait for the dust to settle. Good harmless fun and it was even part of their integrated studies, a section of the Maths Curriculum called C&D (Chance and Data).