March 30th

Inniu Dé hAoine 30ú Márta

This is the last day of the blog, apart from some photos and videos that have still to be loaded. We will have photos for all the school visits, loaded eventually. I have a new series of videos featuring Gerry and the Kangaroo and other animals, still to come. So bear with us.

Up at the crack of dawn to get packing and decide what papers to bring home. We have gathered and been given so much, that we would be twice over the luggage limit, if we brought it all. Even at that, we ended up posting it all home at a cost of about 300 euro, between the two of us. I shudder to think what the bill would be if we arrived at the airport with it all.

Good news for Cóilin: the pollifiller is still holding.
Bad news for Gerry: he now needs pollifiller also! Big lump of tooth broke off today.
Pity the blog is finished, I could see a daily "Pollifiller Report" taking over from "Share The Luv".

Last day at the VPA but we finished at 3.00 as we had an unusual "invitation". (Does it count as an invitation when you invite yourself to visit someone's home in the bush?) The Principal of Monash Specialised School, Helen Mc Coy, had invited us to visit her Wildlife Sanctuary, nearly two hours from Melbourne. It was a magnificent setting in the forest among the rolling hills, where Helen cared for every conceivable animal from dogs and cats to Wallabies, Wombats, Kuala Bears, Possoms and Kangaroos. Many are nursed back to full health and then released back to the wild. Many stay to become family pets. We were able to get up close to animals that we could never have expected, as in the wild they would not allow it or stay around for us to do it. It was a real "wow" moment and we have some fantastic photos and video to bring back to our schools. Helen explained and demonstrated wonderfully and it was obvious how central the sanctuary was to her life.

Gerry says:

I have finally got my hands on the keyboard.

Coilin has been the technologist on this trip and those who know me will be aware that the operation of the video, digital camera or computer would not be my forte. But as we have gone along I have learnt on the job and hopefully some of the photos and other material we are assembling will be informing and entertaining.

It would be unfair to categorise Coilin as a complete slavedriver; the word “complete” being debatable. “In fairness”, as he would say himself, I have been permitted an occasional glass of beer while he attempts to explain to yet another waitress the composition of a “rock shandy”. A pint of Guinness was permitted another night, for research purposes only, of course.

Coilin and I didn’t know each other very well before coming on this trip together. We had met years ago at the National Minisport Festival in Drumcondra, he being Mr. Mini-Rounders and I being one of the Mr. Mini-Basketballers. Fortunately, we got on famously in spite of being very different. A process of osmosis has occurred probably attributable to” cabin fever”and we have each affected the other. Coilin used to be an optimist; now in spite of himself he shares my belief in Murphy’s Law and expresses no surprise when something goes wrong. I have lessened my abhorrence of technology, have attempted to assist with every camera and even answered some e-mails! Coilin now joins me in the gym and I am almost teetotal (well, not quite).

However, I am sure we will both make a full recovery when we return to our normal lives in “winterland”.

We have been united in a determination to make the best of this once in a lifetime opportunity to look at another Primary School System and to meet some wonderful educators and people. Coilin will mention some of them in the final blog.

This has been a privilege for both of us. I hope we will be able to convey some of the highlights of these visits in our visual report. I will almost be sad to hear no more “Top o’ the morning to ye all” as Coilin bursts into yet another school, bringing a smile from even the most formal of school receptionists. Some even indulged his wish to accumulate hugs! Our Laurel and Hardy double-act brightened the day for ourselves and the schools we visited. We exchanged pennants, souvenirs and ideas and hopefully represented IPPN and Irish Primary Education well. We have been promised many return visitors to Ireland. Fantastic people who have certainly got us thinking. Get the spare beds ready, the Aussies are coming!

March 29th - Mill Park Heights - Aspects of school life in a large 1000 pupil_Primary School

Click on this link to view this video file!

http://ippn.blip.tv/file/183730/

March 29th

March 29th

Inniu Déardaoin: An-lá inniu.

Attended the FINA World Swimming Championships in The Rod Laver Arena, in the early morning. Amazing to think that The Australian Open Tennis Championships were held here in January. Melbourne has three massive sporting Arenae (MCG and Vodafone Arena) and they are all within spitting distance of each other. After an hour and a half of swimming, we were able to walk to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), for their tour. The ground has a capacity of 98,000 and is even more impressive than Croke Park-which is saying something. It is a magnificent modern facility combined with an awesome history and memorabilia. Even Gerry was impressed. The ground is shared by Cricket and Aussie Rules. Even international rugby is played here. Last week, in preparation for the footy, the 10 cricket pitches were removed to a nursery and replaced with a section of pitch for footy.

Our afternoon was spent in the VPA offices, cutting video and putting the photos into folders.

In the evening, Trish (your wan from Roscommon who has not yet done a “hook turn” in six years) and Jeremy invited us to their place for some home cooking. Jeremy is a great cook and Trish a great hostess-loads of rock shandy and nothing green in sight!

Cóilín’s Wrap-up

At last, the end has come. No more schools to visit. Time to look back and reflect on the blog and the “Study Visit”.

My lasting impression is how helpful and personable all the principals and leading teachers were in every school we visited. They could not have done more for us and were most generous with their time. Visits planned for one hour invariably took closer to three hours and in some schools a team of people gave of their time. We now have over one thousand photos and ten hours of video, which will be invaluable to us both in terms of our report and also our personal reflections.

We have spent the last number of days in the VPA Office writing and filing and we would like to thank Director Fred Ackerman, President Rosemary White and Ruth Brooks Executive Assistant for their tremendous support and welcome. We would also like to thank Field Officer Howard Looney who organised visits to nine state schools for us. The quality and variety of the schools we visited reflect the planning and foresight he put into his choices.

Bernie Mc Hugh from Resurrection Catholic Primary School St. Albans organised visits to six Catholic schools and again the quality of school and school leaders left us overwhelmed.

The best compliment we can give all of the above was that we got a true Irish welcome. A big thank you to all.

Thanks also to Seaghan Moriarty IPPN Technical advisor, who put up the blog every day for us. We now have the distinction of sending him the biggest e-mail that he ever got! Something to be proud of.

Of course none of this would have been possible without that wonderful invention called “The Bursary” courtesy of DES, IPPN and Allianz. God bless them all.

We were delighted to experience electronic tolling. You pay the fee in advance (daily aboot 8 euro) or within three days of using the Motorways, mainly in Shell petrol stations. If you use the toll road once or a hundred times, this is all you pay. So no fiddling with change, the only problem is to remember or you will face an 80 euro fine. Most locals here get “e-tags” which debits their bank account directly and does away with the danger of a fine.

This place is a paradise for those interested in the healthy outdoor life. At the beach, for example, there are designated tracks for cyclists and rollerbladers as well as a separate one for walkers. They have “Tan Tracks” in many of the public parks which are made up of a fine gravel, for runners/walkers. Who can guess the colour of the gravel? Everybody seems to exercise, as the combination of facilities and weather make it so easy to carry out those good intentions. And of course there is always the wildlife to admire as you exercise.

My abiding memory of the Catholic Schools was how at home we both felt there, but also how much more you are aware of the ethos than even in many schools in Ireland. Even when the principals visited the classrooms, they were all greeted by the children along the lines:

“Good morning Mr. Mc Hugh and peace be with you.”

Parish priests are managers in the pre-BOM tradition, with sole responsibility for contract renewal for Principal (or non-renewal!) A Principal gets a five year contract.

To us the state schools were very well funded and indeed all schools, and we observed all socio-economic types, had an abundance of space. Space to plan and space to work and space to play. This funding came at a cost (Boom! Boom!). The funding was evolved, which meant that the Principals, with the assistance of a Business Manager, had to plan how the budget was spent and this included the salaries of teachers and ancillary staff.

All schools had a tremendous amount of planning time, approx 4.5 hours, per week, outside of school hours. So there were weekly Staff Meetings and weekly planning sessions on the curriculum, as well as time for ISM to meet, all outside of class contact time. All of these were negotiated for extra pay, as part of a wage agreement. Food for thought here.

• Reading Recovery is done in all schools and has a designated co-ordinator in most schools.
• Long service leave: After 10 years of service, All teachers in both State and Catholic schools, get 13 weeks paid leave.
• Enrichment leave: Only in the Catholic System and only for Principals, every eight years s/he gets 10 weeks paid leave to do some approved study that will be personally enriching.
• Sabbatical Leave: Teachers can accept 80% of their salaries for four years and get a paid leave sabbatical for the fifth year.
• PD-ing the staff: That happens when the staff get professional development.
  

The State of Victoria does an annual “Attitudes to school Survey” completed by the students and parents. It is done confidentially and the results are published.

In between visiting our 15 schools, getting lost, visiting the VPA, CEO and ACU, uploading all those photos and videos, recharging the camera and laptop batteries, we did also manage to take in a few beach visits (even if the weather turned in the last week, when we had more time) a city tour, a Footy match, International Air Show, visit to a wildlife sanctuary and a couple of world events: The Formula One Grand Prix and FINA World Swimming Championships. Not bad for a “working holiday”! The fact that we will have to spend the next month catching up on sleep is a minor point. It has been worth every minute of it.

Personally, I am enriched having met so many pupils, staff members and principals. Getting a chance to see other schools, with different approaches and philosophies, in action was an honour and also a privilege. It was also quite overwhelming to see all those wonderful ideas and approaches, though I would still prefer to work in Ireland and would not swap St Mary’s for any school I have seen. Nonetheless, I am most grateful for the opportunity and feel most humbled by the whole experience.

Tomorrow Gerry gets his say.

March 27th

Inniu Dé Máirt 27ú Márta: Geal agus grianmhar.

Grisbourne is a small town about an hour from Melbourne and the two schools we visited were the closest we got to country schools. St. Brigid's and Holy Cross were sister schools having split into two eight years ago. They both had almost 200 pupils and seven mainstream classes. Both had gathered in St. Brigid's for a Cultural Day where they were split into groups that went from activity to activity. We were surprised to be greeted as Gaeilge:

"Conas atá tú?"

So many of the teachers here have Irish roots and are so proud of their heritage. Of course the pupils were also told the story of St. Brigid and her cloak.

At break-time all pupils gathered in the playground while one of the (young) teachers and pupils from St. Brigid's had their heads shaved for charity (Cancer).

Into the Staffroom for a big feed of foods from many countries. We were delighted that there were loads of spuds, we felt quite at home. For a change we did not interview the Principals but rather the Deputies and got a very interesting slant on their working conditions.

Some observations:

• The post of Deputy was advertised outside the school but both were appointments from within. It is quite common for outside people to be appointed.
• Both had been leading teachers (POLs) and Deputy was a natural progression for them.
• Both felt very involved in the decision making in their schools.They averaged about two hours of meetings per week with the principal, outside of teaching time.
• Typically they worked from 8.00 to 6.00 and there was an odd night when they finished later due to meetings.
• They also had responsibility for leading the learning in Special Ed. and a curricular area.
• Neither of them were remotely interested in becoming principals. Due to the workload the numbers of applicants for principalship in Victoria had dropped from over forty, a few years ago, to about twelve.
  

Other observations:

• Breakfast meetings @7.30, for whole staff, were not uncommon.
• Earlier that week, they had had a "Twilight School Day" which started at 1.00 p.m. and finished at 7.00 p.m. It gave the parents a chance to visit the school for curricular demonstrations, that week it had been Maths.
  

Nath na Seachtaine:

"I'm the Casual Relief." (Substitute Teacher)

March 27th - St. Brigid's Photos

March 27th - Holy Cross Photos

Monday March26th, Australian Catholic University