On Friday 17 August, Haileybury – one of Melbourne’s top private schools – was awarded Primary School of the Year – Non-Government at the inaugural Australian Education Awards in Dockside Sydney.
Upon accepting the award, Craig Glass, principal of Haileybury Rendall School (Darwin) said “it is important that passionate educators are appreciated for the great work they do every day”.
And the night didn’t end there for the school, which also took home the award for Australian School of the Year.
Haileybury’s CEO | principal, Derek Scott, called the award “a great honour and a great reflection on all of the teamwork that goes into making any school a great school”.
Scott said one of the school’s greatest achievements has been to build Melbourne’s first vertical school to serve the city’s changing demographics.
“It was a fascinating project, and it has been hugely successful,” he told The Educator.
“The staff love it, the students enjoy it, and it has been a leading project to create a different school for a very modern society.”
Each year, Haileybury hosts teachers and principals at a seminar about the impact of its Explicit Teaching program, which has driven impressive teaching and learning outcomes across its five Australian campuses.
The program, which has been adopted by over 120 schools across Australia, uses research-based methodology to move student learning from short-term to long-term memory, helping them effectively retain information.
“We’re renowned for our explicit instruction model. We’ve delivered amazing NAPLAN results across all years in our primary school, and they’re some of the leading results in Australia,” Haileybury Rendall School principal Craig Glass, told The Educator.
The school’s seminars, which have been running for ten years, allow teachers and school leaders to see the model in action and witness the high achievement of Haileybury’s students. This in turn ignites further improvement in their own programs.
Haileybury’s deputy principal, John Fleming, said there is an abundance of discussion about evidence based research in teaching but a lack of detail about what this actually looks like.
“The model has resulted in Haileybury Junior School becoming one of the top performing schools in terms of student achievement in Australia,” Fleming told The Educator.
“In terms of school leadership the model allows school leaders to develop clear instructional goals and a teacher enhancement program that is clear, intentional and achievable.”