Michaela Community School Headmistress, Katharine Birbalsingh, speaking with students in the yard. Image credit: Michaela Community School

It was the absence of noise and chaos that made the scene so astonishing. The Australian educators stood there in disbelief, as hundreds of high school students filed out into the corridors of Michaela Community School in north London and made their way to their next class.

The only words uttered were “Good morning, Sir” or “Good morning, Miss” as students respectfully greeted their teachers on entering their next classrooms.

Students made their way to their rooms, entering one at a time as their teacher greeted each of them by name. During the lesson everyone sat straight, arms folded across their chest, eyes focused on the teacher at all times.

Even more surprising for the team from Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn (CECG) was that the students embraced this rigid structure and routine. Over lunch time chats, students revealed that the clearly defined behavioural expectations created a calming environment that made them feel safe. The routine reduced stress and it allowed them to focus on learning.

Their school wasn’t academically selective, or in a privileged area. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Michaela Community School serves a low-socio economic community, with a large refugee population. By embracing a similar to Catalyst, they are receiving international attention for ‘punching above their postcode’ in their academic achievements.

Michaela’s results are mirrored at Ark Soane Academy – a new high school founded on evidence-based education. They also deliver the curriculum through a direct instruction model with a high level of structure, tight sequencing and teacher-led exposition supported by whole of school routines.

Tour participants visiting Ark Soane Academy, West London

The visit to both schools was part of a Science of Learning study tour coordinated by Knowledge Society. CECG sent 7 participants to learn from the United Kingdom’s experience in implementing:

1. Evidence-based reading instruction
2. Evidence-based teaching and learning in schools
3. School and system improvement
4. Effective models of teacher professional learning and mentoring for early career teachers.

The UK is ten years further along their SoL journey than Australia and the tour was a chance to get a glimpse of the future and learn from their successes and missteps.

So, what are CECG team’s key learnings?

Whole school routines reduce cognitive load

The CECG team appreciates the way that whole of school routines prepare students for learning. Michaela and Ark Soane students know exactly what is expected of them at every moment during the day. This consistency across every classroom reduces cognitive load for students and means teachers maximise every opportunity for learning as they’re not spending time settling the class.

Brad Gaynor, a Performance Improvement Leader, who oversees 14 schools in CECG, commented, “I was sceptical at first. However, the kids loved the routine and structure. It brings order to everything and the routine makes them feel safe.”

Grant Haigh, Principal of St Anne’s Temora Secondary School, adds, “It’s not about turning kids into robots – it’s about introducing positive habits and routine that best prepare them for learning.”

Create high expectations

An Ark Soane Academy student engaging in a lesson. Image Credit:
Ark Soane Academy

Both schools have high learning and behaviour expectations for every child, regardless of their socio-economic background or additional needs, which students continue to meet. Michaela consistently outperforms similar schools and its students have been accepted into the most prestigious universities in the UK – including Oxford and the London School of Economics.

Kathy Holding, Principal of Hennessy Catholic College, Young, found the trip enlightening, saying, “Every child can grow and has the right to do challenging work.”

The sentiment was echoed by Christine Wanjura, who oversees teaching and learning supports for students with additional needs. “For 90% of kids, it provides exactly what they need. To create the same expectations for the other 10% , we must have the wrap around supports to help them succeed.”

Australia’s quality of oracy needs to improve

Something that took the team by surprise was the focus both schools place on oracy. It is woven into all aspects of their curriculum and is displayed by articulate and confident students. The team all agreed it needs to be a crucial part of the curriculum – for both students and teachers.

Patrick Ellis, Education Lead at CECG, was impressed with how a focus on language and speech was tied into the schools’ daily routine of gratitude, where students give thanks to those who have helped them. He notes, “This is very relevant for a Catholic organisation.”

“Through Catalyst we focus on aspects of improving language, by promoting answering in full sentences and choral response,” he said.

Christine Wanjura called out the importance of language development for inclusion, saying “The ability to express yourself and your ideas fluently is crucial for social justice.”

Kathy Holding succinctly summarises, “Everyone needs a voice.”

A low variance curriculum allows teachers to focus on teaching

Tour participants engaging in a session at Ark Soane Academy

The UK experience confirms that in order to achieve the best outcomes for the students, the teacher is the most important learner.

Teacher focus is a pillar of Catalyst, upskilling and supporting them with professional learning, and developing a suite of quality resources to create a low variance, knowledge rich, curriculum.

While this approach is the exception in Australia, it is the norm in the UK. Pre-prepared resources allow UK teachers to focus their energy on delivering the curriculum – as well as reducing workload.

“Teachers need time to teach, not prepare resources,” notes Principal, Kathy Holder.

Christine Wanjura was impressed by the quality of teaching across the board, with teachers delivering great content explicitly. She also observed how proficient the teachers were with technology and how they used it with great impact in their classrooms.

Importance of onboarding

Just as students thrive when they know what is expected of them, so too do teachers. Both schools conducted extensive onboarding for new staff to help them understand the evidence-based reasoning behind the rules and routines. This creates the foundation for consistent standards across the school and allows new teachers to hit the ground running.

Cameron Tarrant, Principal of St Joseph’s Primary School, O’Connor, suggests this needs to extend to the whole school community. “We need to codify our expectations and give it to our staff, students and parents. Whether it’s how we move through the school, how we treat each other, or how we teach literacy, we need to embed a common language about what we do and why we do it.”

The value of high quality, low stakes feedback

For Brad Gaynor, it was the value of point in time feedback that really shifted his thinking. Both schools have a culture of continuous feedback, where teachers briefly observe each other in action and give immediate feedback. This instructional coaching model is low stakes and non-threatening, with a different focus every week. Brad’s take away was that effective teacher reviews don’t have to be a formalised, intrusive event.

Catalyst is on the right track

For the CECG team, the trip confirmed what they are seeing in their own schools: Catalyst works. “The UK reinforces we are on the right track,” says Brad Gaynor.

Patrick Ellis adds, “We have laid the foundations right.”

The CECG team has captured some valuable learnings from the UK Study Tour to reflect upon with our current Catalyst journey, as we continue to move from implementation to embedding and sustaining.

Learn more about the schools

Learn about the positive impact evidence-based teaching practice is having in the classrooms at St Mary’s Primary School, Crookwell NSW.

Learn about the positive impact evidence-based teaching practice is having at St Bernard’s Primary School, Batemans Bay NSW.

Ross Fox, Director, Catholic Education, Archdiocese of Canberra & Goulburn together with teachers and Principals from across the system speak about the vision of Catalyst, its importance and the impact it is having on both teachers and students.

Hear about the Science of Learning and the focus on the teacher, as the most important learner in the system.

This video captures insights from St Thomas the Apostle Primary School, St Thomas More’s Primary School and St Mary MacKillop College.

The classroom has changed for the better at St Francis of Assisi Catholic Primary School in Calwell after several terms implementing InitiaLit, an evidence-based literacy program designed to assist teachers in providing strong reading foundations for all students. Literacy coordinator and Year 2 teacher, Lauren Macdonald, has been a driving force in transitioning students and teachers to this whole-class program and a first-hand witness to the positive uptake and impact of InitiaLit.

Mrs Macdonald said the program has introduced a new level of consistency and collaboration across all classrooms, without requiring extensive experience with the program. She feels there is a great opportunity to upskill not only students, but teachers to better understand how language works as they explore the program and its structure. After some initial hesitation around autonomy and program flexibility, teachers have truly become advocates for the program, finding room to experiment and incorporate their own interests and flare into lessons.

Teachers at St Francis believe InitiaLit has provided consistency in learning outcomes across classrooms, laying the foundation for more effective collaboration. Mrs Macdonald and her colleagues have experienced an increase in understanding of how language works and have found a better use of meta language, or language used to discuss literacy learning. Further, Mrs Macdonald reports that teachers and students are now being exposed to a higher level of grammar terminology, such as noun groups, prepositions, and conjunctions, that would be otherwise left until later stages of student learning.

Students have been the real winners from this change, with teachers across grades being able to provide more support for students who are capable of accelerated learning, and better learning retention, a result of the repetition and pace offered by the program.

As part of the program, each students’ learning is now supported by decodable readers, replacing their whole language readers with both physical and online offering options via Wushka. Such is the success of this transition, other schools have been visiting St Francis of Assisi’s classroom to see InitiaLit in action.

“My Year 2’s love it,” said Mrs Macdonald, “their phonics knowledge has increased significantly, and we are able to monitor to see if they are retaining what they are learning.” Students also enjoy the Storybook component, exposing them to quality literature, exploring new vocabulary and embedding the joy of reading.

Mrs Macdonald has found that parents are not experiencing too much change, only the benefits of systematic synthetic phonics method of learning. Parents are starting to notice their children showing off new and interesting words alongside improved spelling.

To complement InitiaLit, several teachers at the school have also been participating in SOLAR Lab, a research project by La Trobe University, which facilitates and tracks the efficient translation of new knowledge into the classroom. This support has been particularly beneficial for those teachers interested in the science of reading, complimenting the transition effectively and will be a great gauge for the long-term success of InitiaLit at St Francis of Assisi.

Still curious about InitiaLit? Find out more here.

St Thomas Aquinas Primary school have evolved their teaching instruction, resulting in positive changes in student learning and overall behaviour. Teachers at St Thomas Aquinas have been using Explicit Instruction (EI) in their classrooms since mid-2020, starting with the implementation of InitiaLit in Kindergarten classes and then Years 1 and 2 at the beginning of 2021. InitiaLit uses systematic and direct practices to teach reading.

Principal Leah Taylor and her teaching team, whilst initially apprehensive of this approach, have now seen the impact that this method of teaching can have on student achievement, behaviour and engagement.

“We have completely changed the way we teach at St Thomas Aquinas, essentially moving from an inquiry-based approach to predominantly Explicit Instruction,” said Mrs Taylor.

This year, St Thomas Aquinas have turned their attention to introducing elements of EI into the way they teach Mathematics. Selected Kindergarten, Year 3 and Year 5 teachers are currently working through the High Impact Teaching Practice program. A key practice that they have learnt and begun implementing is a Daily Review in the Mathematics block.

“All staff members that have used the Daily Review, have noticed changes in student performance, particularly knowledge retention, student behaviour and student’s attitudes to learning,” said Mrs Taylor.

Mrs Taylor also expressed that several teachers had received positive feedback from their students, who favoured the new approach.

As part of the new methodology, teachers from St Thomas Aquinas have been using whiteboards in the classroom instead of just workbooks and worksheets, which has been positive. However, this change is not without its challenges, by predominantly using whiteboards the ability to capture evidence of student learning needed to be rethought.

“To solve this concern, we came together and looked for other ways we could check for understanding, provide feedback and collect evidence and data, for our own school and to also ensure we complied with the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD).”

Through the HITP program, teachers are supported by an educational instructor who provides learning opportunities, resources and coaching. Teachers at St Thomas Aquinas have found the provided resources very helpful in assisting them to transfer what they have learnt during the program into the classroom.

The new teaching methodology has gained momentum at St Thomas Aquinas, with a high level of enthusiasm from participating teachers and an eagerness to complete the training by those not yet trained.

“We are starting to notice a change in the way our Classroom Support Assistants (CSA) operate too. I have seen some very high-quality EI teaching from our CSAs when implementing our intervention programs,” Mrs Taylor said.

When asked why she believes this program is truly making an impact at her school, Mrs Taylor said – “Everyone across the school is developing a deeper understanding of how students learn and how we can best support them.”

Find out more about K-12 Literacy and High Impact Teaching Practice.