By VICTORIA STONE-MEADOWS
STATE MP for Eildon Cindy McLeish participated in the annual Principal for a Day event at Launching Place Primary School last week.
Principal for a Day is managed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and allows local community leaders to gain a hands-on understanding of schools.
Ms McLeish spent the day ‘shadowing’ Launching Place Primary School Principal Narelle Messerle and learning about how the school functioned and what the core aspects of the curriculum were.
“It’s great to have Cindy here learning more about the school,” Ms Messerle said.
Ms McLeish had experiences throughout the day including speaking with the students and staff, helping out in classes and getting to know how the school operated.
“I got to see processes in action and helped out in Grade 1/2 class which had a really strong writing focus,” she said.
Ms McLeish and Ms Messerle even sat down with some of the students to discuss what they did and did not like about their school, which led to many suggestions for the installation of a waterslide in the playground.
Ms McLeish said she was very impressed with Ms Messerle’s dedication to the continuing improvement of student and staff engagement in the learning process.
“There is a real learning tone in the classrooms,” she said.
Ms Messerle introduced Ms McLeish to the ongoing professional development of the teachers at Launching Place Primary School that has contributed to an improvement in student engagement.
“There is a focus here on how teachers teach sustainable change,” Ms Messerle said.
“We aim to keep staff challenged and prevent stagnation in the curriculum by building teacher professionalism.”
“We do this by having a focus on writing and language that incorporates professional development to engage staff and students in the classroom.”
Ms McLeish said her time at Launching Place Primary School was very valuable and she had a great time getting to know the people that made up the school community.
“There were a few really great highlights for me,” Ms McLeish said.
“A Grade 4/5 class sang a song for their teacher about not having done their homework that was really funny.”
“Also seeing the Grade 5/6 girls aerobics routine that they took to the national championships was absolutely amazing.”
