St Michael’s involvement in Curriculum reform 

At the end of 2019 NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority) developed a statewide teacher network program called the TENS.  The TENs group is a network of teachers from across the whole of  NSW from the Public, Catholic and Independent schools that are involved in curriculum reforms. 

I have been a part of this program and will continue in this role for the remainder of the curriculum reform. This means that our school is user- testing new resources and parts of the new curriculum, providing feedback and advice to NESA. As a TENS teacher I am also working with other teachers from across all sectors (Catholic, Public and Independent) and gaining resources and professional development that is continuing with the staff at St Michaels’.

As a result of our school being part of the TENS our teachers have already received professional learning on the new curriculum and the explanation to why certain changes have been made. This professional learning will continue through the next two years as the curriculums are introduced to schools. We at St Michael's have been and we continue to be privileged in having first access to the draft curriculums and be allowed to ‘user- test’ and work alongside other schools that are also ‘user- text’ sharing resources and ideas. We at St Michael’s will also be giving feedback and advice to NESA on what support resources teachers and students may need for the successful implementation of the new curriculums. 

At this stage our kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 teachers are working closely with myself as we trial the K-2 English curriculum. The new curriculum has a focus on building strong foundations for future learning.  Next term we will begin to look at the K-2 Mathematics curriculum and after I have completed more professional development on the draft 3-6 English and Mathematics curriculum we will begin user testing and professional development in these areas. 

As we continue to learn about the new curriculums and shape our professional development and learning around focus areas we will also provide information opportunities to our parents on the new curriculums and changes to what and how our students will be learning. This information will be provided in a number of ways from updates in the newsletters to information sessions for parents. 

The curriculum reform is a positive and exciting movement for staff, parents and especially students. We are extremely lucky to be working closely with NESA and a range of schools in the implementation of the new curriculums.  

Miss Eliza Treble - Assistant Principal