Department of Education - Victoria

Maffra Secondary College is a regional college which caters for students in Years 7-12. Maffra is located two and half hours from Melbourne but within one hours drive of both the sea and mountains. Our enrolments sit at approximately 550 and a majority of our students travel to and from our school by bus from neighbouring towns. This number of students makes it small enough to allow positive relationships to be formed, but large enough to provide a wide range of options for our students. Our Strategic Plan goals are to improve student learning, student engagement and student wellbeing.

Maffra Secondary College provides learning and leadership opportunities for all students both within the school and the wider community. There is a focus on providing a positive learning environment where all individuals are accepted, inspired and empowered to succeed. We want our students to be actively involved in their learning and through student voice and agency, contribute to not only the development of the curriculum but also to improving the school environment and working with neighbouring cluster schools and the local community. The work undertaken in this area over the previous 4 years led to our college being recognised as School of the Year 2022 - Student Voice and Agency by VicSRC and significant improvement in all measures of the AToSS data.

Our College values Respect, Learning, Community and Resilience guide and underpin our high expectations of behaviour for staff, students, and our parent/caregiver community and we always strive to achieve the highest standard possible in these areas.

We have an Explicit Instructional Model (EIM) for staff and working in partnership with AERO for 2 years to embed explicit teaching consistently across our college. This is supported by a whole school coaching program where every teacher is a coach or coachee. Our student leadership team has finalised a student version of our EIM, outlining their responsibilities for learning and engagement in each phase of the EIM.

Since 2022 our AToSS data and Staff Survey data have significantly improved and we are now placed above the State in nearly every measure - our dedicated and committed staff and the amazing young people we learn with each day is what makes our school a great place to come each day.

There is a broad range of opportunities and pathways offered at the senior school which caters for the diverse interests, needs and abilities of our student cohort.

 

SC1    Demonstrated knowledge of the relevant curriculum, including the capacity to incorporate the teaching of literacy and numeracy skills. Demonstrated capacity to respond to student learning needs.

SC2    Demonstrated capacity to implement high impact teaching strategies, guided by how students learn, and evaluate the impact of learning and teaching programs on student learning growth. 

SC3    Demonstrated capacity to monitor and assess student learning. Demonstrated capacity to use data to inform teaching practice and to provide feedback on student learning growth and achievement to students and parents.

SC4    Demonstrated interpersonal and communication skills. Demonstrated capacity to establish and maintain collaborative relationships with students, parents, colleagues and the broader school community to support student learning, wellbeing and engagement.    

SC5    Demonstrated behaviours and attitudes consistent with Department values. Demonstrated capacity to reflect upon practice and engage in professional learning to continually improve the quality of teaching.