As I announced earlier this week, St Joseph’s School has received a Level 3 Visible Learning+ Certified School Award (the highest level possible) from Corwin which recognises the exemplary work the school has done to embed Visible Learning principles at all levels within the school; acknowledges the work of our teachers to develop visible learners; and recognises their success in being evaluators of their own impact on student learning.

This is a significant award for the three and half years the school has put into our Visible Learning Program with the aim of improving teaching and learning across the school. It has been a very successful program and the improvement in both the students and teachers has been significant. St Joseph’s School is now seen as a “Lighthouse School in Visible Learning” for all 31 schools across the Toowoomba Diocese with regular visits by other principals and teachers to learn from us.

For some of you, what we mean by ‘Visible Learning’ may be a bit of a mystery. In order to provide yourself greater clarity, I urge you to read the letter to families I sent out this week. It provides details about what Visible Learning is and how we imbed it in our school.

Importantly, parents and carers should be reassured that whilst there are some practices that they may not have experienced in their time at school (like flexible learning spaces), Visible Learning is about understanding and applying those influences on students learning that have the greatest impact on learning. Those influences have been around for many years.

It is also important to remember that school is a long journey from Prep to Year 12. At St Joseph’s School we are about preparing lifelong learners, that is, students who can continue to succeed in their learning once they finish school. Too often students who succeed at school struggle in their tertiary years. A visible learner is a student who has ownership of their learning and will be successful throughout life.

God Bless