Selwyn Ridge School
Merryn Muir discusses developing the culture in a new school.
Video
Clip duration: 3:54
Leadership style
"I'm a learner like everyone else – I love learning."
I try to grow leaders at all levels throughout the school, and so I am aware that there isn't necessarily a hierarchy of leadership for things to work well within an organisation.
My way of doing things can be described as a servant leadership style – a support type of leadership where I recognise the talents of others. One in which there is a sense of recognising mutual values and aspirations and aims. I aspire to the whole idea of working together to achieve things.
I am reflective. I tend to analyse what I do, and what we do within the school, so that we can improve our practices.
I tend to feel more comfortable talking about a "we" when it comes to leadership, as that is the way it works around our place.
Where we are at
"Growing leaders is one of the goals."
I was employed at the school as one of two deputy principals when the school was opened in 1997. I knew that I was going to be a role model for what was important in the school and I knew that I wanted to lead educational practice rather than focus on management.
As Selwyn Ridge was a new school, the greatest challenge when I became leader was to ensure that our staff and community values and beliefs were identified and that everyone owned our school's vision.
I would describe the school's culture now as one where people have ownership of what is happening. Teachers know where they are going and they can articulate what it is that is important to our school. Growing leaders is one of the goals.
It is a culture that is very caring, where relationships are paramount. I believe that positive relationships are crucial in a learning environment and I think that if people know that everyone cares that is really helpful.
People describe coming into Selwyn Ridge School as feeling like there is a calmness there but that there is also an energy and purpose about it. There is a lot happening.
We encourage innovation and creativity and we aim to soar high to provide the best we can for our children.
Where my ideas come from
"...a gradually evolving leadership style"
I have been very fortunate to work with a range of principals who have trusted me and who have been happy to share what they do with me. This has provided me with autonomy in different leadership positions within other schools, and has given me the opportunity to evolve my leadership style. So I have been able to incorporate practices and ideas that I felt are right for me.
I have enjoyed a wide range of personal learning and professional development and I have done a lot of professional reading. This has included readings by Charles Handy, and ideas from Dr Julia Atkin's “What is powerful learning?” among others.
I have also enjoyed working with mentors and I have picked up strategies from them and bounced ideas off them. I have a sense of picking up things from different people that I have worked with and of gradually evolving my leadership style.
What we've been doing
"...we believe that kids in charge start learning."
I work with an amazing team of teachers who come to Selwyn Ridge with these incredible ideas, passions and talents that they are happy to share. And if we think something is going to work for children, we try it. We have introduced strategies such as:
- Kick Start – this strategy is based on the belief that when kids are in charge they start learning. It is a philosophy about children leading their learning and being responsible for their learning. There is quite a bit of choice in that for children as we negotiate the curriculum with the children.
- Kid on the Ridge – this strategy involves a personification of what we talk about as a staff, with parents and the board to do with things that we recognise to be important to children now and in the future. We illustrate the desired qualities on a learner map in graphic form and have the poster in every classroom. The benefits of this are that children can look at the poster at any time, can talk about it and relate to it to themselves. When I did an Exit Interview last year with some year six children it was lovely to hear a child say "When I have a problem, I think, what would the kid [on the poster] do?"
- Millennium Mob – the accelerant computer group. Those children very much lead their own learning by being a crew that video present and edit their own documentaries of what happens within the school. The children put in CVs to the selection panel and apply for a position in the crew. We see that as an excellent opportunity to grow leaders and we try to grow leaders at all levels of the school.
There is a huge focus on staff professional development and that is usually school wide in focus. When we opened the school, our entire school staff visited the Acot School in Melbourne (the Apple school of tomorrow) and also attended the Woolongong ICT conference. Last year we went on a voyage of discovery to Auckland schools and also visited businesses there. Those experiences, and the new knowledge gained from that have subsequently been linked into what we are planning for our children now and for the future.
How do we know?
"children can articulate what it is to be a learner at Selwyn Ridge"
When you are in Selwyn Ridge there is something about the feel of the place that lets me know that things are going well. Teachers are happy to be there and are willing to share their talents and their passions.
We have hundreds of visitors at the school, so we are very fortunate to have pretty instant feedback in terms of how we are doing.
I know we're doing a good job when I look around at the children and I see them leading their learning, and when I see that they are articulating their learning. I think that is really exciting. Children will talk about their preferred thinking styles and the sort of physical set up they may like in a room. They will think through what they need to develop most to make the most of themselves in learning situations.
Where to next?
"What is powerful learning and what learning is powerful?"
I would see the next stage for our schools development is to focus on those things that we think are really important. To discuss questions such as "What is powerful learning? and "What is it powerful to learn?". We recognise that this will have huge implications for the curriculum.
We will continue to focus on our Kid on the Ridge because that is the personification of all those qualities that we think children need for now and for the future.
We will continue to develop our community partnerships and forge new links with parents so that they are on the learning journey with us. We believe this is really important.
We are going to keep pushing the boundaries to ensure that we are the best leaders and learners we can be.
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