Active Schools update: Spotlight on Rosebud Secondary College
Photo credit: Rosebud Secondary College reflecting the diverse interests of students and the impact of student voice in shaping the
With ACHPER Victoria events now in full swing (including many back face to face!), we thought it appropriate to introduce you to Laura Widdowson. Laura is our Queen of events, and the person behind programming our upcoming June conferences.
We sat down to ask Laura a few questions about her time with the organisation and are pleased to share her stories with you in our latest Team in Focus. Read on below!
Thankfully this didn’t occur on my first day at ACHPER, but my very first day of teaching I was pulled up outside by another teacher demanding that I provide them with a note for being out of sports uniform and questioning why I was out of class during lesson time…Had to break it to them I was the new PE teacher, and I was on my way to my new office. In denial they shook their head, muttering “they just keep getting younger and younger” and told me to ‘run along’. While teaching in the UK there have been many out of this world experiences that include teaching in the snow, daily misunderstandings of language, and even being told ‘you’re crazy’ by a certain Prime Minister on a school visit for having to teach outside in the rain, hail or shine of a British winter.
Working with ACHPER Victoria in this role means speaking to teachers and tertiary leaders every day. Finding out what is happening, what is working, what is challenging, around the state in varying contexts is so rewarding and means that we can work to highlight the wins and grow the capacity in other areas. See the first face to face event run earlier in Term 1 was incredibly rewarding after the experiences of all in Melbourne over the last two years. Cannot wait to see even more teachers in person this year in June and November!
Post COVID everything has changed, teachers have endured so much. I want to be able to look at where and how we can facilitate the best professional learning for teachers that embraces what and when teachers need it. This includes how we can reach those teachers across the state and outside of the metro boundaries in their communities. Every single teacher is doing an amazing job in their region, in their community, in their classroom context and I want to be able to display this and extend the capacity of all these teachers from student teachers to leading and accomplished teachers.
Every single day I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of the ACHPER Victoria team and be able to access invaluable knowledge and mentorship. The organisations approach to upskilling their staff is outstanding, and I have embraced being able to recently attend an ongoing leadership course for women in sports organisation run by VICSPORT. Professional growth occurs every day connecting with tertiary leaders in our space, and those from the Professional Learning teams of ACHPER branches in other states. Like others, COVID saw a drastic shift in how we deliver events, and this was a steep learning curve in online platforms and the digital space. It is exciting now how we approach the use of this technology to deliver information to teachers and adapt it to what is wanted now.
‘Challenge all, overwhelm none’ – all credit goes to Renae Fraser in the Professional Learning team for sharing this in a meeting. The other piece of advice that is constantly on my mind and I believe incredibly important in the HPE, outdoor education and recreation space is the idea of ‘if you can’t see it, you can’t be it’. As teachers we are responsible for so much and that includes being role models for our students and advocates for all in our classrooms.
Photo credit: Rosebud Secondary College reflecting the diverse interests of students and the impact of student voice in shaping the
We are delighted to introduce our new General Manager – Services. An important role as we strengthen our ability to connect movement, learning, and community engagement. Welcome to the team, Jason!