There is a lot happening this year at Cobden Technical School, some of it to introduce new things, some to revisit existing ideas and practices, and some of it to change the way we do things as we strive to improve the outcomes for our students.

In keeping with the school’s motto, Cobden Technical School is strongly committed to being ‘Committed To Students. Committed To Success’. We are committed to find, and celebrate, successful outcomes for students, in the pursuit of high level academic achievement, and the development of specific vocational skills. This rests beside the opportunity for sporting, cultural, environmental and artistic involvement and success in a school with clear and strong connections to the community and industry at both a local and regional level.

The school focus on high expectations is being strengthened through a focus on the ‘Big Four’ – explicit learning intentions, clear success criteria, quality tasks for students to learn through, and effective feedback that provides students with clear direction and opportunity for improvement. In 2013, we joined the National Schools Partnership program, and this has provided the impetus for us to explore and implement initiatives based on the explicit teaching of literacy skills. Our teaching staff is working on ways to use the seven ‘High Reliability Literacy Teaching Procedures’ in their normal teaching programs to enhance student literacy in all areas of the curriculum, and the foundation work is also being done to support us in implementing a structured literacy intervention program for all students in Years 7 to 10.

Students at CTS are encouraged to grow in a climate of building respectful relationships, respecting one’s self and others and taking responsibility for one’s actions. This happens through a belief in our values of: care and compassion, honesty, integrity, trustworthiness, doing one’s best to develop competence and credibility, fairness and equity, understanding, tolerance and inclusion, bravery and decisiveness… and these values are all focused upon with a sense of humour.

This year we are working with our students to revisit, and examine, what we value as a school. Our aim in this regard is to identify five key values that represent the character and aspirations of our school community. Achieving with, and for, our community is what drives us.