TAROONA HIGH SCHOOL
THE WAY WE WORK
Taroona High School is a strategy-focused learning organisation which is a Leading centre for
innovation, creativity and excellence in teaching and learning for all, within a clearly defined
organisational values set that governs how we work and relate to each other.
VALUES AND BEHAVIOURS
Our culture and our work at Taroona are underpinned by our School Values which the whole staff
has developed together. At the core of every interaction and operation at Taroona High School sit
the following values:
 Respect
 Honesty and integrity
 Professional Growth
 Sense of belonging
 Innovation and Creativity
 Engagement in Learning
The school operates on the Balanced Scorecard methodology (Kaplan and Norton, 2000), which
allows us to consider the school in four discrete perspectives:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Our Staff – All staff who work at Taroona High School
Our Students- Students (includes Learning programs)
Our Systems - Internal systems, procedures and protocols
Our Resources – financial, time and human resources.
Our Whole School Scorecard for 2008 – 2012 has defined an Objective, associated Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs) and target levels within each of the perspectives and is our strategic
plan for the next five years. This plan is devolved through the whole school. At Taroona High
School there are six separate scorecards that contribute to the whole school scorecard.
These are:
1) Junior School Teachers’ scorecard
2) Senior School Teachers’ scorecard
3) Support Staff Scorecard
4) Administration Scorecard
5) Parents’ Scorecard
6) Students’ Scorecard
Each member of staff contributes to their team’s scorecard using their own unique individual
scorecard as a basis for contributing to the strategic direction for the whole school.
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These Scorecards are our method of planning for, then managing and measuring the progress that
we are making towards our objectives within the 4 perspectives across the whole organisation.
The approach is data driven and data flows from the individual scorecards to the team scorecard and
onto the whole school scorecard. Data is collected in real time to allow the staff to learn and grow
in terms of strategic direction and in terms of their interaction with students and each other.
The underlying premises of Professional Learning Communities (Du Four and Du Four 2004) guides
the way we work together and initially Strategic Action Teams (SATs) are the method that we
use to drive our strategy. As such, all staff are required to actively engage in at least one SATs and a
further implementation team each year. Each SAT plans and researches an area for change and these
investigations are completed within a twelve week timeframe. These SATs provide the engines for
school improvement. It is intended that each enacted initiative will improve the quality of student
and staff learning at Taroona High School. The school resources these teams, though research and
innovation grants, and recommendations arising from the external and internal research associated
with the initiatives are reviewed by the Strategic Review Team and shared with staff for collective
growth. Ongoing learning is valued highly at Taroona and staff are also encouraged and supported
to use the Action Teams as a means of enhancing their own formal qualifications.
Individual Scorecards form the basis of personal and professional growth at Taroona High School
and, along with self, student and peer reflection, contribute to the Taroona HS appraisal system. It
is the responsibility of each individual to establish objectives, KPIs and target levels through the
generation of a Balanced Scorecard. This process will be supported by the Leadership team.
Individual staff will then be required to collect base line data, to develop or adopt measurement
tools, to implement these tools and to monitor individual progress. The individual scorecards inform
the Professional Learning at the school.
Student Scorecards will be generated for all Yr 7 students in 2010 and will extend to all students
systematically by 2012. Teachers will work together to develop with students and Pathway Planners
to develop these Scorecards. The student Scorecards will include individual learning plans and will
plan for the social/ emotional development of the student as well as measuring the individual’s
contribution to community and environment.
Leadership
The Taroona Staff are focused on building team capacity within a learning organisation. Every
member of staff is considered a leader and within the framework of the Action Teams, every staff
member will be expected to emerge as a situational leader. The Principal, Assistant Principals and
the ASTs meet fortnightly to consider the strategic direction of Taroona and to formally engage in
professional dialogue and share understandings around contemporary research papers. In this way,
we are continually engaged in renewal, both individually and collectively.
At Taroona, School Improvement is central to the way we work and our school structure is
organised upon this strong foundation.
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Personal Commitment
All members of staff at Taroona High School have read about, and understand the way the school
works. They understand their commitment to working in the ways described.
All members of staff understand that:
 they are personally accountable for their agree contributions to school improvement
 share the collective responsibility all staff have for ensuring that our students are provided
with the best educational environment possible
 teach, mentor and coach students to help them achieve personal excellence in all aspects of
their personal, social and academic development.
All Taroona Staff have an individual performance agreement, based on a personal balanced scorecard
negotiated with them by a senior staff member and reviewed on a regular basis.
The school uses a model of peer and performance coaching to promote professional development.
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