Newcastle High School’s procedures on implementing the restrictions of mobile phones in accordance with the NSW Department of Education’s Students’ Use of Mobile Phones in Schools policy have been drafted this term and are currently within a consultation period. These draft procedures have been ratified by our P&C this term, and are now ready for communication and implementation.
While mobile phones and other such devices have significant advantages for use in the broader community, their use in schools is highly problematic. In schools, mobile phones are significant distractors to learning and can further contribute to a student’s cognitive load. They can also pose a significant risk to the safety and wellbeing of students through unfiltered/unsupervised access to the internet and social networking platforms. The use of technology is important, but the risks and benefits need to be managed.
From Term 4, 2023, all NSW Department of Education schools are required to select a mobile phone management approach that ensures the restriction of mobile phones on school grounds. Newcastle High School has selected to use the “Off and Away Strategy.” This strategy ensures that all mobile phones will be Off and Away for the full school day, including recess, lunch and during excursions. This means that students will have a responsibility to turn off their phone and store it safely in their school bag for the course of the school day, leave it locked in the school office, or do not bring it to school. This is an approved NSW Department of Education strategy and will limit unnecessary distractions and complement our ongoing approach to ensure every student maximises their learning and social growth in a safe and supportive environment.
We ask that all parents and carers support our Off and Away Strategy by discussing with your child/ren their choices to either leave their mobile phone at home, keep it secured in their bag, or locked away in the front office each day from Term 4. Students should also ensure that their mobile phone is turned off for the entire school day. From Term 4, staff should not see a mobile phone for any reason between 8:55am and 3pm (Bell to Bell) on the NHS site or on excursions and extracurricular activities, including sport. A phone being on silent or on aeroplane mode is not considered an appropriate strategy. If students need to contact parents/carers (or visa-versa) each day, they should go through our school office.
We will be sending all parents, carers and students personal communication about these mobile phone policy changes by the end of term, including the full procedures and support material, which will be uploaded to our website. Thank you for your support in this government policy change.
New Curriculum
The curriculum is a plan for learning based on mandated and approved syllabus documents and current Departmental policies and procedures. The NSW curriculum refers to the suite of resources that are the syllabuses and the support resources to support teachers to implement the syllabuses. This includes, but is not limited to, resources including teaching and learning advice, assessment resources, and syllabus-specific materials including scope and sequences, units of work, standards materials and work samples.
The NSW Curriculum Reform is a program to deliver a new curriculum for Kindergarten to Year 12 from 2024. The New Curriculum is being developed by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA). NESA provides information that informs the community about the curriculum reform.
At NHS, our teachers are engaging in whole school strategically planned professional learning on Assessment and Aboriginal Pedagogies in 2023, while staff with new curriculum/syllabuses have increased release time to plan and engage in PL and networks relevant to their subject areas. All faculties and teachers have release time in whole days being provided by our additional staffing.
The timeline of the roll out of new curriculum was modified with the new NSW government in May, as detailed in this link: Government Timeline Announcement Below is the New Curriculum release timeline which schools are working towards:
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