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Cobden School – Developing a Graduate Profile to underpin teaching, learning and assessment
Noula Markham - Principal, and Mandy Dodds - Deputy Principal
Cobden School is a small full primary school in Greymouth, on the west coast of the South Island, with a roll of around 150 students.
This story illustrates how Cobden School has worked to improve teaching and learning for the students in its community.
The Principal, Noula Markham, and the DP, Mandy Dodds, have been working alongside staff on the development of a Graduate Profile over the past couple of years. They read a wide range of educational research, sought advice, visited other schools and deliberately targeted Leadership and Assessment PLD for themselves and their staff. All these actions informed their decision for change.
For classrooms
The Graduate Profile underpins teaching and learning in the classroom.
- Senior students select their own goals from the Graduate Profile. These are evaluated by students each term. Students collect evidence of attainment.
- For junior students, the Graduate Profile is used daily as a formative assessment of dispositions for learning.
For school leaders
When the curriculum is being reviewed, the Graduate Profile drives the curriculum and reporting to parents in plain English on the "whole child" - skills and strategies to be learners.
This information will then be collated from a whole school perspective and reported to the Board of Trustees.
For the Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees has insisted that the Graduate Profile should be reflected in the strategic plan. Strategic goals are underpinned by the Profile. Recent communication from ERO expressed support for the school’s efforts to incorporate the "front end" of the curriculum into strategic planning in order to address learners’ needs.
At risk register
Underpinning the Graduate Profile is the At Risk Register. Through both formative and summative assessment, teachers identify students at risk of not reaching the level required to enable them to fully access learning across the curriculum. Then using the risk monitor sheet (attached), specific behaviours are identified, goals are set and differentiated support is implemented for students to make progress. Deliberate strategies and actions are identified to support the students. The Risk Monitor Sheet is formally referenced three times a year to check on progress, adjust strategies if necessary and to identify the strategies that make a difference for these students. This process is used for at-risk students and all Special Needs students are monitored through their individual IEPs.
Download a copy of the Risk Monitor sheet below.
At Risk Matrix Master
(PDF 81 KB)
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