The School for Student Leadership (Trading as The Alpine School) is an exciting and unique year-nine specialist school. The school has been operating for 24 years and more than 10,000 students have participated in that time both in Victorian and when an international operation was conducted in China from 2014-2019. It currently consists of four campuses
All campuses are in regional Victoria and include:
¿ Alpine School Campus, Dinner Plain.
¿ Snowy River Campus, Marlo
¿ Gnurad-Gundidj Campus, Noorat-Glenormiston.
¿ Don Valley Campus, Don Valley.
Forty-five students live, learn, work, play, recreate and undertake adventures at the schools in a unique (in State Education) highly supported leadership education program. The school has modelled the educational program on an Experiential Education model, and at its core has a project/ inquiry learning and social-enterprise focus.
A highly developed curriculum, pedagogical, assessment and reporting approach relates to the Victorian Curriculum F-10 Capabilities.
An extensive outdoor, environmental and adventure education program is an embedded part of the school learning program. All students participate fully in this as it is an essential component of the character education aspect of leadership and experiential education.
While the school has a highly developed outdoor and adventure education curriculum that honours the DoE and Outdoor Education Policy and operational provisions, the teaching and learning program should be of particular interest.
The curriculum revolves around nine learning concepts that have evolved out of the school values and align with and reflect the F-10 Capabilities. The school recognises that the concept of leadership is contested and has an agreed position that these concepts combine to measure this construct.
The main visible outcome of the program is the Community Learning Project. This is a student-led and driven project that students implement on return to their home communities upon returning home.
A CLP is referred to as triple ¿ ¿A¿ rated learning because it is:
- Authentic. It is genuinely developed and delivered by students
- Agentic. The project is owned by the students, and they have control over it.
- Actioned. The students have to DO something to deliver a project. Leadership is a ¿verb.¿
The action component is important. The school values and notes that leadership is an action not a position or title.
Core Moral Purpose
The core-moral purpose of the school rests in a mixture of the following:
- best practice middle years education, including appreciating the works of Pendergast (2017) Teaching Middle Years and Bandura (2005) Self Efficacy Beliefs of Adolescents.
- a contemporary interpretation of the adolescent "rite of passage',
- "long service leave" for year nine students, as applied to many Australian industrial settings,
- reinterpretation of contemporary paediatric and adolescent psychological research as applied to education,
- understanding the implications of a student-centred approach to education including
- Maslow¿s (1943) Hierarchy of Needs
- Glasser¿s (2000) Choice Theory
- what it means to be a learner in the 21st Century and connection with Nature (Louv).
- An interpretation of Tuckman¿s forming-storming-norming-performing model.
Agency, authenticity, action-Leadership.
Middle year's experiential educational best practice informs our curriculum content and pedagogy. These include including fundamentally engaging activities as the basis of our work, project-based work, inquiry-based learning, experiential learning, working on concrete work tasks, teamwork, integrated use of ICT, reflective practices, meta-cognitive learning, thinking, and learning profiling and community living. The deliberate limitation of resources and the creation of learning/decision-making tension points, among many others are keys to the success of learning.
Rite of Passage
The contemporary "Rite of Passage" refers to that which many say has been lost in the modern, western capitalist paradigm. Put simply, many traditional cultures incorporated a period, at about puberty, of; separation from family, minimal communication with family/community, undertaking a significant, prolonged, and arduous journey in the wilderness, undergoing physical/emotional hardship, solving real problems concerning "survival", learning the spiritual mores of the community from elders and other significant adults among other undertakings. Often, the successful reintegration to community/society after such an undertaking, such a "rite", included in scarring or cicatrisation as a mark of successfully undertaking this hardship/separation/reintegration into the community and as recognition of the acceptance into and responsibilities of, an "adult".
Many suggest that an extended period of separation and learning such as that offered by the Alpine School program can represent a contemporary rite of passage.
Long Service Leave
In many organisational structures in Australia, after ten years of continual service, members of that organisation are entitled to a period of leave from their role for re-creation, renewal, reinvigoration, rediscovery and so on as both a mark of respect and in preparation for the next period of work and life. Year nine students have been at school for ten years and some say deserve a period of "long service leave". In this construct, the leave must require undertaking tasks, learning and experiences that are fundamentally different to those of their normal existence. It is because of this among other reasons, that traditional "school work" should not be undertaken in this residential learning environment. Students are undertaking "new' learning that is fundamentally about them and their future selves and should not be confused with the more teacher-centric model of education from which many have come. The learning they are undertaking is hugely valuable in itself. We have to re-assign a value to the learning undertaken in this 'long-service leave" construct.
Adolescent Neuro-Psycho-Emotional development
This adolescent stage in a young person's life involves reference to Biddulph, Louv, Carr-Gregg and other contemporary authors. Biddulph refers to the three stages of children¿s development, the third beginning at around puberty and involving attachment and association/mentoring/role-modelling by a significant adult who is not a direct member of the young person's immediate family. There is evidence around this important and formative stage in a teenager¿s brain development: these young brains are still works in progress. The teacher, educator, scout/guide master, sport coach and so on tends to be that person in our society. Clearly this person needs to accept the considerable and onerous trust and responsibility that is placed upon them. Reference is made to Richard Louv regarding his identified construct of Nature Deficit Disorder (NDD). Among others, NDD refers to that phenomenon where medical practitioners are identifying behaviours in young people that can be attributed to lack of exposure to the natural environment, unstructured play in that environment, exploration of the natural environment, getting physically dirty and physically touching and personally experiencing that environment as opposed to experiencing it through a digital media.
Maslow and Hierarchy of Needs
The model of care and welfare that is provided to our students is critical to the success of the program and the student outcomes we aim for. Maslow describes a hierarchy of needs that generally must be achieved for all of us to progress through to a high state of awareness and in our circumstance, true and life-long learning. At a fundamental level, students need to have satisfied basic physiological needs. We provide a safe, well nurtured learning and living environment with a focus on healthy eating, exercise, sleep, and food: there is neither junk food nor sweets/lollies/bonbons allowed, no chewing gum and no cordial or fizzy drinks. Good accommodation, safe and secure ablution areas and access to healthy exercise is critical. We believe in creating a sense of care and belonging, community and mutual respect that allows students to feel safe and cared for, a part of a real and living community in which they are active participants, not observers or passengers. A high moral and participative standard are expected. We believe that through a close sense of community, students can develop a strong sense of self, what they believe and value, respect, and valuing of and for diversity and for others and a robust self-esteem and self-efficacy. It is only through this deliberate process and supported environment can this progression be made.
Glasser and Choice Theory
We subscribe to this approach and view every opportunity with a student as a learning opportunity. We do not subscribe to a punitive approach: we do not punish students. That does not mean we do not hold behaviours to account: students are held very accountable for their choices, actions, and inactions. To gain an understanding of student behaviour, we interrogate ourselves and each other as to the nature of behaviours: are the behaviours we are witnessing normal adolescent behaviours? Many behaviours we as adults witness in adolescents might challenge our adult sensibilities: but they are not deliberate behaviours. If not, we always fundamentally seek to understand the cause or drive of such an abnormal behaviour. In every instance, unusual behaviour is motivated by a need that we as both the educators and adults in the care model must seek to understand.
We also believe that adolescents do not need ¿fixing up.¿ They have not come to our program because they are somehow ¿broken¿ or they need to be modified in some way. Ours is a school not a camp, students learn (mostly about themselves) and often the experience is transformational.
Much of our program focusses the students on themselves, learning about relationships and learning about the community in which they were residing for a specific amount of time and learning about leadership. As such much of their learning can be organised in the following way:
- Learning how to manage their own behaviour;
- Learning how to manage their own learning;
- Learning how to be responsible for themselves and,
- Learning about and with others.
These four ways of viewing learning and behaviour are essential learnings for all students, which in turn if mastered changes the way individuals view themselves and the world in which they live. In addition to managing their own learning and behaviour Glasser (2000) suggests that people who are in control of their own life, are happy and have no need to control the lives of others. By the same token those who are not happy want to control others and the environment in which they live. Those who are not happy are not finding a way or perceiving a way of having their basic needs met.
Tuckman and separation
Many may be familiar with the Tuckman model (Bruce Tuckman 1965). The forming¿storming¿norming¿performing model of group development was first proposed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965, who said that these phases are all necessary and inevitable in order for a team to grow, face up to challenges, tackle problems, find solutions, plan work, and deliver results. As Tuckman knew these inevitable phases were critical to team growth and development, he hypothesized that along with these factors that interpersonal relationships and task activity would enhance the four-stage model that is needed to successfully navigate and create and effective group function.
We acknowledge and recognise that there may be additional phases and in particular the first is ¿mourning¿ which is related to an inevitable separation anxiety. This may or may not be a large or small issue for students in the first week(s) of the program.
We also acknowledge that the strong sense of esprit de corp and community that is created by such a shared and long experience is also difficult to dismantle without social and emotional side-effects. We call this the ¿adjourning¿ stage.
When students experience the deconstruction of their community by the completion and conclusion of the experience, it can manifest in compensatory behaviours on return home and to the regular school.
Parents/families/carers and home schools should be made very aware of the significance of the deconstruction phase and the variability of return for every student.
We acknowledge that students will not ¿reintegrate¿ as they are for the most part fundamentally different because of the experience being away. Integrations implies a return to normality whereas there is a recognition that as a result of the experience and the ¿rite of passage,¿ a different person has returned, and their stakeholders will need a period to readjust to them.
21st Century Learning
We also subscribe to a contemporary view of 21st Century Learning. Louv (referenced above) notes that the world is becoming an increasingly hostile and scary place: parents are less and less likely to allow their children out into the wild dangerous world. He notes that with the ubiquitous use of technology, it is now more than ever that we need the natural world. The more technology we have, the more nature we need. We also note that every student we now see has only been to school in the 21st Century. They are mostly educated by teachers (decreasingly so as the third decade of the century unfolds) who went to school in the 20th Century. They exist in a school system that was developed in the 18th Century. If ever there was a time to do education differently, it is now.
These converging concepts provide a powerful rationale and significant "moral purpose' or central belief for undertaking our programs. Our campuses have less curriculum inertia than many system models, as there is a new cohort each term. Review, renewal, and organisational reflection are encouraged, and it is hoped that innovation is a key feature of our programs. Educational and balanced risk taking is encouraged. Change is a feature of our organisation, introspection and challenging mores and beliefs is encouraged. We adopt all these curriculum innovations and are an integrated curriculum model. We actively promote the importance of conceptual and practical preparation-separation-reintegration model and minimal parental contact. Separation anxiety is a part of our experience, and we work with the student to cope with their incarnation of this emotional response. We believe this is an essential component for the success of the program. Students undertake expeditions and we encourage them to explore and get close to the natural world.
Every student benefits from the experience and every student will acknowledge that the experience is at times extremely challenging. They return home and after a period of adjustment, every student in our experience will go on to better outcomes at school because of the "rite", separation, relationship with a significant adult, and exposure and relationship with the outdoors and natural environment. Our research shows that students are better learners, more focussed, more settled, have better medium- and long-term goals, and can undertake practices to achieve those goals. They do academically better at school and are more settled and considerate at home.
While the measured outcomes point to the success and value of the program (AtoSS, PIVOT data, Parents survey data and many co-authored research papers), for many students the impact and learning is deferred. It can take time for many to fully appreciate the nature and value of an extended residential experience.
Beliefs and Values
The school has developed a core set of beliefs and values which underpin the school operations, curriculum, assessment, and program decision making. The successful applicant should show in their application an alignment with and commitment to these core values. We Believe in and Value:
- Self-Belief.
- Connectedness
- Relationships
These are also the learning themes built into the curriculum.
Roles and responsibilities specific to the setting
As a result of the multi-campus operation and the residential 9-24/7 operation on each campus, the role requires a person with a flexible, enthusiastic, and team-oriented approach. All staff work in a close team environment with their colleagues, and a culture of collaboration, sharing and feedback permeates this relationship.
- The Principal is the instructional leader in the school, the Ex-Officio member of council, direct line-manager to all staff but delegates this responsibility as required.
- The school Principal is currently primarily based at Snowy Campus and will be often mobile.
- The Campus Principals and the Leading Teachers with the Generalists will form the core of the teaching staff.
- Leading Teachers will be familiar with aspects of contemporary DET management practices.
- The Business Manager has a vital advisory role with both the Principal and the Campus Principals in making and supporting resourcing decisions.
- The Education Support Staff are intrinsically connected to the successful outcomes that the school aims for.
- The kitchen and catering model is critical to the success of the learning program and the staff follow a common approach to healthy food for growing adolescents.
- The school has a Community of Practice approach to ensure high quality outcomes for students, to ensure consistency of practice between teachers, classes, care and supervision, ICT, ICT management, catering and food provision, outdoor and adventure activities, campuses, and days, uses evidence and data and privileging time for school strategic goals.
- The operational budget of the multi-campus school is in the order of $9-$10m per annum. The school generates a cash income through parent contributions via home schools.
- The governance and leadership model of the School for Student Leadership is unique in the Victorian Education system. The Governance and Leadership models comprise one School Council and a single Principal. The school council, nominated by the education minister, consists of highly regarded members of the Victorian community. There are past students, industry, education and Koorie community representatives on the school council.
- The school has a MOU relationship with VAEAI and KAE to ensure the program is accessible for Koorie students and is culturally inclusive.
- The School Principal, Business Manager, Campus Principals and Leading Teachers form the School Leadership Team.
- The Business Manager is the Secretary of the School Council and has a close working relationship with the Principal, School Council President, and Finance Committee.
- A Campus Principal and Leading Teacher comprise the leadership team at a campus. The LT oversees the pedagogical program.
- A Digital Technologies Coordinator leads and implements the ICT program across the school.
- With this model, a member of the leadership team can be on-site at the school on at least one campus most days as the operation of the organisation is 24/7.
- Generally, the Principal is on call 24/7 for the entire program duration each term.
- The school, as a co-educational residential school, has two accommodation wings primarily dedicated to students who identify as either male or female, and has a highly trained team of teacher and non-teacher support staff to maximize the desired educational outcomes.
There are two accommodation wings at our school. These wings are split into the binary options of those who identify as male and those who identify as female. The SSL is a secular and inclusive Victorian Government school, the inclusion of gender-diverse students is important to us and protected by law. Nonbinary and gender-diverse students make an informed decision in conjunction with parental consultation and approval, about the accommodation wing they wish to reside in and prior to selection in our program. This will need to fit within the home school student allocation.
- The school has a particular focus on ensuring the safety of students through the Child Safe Standards. Child Safe reps are at each campus and meet regularly.
- There is provision in the Equal Opportunities Act to select staff based on gender due to the residential nature of the program.
- All teachers have a crucial role in coordinating and delivering a comprehensive outdoor education component of our program. The indoor segment is dedicated to honing skills and strategies, subsequently applied through an experiential model during outdoor activities tailored to each campus. From canoeing and expeditions to surfing, skiing, mountain bike riding, and hiking, our curriculum offers a diverse range of outdoor elements. The outdoor education component is integral to achieving the desired outcomes for our students.
- Because of the unique nature of the operation of the school, the delivery of the programs involves a range of evening, overnight, early morning, public holiday, and weekend duties for all staff. Flexibility in working hours and arrangements is a vital part of this role.
The school has a well-structured consultative committee and a thoroughly reviewed and consulted Long Term Planning Document (local agreement) that accommodates the various unique interpretations of the VGSA in a 24/7 operation.
- Demonstrated excellent skills, knowledge, passion, experience or qualifications in the area of delivery of high quality catering quantity food.
- Demonstrated awareness of the requirements for safe operation of the Alpine School Campus kitchen, Common Kitchen approach and possession of qualifications, knowledge and experience to be nominated as the Safe Food Supervisor of The Alpine School kitchen.
- Excellent ability to relate to young people and in a way that support the care and learning policies of the Alpine School.
- Demonstrated awareness of Department of Education and Training guidelines for the supply of nutritious food in school settings.
- Highly developed ability to manage budgets, work independently and contribute to the operation of the whole school.
- Excellent ability to work in a team
The catering manager will be responsible for, in conjunction with the Catering Assistant the following;
- Provide lovingly prepared meals (breakfast, lunch & dinner, morning and afternoon tea) and food of uniformly high standard, of high nutritional value, and of a type and quantity appealing and appropriate for 45 teenagers.
- Be able to enthusiastically provide delicious and nutritious food for the diverse range of needs in the campus such as required by religious observations, vegan, vegetarian, allergy and intolerance to specific food types, diabetic and potentially more.
- The ordering of all food and provisions using a school order book and through established suppliers/creditors of the Alpine School, including food for excursions and overnight camping expeditions. The latter is in close consultation with the teaching staff.
- Following the Common Kitchen model of menu and food provision and working with the other campus catering teams to ensure collaboration and maximisation of variety, creativity, diversity and bulk purchasing opportunities to meet the varied needs of all students.
- Maximise the use of local ingredients as and when available.
- Encourage student participation in the preparation and provision of food by being approachable, engaging and enthusiastic to and with students.
- Provision of a hot, baked lunch on the student arrival Sunday (once a term, four times a year) for up to 180 guests (students, families, parents, guardians).
- Provision of a lunch-time meal on the Community Learning Project presentation day for approximately 80 guests including students, once a term, four times a year.
- Provision of at least one cooked breakfast per three-week rotating menu.
- Provision of fresh, homemade snacks for morning tea and excursions, or through support and negotiation, assisting students to do the same.
- Provision of food for staff on non-student days (week 0 each term), attendance at mid-year conference and on a rotating basis cater for the conference when it is at that home campus,
- With teaching staff, identifying students with birthdays in the term and making a cake for dessert for all students on that birthday.
- Unpacking, receipting, storage and rotation of all food stock following internal control practices at the Alpine School.
- Manage invoices after deliveries of food, with appropriate order forms, in a timely manner for payments, in conjunction with the Office Manager.
- In conjunction with the Principal/Head of Campus, be responsible for compliance with all local and state government regulations and requirements for food handling plans, staff training, kitchen registration, and food transportation.
- Manage the kitchen and dining room in a manner consistent with the educational beliefs and values of the Alpine School.
- Management of the kitchen and dining room area prior to, during and after the meals of lunch & dinner.
- With the duty staff, supervision of the students assisting in the kitchen, including supervision until the cleaning, washing and mopping is complete.
- Manage and monitor the fridge and freezer temperatures.
- Be responsible for the cleanliness of the food preparation areas including the food servery area of the dining room as well as manage supplies of appropriate and safe cleaning agents for the kitchen area including manage the cleaning of tea towels.
- Manage waste disposal associated with the kitchen.
- Ensure that all equipment in operational, including shutdown on departure, and that all faults are reported to the appropriate management staff.
- Conduct a stock take of the kitchen supplies at the end of each term and ensure supplies are ordered in a timely manner.
- Be available for a weekly meeting with the Head of Campus, to be held in rostered hours.
- Join the morning meetings with all staff when on campus in the mornings.
- Other tasks as required and in consultation with the Principal or Head of Campus and determined by DET.
Range 3 is distinguished by the introduction of management responsibility and accountability for the delivery of professional support services. The role will usually impact beyond the work area or professional field. It seeks to gain cooperation of other staff members or members of the school community to achieve specific objectives, such as in school administration, operations or educational programs.
Direction on targets and goals is provided but the position will have some degree of latitude in determining how they are achieved. This latitude will generally be limited by standard procedures and school policy. Deviation from standard procedures and school policy will require guidance and direction from senior management.
The provision of business management responsibilities becomes a feature at range 3. Management of staff to achieve the expected outcomes is a key responsibility. Staff management issues will be resolved with minimal reference to senior management, although guidance will be required in more complex cases. Senior management will be provided with timely reports and advice, although this will generally be confined to matters relating to the immediate work area, service provision or educational program and is unlikely to impact substantially on whole of school operations.
This is the minimum range for positions that carry a mandatory qualification requirement of not less than four years. Professional student support positions become a feature at range 3 (e.g. therapists, psychologists) where standard professional services are delivered. Professional support and guidance will be close at hand and deviation from standard procedures and school policy will require guidance and direction from senior management.
An education support class position supports the educational services being provided to students, but must not include duties of teaching as defined in clause 2.6.1 of the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic) or its successor. Supervision of students cannot be required except where it is an integral part of the employee¿s position or involves supervision of students individually or in small groups, in controlled circumstances, where the responsibility for students remains clearly with a teacher.
- Manage the design and production of school publications and documents.
- Provide professional student support services, e.g. therapist and psychological and counselling services.
- Provide strategic advice on specific support services and their impact on students, school curriculum and services.
- Manage the use of and access to school resource and reference material.
Individuals with the aptitude, experience and/or qualifications to fulfill the specific requirements of the position.
The department is committed to diversity and inclusion and developing a workforce that is representative of the community we service. We value diversity and inclusion in all forms - culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, LGBTIQA+, disability and neurodiversity. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for roles within the Department. The Department recognises that the provision of safe, respectful and inclusive workplaces is essential to high performance and promotes flexible work and diversity across all schools and Department workplaces. It is our policy to provide reasonable adjustments for staff with disability (see Workplace adjustment guidelines).
Additional support and advice on the recruitment process is available to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander candidates from the Koorie Outcomes Division (KOD) via [email protected]
Applicants seeking part-time employment are encouraged to apply for any teaching service position and, if they are the successful candidate, request a reduced time fraction. Such requests will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis and will be subject to the operational requirements of the school.
Victorian government schools are child safe environments. Our schools actively promote the safety and wellbeing of all students, and all school staff are committed to protecting students from abuse or harm in the school environment, in accordance with their legal obligations including child safe standards. All schools have a Child Safety Code of Conduct consistent with the department's exemplar available at:
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/child-safe-standards/policy
The department's employees commit to upholding the department's Values: Responsiveness, Integrity, Impartiality, Accountability, Respect, Leadership and Human Rights. The department's Values complement each school's own values and underpin the behaviours the community expects of Victorian public sector employees, including those who work in Victorian Government Schools. Information on the department values is available at:
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/values-department-vps-school-employees/overview
- All staff employed by the Department and schools have access to a broad range of employment conditions and working arrangements.
- Appointment of successful applicants will be made subject to a satisfactory pre-employment conditions check.
- A probationary period may apply during the first year of employment and induction and support programs provided.
- Detailed information on all terms and conditions of employment is available on the Department's Human Resources website at http://www.education.vic.gov.au/hrweb/Pages/default.aspx
