Nicolas White

Bracken Ridge State School

Nic White has improved student learning outcomes in his composite class of Year 3, 4 and 5 students.

While he was at the helm of this class in 2016, his students showed significant improvement in diagnostic testing conducted at the start and the end of the school year.

Using the Progressive Achievement Test, his class has shown improved results – ranging from bringing underachieving Grade 5 students to meet expected standards, to Grade 3 and 4 results that are double or well above expected standards.

Nic’s success is attributed to catering for the individual learning styles of his students. 

​“I found the class the most rewarding and beneficial experience of my career,” says Nic. 

“Credit should also go to the students who went on the journey with me and always engaged with the material and put forth their best effort.”

Teaching a composite class requires a delicate balance of differentiation and a class-wide expectation of meeting curricular requirements.

His pedagogy centres around neuroscience research – enabling students to maximise their learning potential by using a different part of the brain.

His classroom and learning experiences are designed around this neuroscience philosophy.

He has also shown exceptional organisation and passion with his learning experiences, keeping his students engaged.

Nic has developed online classroom resources that his students can access at home, allowing learning to be extended outside the classroom.

He also actively implements digital literacies programs in his lessons, and designs homework around the students’ home lives – rather than dominating it.

Nic recycled existing technology at his school, re-purposing old laptops in storage to effectively engage students in an interactive way.

Nic is also a key leader in behaviour management, analysing data related to incidents and applying action plans to improve behaviour data.

During his stewardship, he brought down the rate of school-wide incidents by 10 per cent.

He leads an extra-curricular coding group and is a valuable staff member that supports the wider school community.

Congratulations Nic in your nomination.
 
Written by Mark Zita.