Ross Bradford is the head Science teacher at Park Ridge State High School, teaching years 8 and 10. He is also co-chair of the Science HOD Enable group, a cluster of 16 schools in the south-east region.
As co-chair he has helped to reshape the focus of the group to address the needs of educational change, ensuring ongoing and deep learning opportunities. Ross is currently working on the development and sharing of assessment instruments for Year 11 in readiness for 2019. Park Ridge principal, Sharon Amos, said Ross is leading the school in improvement and innovation, particularly through the use of OneNote to provide an easily accessible and comprehensive collection of resources. |
“OneNote is used to promulgate our meeting agendas, provide ready access to useful documents and as a collaborative platform for all Science staff. Ross has shared this best practice with other school leaders to assist with improved practices across the school,” Sharon said.
Ross is also part of a tri-school project committed to deep learning partnerships and working together to build and share practice. The project focuses on teaching skills to ensure a successful transition for students into an external exam culture. As part of this, Ross has been instrumental in developing excellent instructional tools for teachers across all three schools to support them in this significant educational change. “Ross is a strategic thinker and sets a strong vision. His collaborative style fosters high performance and team work. He has direct oversight of curriculum through coordination across classes and year levels, ensuring alignment to school goals. As a result of this students are provided the support needed to develop the skills they need to lead successful and productive lives,” colleague Bridget Mallory said. Ross focuses on raising literacy and numeracy and a commitment to high quality teaching that draws on data to target its efforts. These strategies are shared with staff at faculty meetings. As an accomplished teacher, Ross is aware of individual students’ needs and problems; this has led him to create an online classroom using OneNote. “The energy, enthusiasm and personal interest shown by Ross towards his students is highly motivational, creating a climate of initiative, innovation and success,” Sharon said. Ross actively participates in teacher learning and development and coaches and mentors others. He takes his role as a mentor seriously, holding regular meetings to discuss current needs and progress on identified goals. Being able to easily relate to people allows him to bring out the best in people and the team.
Congratulations Ross on your QCT Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning Award nomination. |