Annual Leadership Conference

VASSP 2009 Annual Conference - Yes we can!
17 – 18 August
Jasper Hotel, Melbourne

Principals in Victoria are facing enormous, yet exciting, challenges.

We are required to be inspirational leaders, instructional leaders and infrastructure gurus. We are given incredibly short timelines to do complex and difficult tasks that may have profound effects on the school communities we cherish.

Many of our colleagues are under challenge to improve their student outcomes often with limited human, financial and infrastructure resources. We are challenged to improve student access to higher education and to engage students who are disengaged.

However regardless of these challenges our collective response has been, well before a certain President made the phrase popular, “YES WE CAN”.

Victorian school leaders have always had this approach. No matter what the obstacles we have believed that yes we can overcome adversity, yes we can overcome manic bureaucracy, yes we can overcome short term thinking by our political masters and yes we can engage with our parent and student communities no matter how disengaged they appear to be.

This VASSP Annual Leadership conference is designed to build on that attitude by offering keynote speakers and interactive workshops that will help you maintain that “yes we can” resilience and attitude.

You don’t need to travel to the USA to understand the “yes we can” way of looking at life, you just need to come to the VASSP Leadership Conference in 2009.

The full conference program, keynote speakers and registration information can be found in the conference brochure HERE.

CONFERENCE PROGRAM
 

Monday 17 August
8:00am - 9:00am	Registration
9:00am - 9:15am	Official Welcome Brett Rutledge, MC Brian Burgess, President, Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals
9:15am - 9:30am	Conference Opening The Hon. Bronwyn Pike, Minister for Education
9:30am - 10:30am	Keynote Presentation The Changing Contexts for Public Education Chris Bonnor, Co-author of ‘The Stupid Country – How Australia is dismantling public education’, UNSW Press
10:30am - 11:00am	Morning Tea
11:00am - 11:15am	ASPA Report Andrew Blair, President, Australian Secondary Principals’ Association
11:15am - 12:10pm	Keynote Presentation Building Collaborative Community Networks Ros Black, Education Foundation, The Foundation for Young Australians
12:10pm - 1:10pm	Lunch
1:10pm - 2:00pm	Keynote Presentation Don’t be afraid of dying. Be afraid of never having lived. Strap yourself in for a ride through my death defying life Catherine Deveny, Professional Motivational Speaker
2:00pm - 3:00pm	Concurrent Workshops 1. How to use the new Web Technology in your School—One School’s Success Peter MacLean, Principal, Wodonga Senior Secondary College & Scott Nugent, ICT Solutions Manage at Wodonga Senior Secondary College 2. Sustaining quality public education schools and system Chris Bonnor, Public Education Consultant and Advocate 3. How to Develop New Ties Beyond the School Gates Ros Black, Education Foundation, The Foundation for Young Australians 4. Legalwise Seminar: Coping with a range of legal proceedings in the Education System 5. How to Position Yourself to be the Best Assistant Principal Possible Michael Fitzgerald, Assistant Principal, Heathmont College & Robyn Buckeridge, Field Officer, VASSP
3:00pm - 3:30pm	Afternoon Tea
3:30pm - 4:30pm	Concurrent Workshops Repeated (as above)
4:30pm - 5:30pm	Keynote Presentation Secondary / Tertiary Transitions Professor Sue Willis, President of the Australian Council of Deans of Education.
7:00pm - 11:00pm	Conference Dinner
Tuesday 18 August
8:00am - 9:00am	Registration
9:00am - 9:15am	Welcome & Day 1 Highlights Brett Rutledge, MC
9:15am - 10:15am	Keynote Presentation I want. I am. I know. I (yes we) can. Jeremy Hurley, consultant in leadership learning, facilitation and resource development.
10:15am - 10:45am	Morning Tea
10:45am - 11:45am	Keynote Presentation New Ideas to Transform Learning at your School Bruce Dixon, Consulting Director of ideas lab in Victoria
11:45am - 12:45pm	Panel Discussion Blue Skies—‘What’s Possible in Education?’ Wayne Craig, Regional Director of Education, Melbourne Northern Metropolitan Region Ron Lake, Regional Director of the Loddon Mallee Region Barbara Watterston, Director, Professional Services, Centre for Strategic Education
12:45pm - 1:45pm	Lunch
1:45pm - 2:45pm	Concurrent Workshops 1. How to Maximise the School Review Experience Geoff Barclay, Support and Development in Schools and DEECD 2. Learning for leadership for learning: The L5 at Work Jeremy Hurley, consultant in leadership learning, facilitation and resource development. 3. How to Provide Leadership in Supporting Disengaged Students in your School Russell Kerr, Founder and CEO of Hands On Learning Australia 4. How to Plan your School’s ICT Development Bruce Dixon, Consulting Director of ideas lab in Victoria 5. Top Ten Tips for Assistant Principals Frank Sal, Principal, Doncaster Secondary College Michael Phillips, Principal, Ringwood Secondary College Gabrielle Leigh, President, Victorian Principals Association
2:45pm - 3:45pm	Concurrent Workshops Repeated (as above)
3:45pm - 4:15pm	Conference Summary & Close Brett Rutledge, MC Brian Burgess, President, VASSP

CONFERENCE DINNER