At Highview College we strongly believe in harnessing the power and potential of IT to help our staff and students perform strongly. We are proud to be a leader in connected learning by equipping all of our classrooms with electronic whiteboards and ensuring all students have access to a laptop, both in class and at home with our one-to-one laptop program.

We understand that the learning journey for all our students is not just completed at school and value the input and support our students receive at home. To facilitate this even further we have adopted a connected learning environment, delivered through Highview Engage (our parent portal) and Highview Learn (our student portal), powered by the market-leading learning and student management system, SEQTA. This system has allowed us to move into the exciting world of continuous reporting, where parents have ready access to track how their children are developing in the classroom and assist them in performing to their potential.

We are also dedicated to exploring and utilising the best eLearning opportunities available in education and are proud to utilise the following complementary systems:

·         Stile – providing interactive, relevant, and engaging online science lessons, engaging students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and developing critical thinking skills;

·         myEdOnline – catering for differentiation and individualisation of learning;

·         EdSmart – our system for streamlining and enhancing daily school administration, including the replacing of all paper forms;

·         Edrolo – giving students unprecedented access to a ‘second expert’ through online resources and lessons developed by experienced VCE teachers, helping them develop skills and content knowledge to make the most of their VCE journey.

SEQTA – opening a world of progressive feedback and collaborative education

At Highview College, gone are the days when parents and students had to wait until the end of the semester to find out how they were tracking. By utilising SEQTA, we give students and parents 24/7 access to the valuable feedback provided by teachers.

Our move to SEQTA was informed by considerable research which supports the idea that the more timely, relevant, and specific feedback is, the better it can help students in their education journey. SEQTA has helped us in:

·         Increasing engagement between teachers, students, and parents – as students are able to access important course materials and notes at any time, and parents are able to view these notes and engage with their children and teachers as necessary;

·         Making Parent-Student-Teacher meetings more productive - parents now attend these meetings with both knowledge and information. Parents can ask questions based on a full understanding of the progress without spending this valuable time simply finding out what has already happened in the classroom;

·         Improving communication between teachers, students, and parents, allowing for a full, transparent education ‘conversation’ between school and home – no longer are classrooms hidden behind doors and curtains, but the work of teachers and students is being showcased;

·         Innovative online lesson delivery – provides richer content (including through the use of Stile, myEdOnline, and Edrolo), with the ability for teachers to upload relevant resources and notes to help students succeed;

·         Students accessing essential revision notes through Highview, even when they are off-campus or absent from school

·         Making homework and assessment details known – relieving some of the stress for both students and parents as information is easily accessible

·         Improving how we provide feedback to students – school policy ensures that the majority of all work is marked and feedback returned to students within two weeks of it being completed with the process and feedback being available via Highview Learn for students and parents to review and action

·         Phasing out semester reports – as continuous feedback replaces the need for dense and confusing summative reports with no more ‘surprises’ in these reports for unsuspecting parents.

For parents, Highview Engage offers an unparalleled view into the work that occurs in the classroom. Our continuous feedback enables parents to be truly involved in their child’s education journey. Through Highview Engage, parents also have access to a range of other vital information including upcoming assessments and homework, summaries of relevant Pastoral Care notes, school notices, important documents, timetables, and a range of other important information.

All parents and guardians have access to Highview Engage and free training and advice is available on request. We run information sessions at the beginning of Term 1 every year to help new and returning parents learn the system.

Highview College is committed to ensuring that transparent communication is a major part of what we do through empowering teachers, students, and parents in the learning journey.