Performance Appraisal, Goal Development and Review Policy

Mission:

The Woodlands Performance review program is designed to support lifelong learning and professional development. The Woodlands staff performance review provides a systematic structure to build and ensure a culture of professional learners committed to supporting the educational needs of all children to thrive and succeed in current and future environments.

It is expected that all employees participate in the program to the best of their abilities and to work towards achieving the goals set. All goals set are expected to be SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time specific), this ensures the best chance for growth and development.

Vision:

“To plant trees under whose shade we do not expect to sit.”

When you “plant trees” you passionately understand that the little, well planned, and guided experiences you offer children now will grow into lifelong attitudes, skills, and behaviours – “the shade”. Most probably you will not be around to see your work mature but continue to work with children and their families because you see the greater good and the bigger picture for them and the world.

Values:

To Thrive	When we use “thrive” when speaking of educating children we mean we are not content with just dotting “i” s and crossing ‘t” s. We create environments for children to flourish, to be set up for success, to grow strong and healthy, to make progress, to expand their learnings – to thrive.
Respect	You must have conviction. Respectfully challenge when you disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting; do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. But once a decision is mad, we will commit to it wholeheartedly and leave ego at the door.
Relate	We know time is valuable, time for your family, time for fun, time for Woodlands. We need to communicate and ensure each team member understands the pressure of time and time management. Clearly communicating goals, actions, and evaluations each day is of prime importance.
Reflect	Our reflections embrace the concept of serving. We want to provide the best service for our families. We start with the family and work backwards to be able to provide a service that matches their expectations. Reflection on the services we provide is honest, respectful, agile and outcome driven.
Agility	Agility of mind and agility of learning – Agility of mind creates and embraces change, accepts that you don’t know everything, adapts, improves. The agile learning environment is and educational space that is intentionally designed to be adjustable, exchangeable, and moveable. Agile learning adapts to individual differences in environment, children, staff, cultures – the total environment. Agile learning creates differentiated learning awareness and is promoting a movement toward adjustment and adaptation of content, process, product and the learning environments.
Sustainability	Sustainability is not just recycling and having the “bins” to separate one piece of garbage from the other – it is so much more. Woodlands does not recycle, we upcycle. Sustainability and upcycling at Woodlands is encouraged in everything we do daily and includes and continues to grow. At all Woodland Campuses we have – solar generation of power, gardens to encourage “plant to Plate”, use sustainable products in the children’s furniture and equipment, use recycled art supplies including paper, make links with the community to upcycle single use materials including tyres, paper, make our own paint and glue.

Implementation:

The Woodlands performance appraisal program plays a vital role in linking staff performance goals and expectations through balanced feedback and reviews to help staff thrive and meet organisational objectives.  It is not pass/fail situation but rather goal setting and performance and values realigning.

Employees will participate in a Performance appraisal every 6 months. The appraisals will be conducted by the Campus manager and the educational leader. The process will allow all Woodlanders to reflect on achievements and plan goals to accomplish performance outcomes and expectations. At all times of the Woodlands performance review process, confidentially and sensitivity should be maintained to a high standard.

A copy of the Performance appraisal development plan is given to the employee. The original form is kept on the employee’s Xplor Profile.

Purpose

 What do we want out of a Performance appraisal?

Woodlands is committed to:

• supporting employees to achieve their career development aspirations with appropriate resources and professional development opportunities
• Supporting ongoing effectiveness of employees in their roles and fostering the overall effectiveness of the service
• Building a workforce of highly skilled employees.

The leadership team will:

• Assess work performance against written performance criteria which is linked to the appropriate job description, our code of ethics and the National Quality Framework.
• Clarify performance expectations for the position
• Recognise the skills of individual staff/educators.
• Receive feedback about staff performance, skills and strengths.
• Discuss current and future career goals
• Raise areas of concern and plan appropriate strategies which support educators/staff to reach the required standard

All Woodlands staff members have a significant role to play, including:

• Regularly engaging in professional conversations with the leadership team.
• creating individualised goals and identifying areas for professional development
• participating openly in critical reflection and self -assessment
• taking ownership of and being accountable for their professional development

Professional learning and development plan

It is important to support educators and staff to play an active role in the process of developing their goals and professional learning plans. Investing in the professional growth of educators and staff at all levels of the service, and at various stages of their careers, requires a time and/or financial commitment. Developing a cycle of learning with team members can cultivate a culture of continuous improvement and lifelong learning that ultimately facilitates continuous improvement within the service.

What is a goal? How can we set measurable goals?

• Do our they align with Woodlands values and missions?
• When setting goals for employees you may want to refer to the QIP – this will allow you to self -assess their performance in delivering quality education and care and to plan future improvements.
• Consider the NQF reflective questions.
• Setting goals through inquiry questions. This will allow them to critically think, analyse and embed

Example:

“What do I want to know about this topic”?

“What strategies can be implemented to effectively communicate with parents and build positive relationships?”

“How can I support students to be independent and engaged learners?

An individual’s professional learning and development plan could include:

• Face-to-face or online courses in an area of professional interest, or where a training need has been identified through the performance review.
• Mentoring (formal or informal) within the service, or with an external mentor who might provide different perspectives.
• Participating in a professional network to gather with peers and generate new ideas through sharing and collaboration.
• Participating in team training that allows collective upskilling on a shared goal/purpose
• Opportunities for project work or practical leadership development within the service.
• research and sharing sessions during team meetings
• Individual support provided by the Educational Leader.
• Attending Woodlands monthly online Academy training sessions.

The professional development plan will be documented and reflect the team member’s individual learning goals. You should also reflect on how the goals align with the service philosophy, vision, and mission. It should be developed collaboratively by the team member, the Campus leader and the educational leader and reviewed regularly to monitor the team member’s progress against their performance goals and assess further support they may require.