Q&A with Barker College Head of Curriculum and Academics, Melissa Brady

At Barker College, a commitment to continuous improvement extends beyond the classroom. It’s embedded in every aspect of school life, including the systems that support teaching and learning. As part of their journey to streamline operations and enhance the teacher and family experience, Barker made the decision to implement Veracross as their new student information system.

We spoke with Melissa Brady, Head of Curriculum and Academics at Barker College, about what drove this change, how her team navigated the transition, and the impact they’re already seeing across their school community. From reducing administrative load for teachers to improving communication with families, Melissa shares her perspective on what it takes to deliver meaningful change in a complex school environment, and what advice she’d give to other schools considering the same path.  

It would have been really difficult for us to continue on the path that we were on. We’re now at the turning point. 

What were some of the biggest frustrations your team were having with your last technology stack and how did that impact your day-to-day operations?  

Part of my role is to oversee the academic programs at Barker, including reporting, scheduling and being able to mark the role. One of the problems that we found frustrating was the amount of time it took teachers to do things. That impacted their day-to-day levels of frustration. And for some teachers, it even impacted what they felt is their ability to do their jobs effectively. 

We looked at the broad picture of a teacher at Barker, going with the ebbs and flows of a school year and asked: where are the pinch points? And how can we, as a group, help to alleviate some of the stresses at those pinch points?  

If Barker College had continued with its previous SIS solution, how do you think that would have impacted your school community?  

If we’d continued on the path that we were on before we made the decision to change to Veracross, I think the extreme levels of frustration would have become untenable. It was very clear that we needed to address some of our problems, and the system that we were using was not fit for purpose, and particularly not fit for a school of our size. We needed something that could manage year seven as well as manage year 12 and everything that goes on in the middle, whilst also acknowledging that those groups have different needs. It would have been really difficult for us to continue on the path that we were on. We’re now at the turning point. 

What were you looking for in a new SIS? What were your non-negotiables?  

We went through a rigorous process to find a new SIS. We met with multiple companies and people from all areas of the school; it was not just academics involved in the process. Everyone had a list of things: ‘I’m not budging on this. This is not a negotiation. This has to happen.’  

For curriculum and academics, the key thing for us to start with was reporting. We needed to be able to report externally and also to our parents. How are we demonstrating how their child is progressing throughout their journey with the school? That was something we were very keen on from the get-go. And then it was day-to-day things like, How do I mark the role if the class teacher is absent? How do I put work in for my absence? And how does someone else then get to see that work and then mark the role for my class? Those straightforward things that teachers do every single day were, for me, non-negotiables.  

I think you’ll speak to any teacher and they will say the amount of administrative data that goes along with being a teacher is high, and it is increasing. From my point of view, it was about how I can decrease that administrative load so that teachers can focus on the thing they really want to do, which is teaching their students in the classroom. 

How did you find the Veracross implementation process?  

The implementation process for anything new is not without challenges. It was quite staged for us, which we really appreciated. Groups in different parts of the school were involved in lots of training. You went through a course through Veracross University. You get a little tick when you pass and there was a quiz. It was one of those things where I actually needed to concentrate to make sure that this is going to impact the lives of our teachers — and therefore our students — in a really positive way. 

That started probably 9 to 12 months out from when we went live with Veracross. There was a group of us who met every week to look at where we were at. Then we decided to branch out a bit more. We had people from each department who would become the trainer, then it was the role of those trainers to go to their departments to train. Teachers were able to practice a little bit and I could see how things worked. But they were also able to learn from each other. So when other people found another feature, another function that someone else didn’t know about, that was actually quite helpful.  

How are your new systems impacting your families? 

Barker has been live with Veracross for two and a half terms, so we’re seeing the ebbs and flows of the school year and semester reporting and we’re coming to the pointy end of year 12 as well.  

I think the impact on our parents is the efficiency with which we are able to report on student progress. And also things like the way that parents can use the parent app to notify the school of absences; it’s more straightforward than it used to be. We’re coming into what is a really crucial time for curriculum and academics for all schools in New South Wales. When we’re looking at Veracross, we’ve had some great successes, and now we’re looking at what we need to do to meet our statutory requirements. 

What are your expectations for how Veracross will improve communications and transparency with families? 

When you have a system where multiple different parts of the organisation can talk to each other, it makes things a lot easier for everybody. 

What one piece of advice would you give to another school considering a SIS switch?  

Do your research, look at multiple different organisations, different companies, different pieces of software, and decide what it is that you are not going to negotiate on. Think about what’s gone wrong with the current SIS. Why are you looking for a change? But then also, noting that change is hard. I’m not going to say that our change was easy, but now that we’re coming out of that, I think across the board, we’re happy with the decision that we’ve made.  

 

Ready for change at your school?

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