“Giving teachers time back has been one of my biggest challenges as a school leader,” says Luke Norman, our newest Hero Consultant.
Luke left a rewarding career in primary education - he was the principal of Oxley Vale Public School in Tamworth (New South Wales) for over 12 years - to join Hero, because he connected with our vision and purpose.
For Luke, the many benefits of Hero were clear, as a learner-centred management system that creates visibility and school-wide cohesion, whilst reducing administrative burden so that teachers can focus on what's important: their students.
When Luke met Hero
In 2019, Luke and a handful of his team from Oxley Vale Public School travelled to Sydney to connect with high-performing schools who were implementing visible learning in the area. It was there that Luke first heard about Hero, and how it aligned with the needs of educators to not only support their pedagogy, but save valuable time too.
Luke also resonated with the journey that CEO and Co-founder, Paul Sibson (former school principal), had taken to create Hero as a purpose-built solution for his own school, before it took flight into New Zealand, Australia and South East Asia.
As a result of this meeting, several NSW primary principals recognised how Hero could drive change for learners, staff, and wider communities, and collectively implemented it in their schools.
When Hero met Oxley Vale
Luke returned to Oxley Vale Public School with the Hero app in his pocket.
“I was absolutely blown away,” Luke remembers. “We were able to reduce a significant amount of administrative time. Plus, all of the New South Wales syllabus documents are contained within Hero. Our teachers can access them in an authentic way to set learning goals for their students.”
With Hero, working through multiple data sources is a thing of the past. That’s what Luke loves about the platform.
“Hero makes teachers’ decision-making about future directions for learning incredibly simple, and from a school leader’s perspective, it makes whole-school decision-making and resourcing easy, efficient, and effective.”
From One Expert, to Another!
All Hero Education Consultants are former principals and teachers, who have a deep understanding of the unique time pressures and challenges that Luke and his staff were experiencing.
In June of 2022, Hero officially became a New South Wales Department of Education Approved Panel Vendor. We take pride in working with schools, organisations and people who share our vision for the future of education, and now we’re thrilled to include Luke as one of those people.
Capes to the Horizon
What has drawn Luke to hang up his principal’s cape, and don a new one as a Senior Consultant at Hero? The chance to support other principals, school leaders and teachers who face the same challenges and administrative burden as he did.
At Hero, Luke works closely with educators to facilitate planning, empower progress, and engage parents with learning in real time - a hugely rewarding process.
“I wanted to be part of a forward thinking organisation that has students' best interests at the front of every single decision that they make,” Luke says. “Hero has been designed around the needs of the student, and to make sure that their learning story has been told to everybody who should be involved in their journey through education."
For Luke, it is this ability to make learning more meaningful and visible, in a way that also restores the balance for teaching and learning, that makes Hero a standout solution for primary schools.
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Watch: Luke's Story
