Principal's Report
Welcome back to what is shaping up to be an exciting term at Macleod!
I would love to remind families that our social media platforms this year have been racking up the 'likes' and 'shares' as our community celebrate the achievements of our students. It has become a really positive outlet and a great chance to Connect broadly with everything that is going on at Macleod. So if you haven't already please like our Facebook and Instagram pages!
The ICan Network
We were very excited to welcome Chris Varney from the ICan network to speak with staff this week.
After 11 years working at World Vision, Chris founded the ICan network, a mentoring program to help young people with Autism rethink the negative perceptions of others and the deficit-based view of Autism in our society.
“I built I CAN Network to be a demonstration of what Autistic people can achieve. Fifty percent of my team are Autistic. We deliver group mentoring programs in schools and in online settings. We also share our insights in professional development workshops and consultancy projects. We are driven by a vision to create a world that benefits from embracing Autism – Together our purpose is to prove what Autistics CAN do.” – Chris Varney
Chris spoke about how we as a school can continue to develop our support structures for neurodivergent students, shared a summary of the impacts of the recent school closures, and reinforced that finding the fine balance between handing over control and providing age-appropriate support is a key challenge for anyone who works or lives with a young person.
There are a number of resources available to support schools and parents that can be found at https://icannetwork.online/online-resources/. I encourage all parents and carers to have a look through these, and if you also have a moment to watch Chris speak in the video below it is well worth the time.
Meet the Mutants! I CAN Network mentoring on ABC Lateline
2023 Planning
We are already quite deep into the planning of the 2023 school year. As we reach the mid-point of our School Strategic Plan, we are continuing to refine our Staff Leadership profile, and a number of positions have been advertised statewide to constitute the 2023-2025 Senior Leadership team
As part of this process, I will be forming a small panel of students to be involved in the process of the selection of staff for these important roles. Involved students will create their own focus questions and run a ‘pre-interview’ with each of the interviewees. They will then feedback their thoughts to the panel to assist in the decision-making process. We are genuinely committed to students having a say in how we do things here at Macleod, and I am so excited to involve our students in this.
Return to Resilience
I recently read a great article from Harvard University about "The Art of Talking With Children" that had some great practical tips for anyone who works or lives with young people.
"Resilience, defined as the ability to overcome serious hardships or bounce back from challenges, is a topic on so many parents’ and teachers’ minds, and for good reason. As the pandemic has brought challenges into the lives of so many, we’re prompted to do more to help kids persist and thrive. As research from the Center for the Developing Child at Harvard shows, resilience accumulates from a combination of protective factors. While biological factors play a role, the most important factor is a stable, supportive relationship with a committed parent, caregiver, or other adult. When so much of school and home lives have been disrupted, helping kids maintain and enhance these relationships is even more critical."
The return to routines after a break can sometimes be challenging, and although the majority of our students have done an amazing job at returning ready to learn, the return to resilience is not easy for everyone.
We have a wonderful Wellbeing team and group of Year Level Managers on hand to assist students and families with strategies for resilience building, and I encourage parents to reach out to discuss how we can support your students. Wellbeing contact details can be found here and our leadership team contact details can be found here, so please don't hesitate to reach out.
Acting Principal
Finally, the Department has asked me to stay on at Macleod for the remainder of 2022, so I am very excited to see some of our plans come into fruition over the next 6 months. I count myself very lucky to be given the chance to continue to work with this amazing community!
Cheers
Andrew Arney
Acting Principal