Principal Report

Principal Message Week 11 Term 2

This has certainly been a term to remember. It is quite incredible to think that eleven weeks have passed. I don’t think any of us could have imagined at the start of this year that we would have a term like this or a year like this. 2020 has certainly thrown us all a curve ball that we will remember for a long time to come.

Despite the challenges as I look back over this term I can’t help but think how adaptable our children have been. No-one knew at the end of term one that we wouldn’t be back for the start of term 2 and that we would need to embrace remote learning at lightning speed. It was such a quick turnaround for us all. New technology needed to be learnt, along with new skills but embrace it we did and with this came some new learnings that we may never have experienced had we not been thrown into what initially felt like chaos but became quite the norm.

I think about the zoom sessions I joined and the Seesaw ‘learning walks’ and I think of how privileged I have been to see our children in this light. I didn’t use the word resilient before but instead used adaptable because resilience is synonymous with being able to ‘bounce back’ and for some of our children this was the case, but for others remote learning had its challenges and it could be tough at times and not so easy. But adaptable I think better sums up the experience for the majority of children because regardless in order to participate you had to adapt. School was different, our learning experiences were different and the way we responded and participated was different. The ability to adjust to the changes in your environment and being able to respond quickly to changing ideas, responsibilities, expectations, trends, strategies and other processes is a key 21st century skill. Whilst we may not have expected this to be an outcome of remote learning I believe it may just be a very useful by product for our children’s futures.

The past few weeks with the return of the children to school has been such a wonderful experience. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and I think this may just have been the case. Yes, we all missed our friends but I think there was much more to this. I think coming back to school meant a whole lot more to our children. I couldn’t believe the way they ran into the school that first morning and the way in which they have relished being back in the classroom is a sight to be held. There is a real buzz of excitement and zest for learning. It really goes to show how connected our children feel to not only their peers but also the staff and school.

As we head into the term 2 break, I thank you, our families once again for your overwhelming support and encouragement throughout this term. To the staff, I say thank you for your dedication and professionalism. It has not gone unnoticed. To our children I say well done. I feel very proud of our ‘Little school with a big heart’ and believe hand on heart that we have as a community faithfully enacted the spirit of our motto throughout this time.

Stay safe and well over these holidays.

Daniella

Social Media

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