Assistant Principal's Report

Programs/Clubs

If you have walked through the main corridor in the last few years you will know the Welfare display opposite Mr Smith’s and Mrs Reiffel’s classroom.  This wall displays our proactive approach to supporting our students in the yard by providing opportunities for students to learn to play effectively and most importantly – to have fun!  We provide quite an extensive list of clubs and support programs for our students which are based on their interests and needs.  Involvement in these clubs is either determined by the classroom teacher, student choice or identified through our Yard Duty data.  All incidents occurring in the yard, whether they are moderate or major, are graphed and discussed at our monthly Tuesday night meeting with a representative from each Sub School and myself.  We have found these strategies have had a profound influence in reduced yard duty incidences, but also provide opportunities for all students to be involved in clubs or structured play.  These programs include:

Chaplaincy Program

Josh Watkins works two days a week with various students across the school.  His assumes a mentoring role and facilitates programs at school including: garden club, chess club, building etc.  Josh has been an absolute asset and we are very fortunate to have him supporting students at our school.

Kids Hope

Kids Hope is a mentoring program supported by World Vision Australia and run in Primary Schools. Trained mentors meet one to one, with one child per week, at school.   Activities can include: craft, educational games, sport, reading or academic work set by the teachers.  Mentored children show increased self-esteem, confidence and resilience, resulting in being better adjustment socially and emotionally which can positively impact their academic progress at school. 

For further information about the program please visit: https://www.kidshopeaus.org.au/

Story Dogs

Story Dogs is a fun and unique reading support program that improves children’s reading and communication skills by reading to a trained companion dog and its handler.  The Story Dogs program is primarily designed for students who have reading challenges, however students may be chosen to participate in the program as a reward or as an alternative reading activity.  Students will spend approximately 20 minutes with the Story Dog team once or twice per week.  During the session the dog will be on its lead and with its handler at all times.

Lunchtime Club

The Lunchtime Club is offered daily to students who would benefit from a structured activity at lunchtime in the Green Zone.  The Integration team organise and run the activity which includes: Art Therapy, iPads and board games.  Within this relaxed environment, students learn to work with peers and build friendships.  Students look forward to the lunchtime club’s activities, resulting in improved self esteem and positive school engagement. These sessions are extremely popular!

Lego Club

Mr McPhee's ‘Lego Club’ is every Wednesday for 30 minutes at lunchtime, in room 2.  This provides a quiet area and allows students to engage and learn to work with their peers.

Netball Tournaments

Senior students have been invited to sign up for Tuesday lunchtime netball tournaments.  Students are welcome to join a team and participate in a Round Robin at 2pm on Tuesday.

Dodgeball Tournament

This is a very popular club!  Mr Stevenson’s Dodgeball tournament is already up and running!  You will find Mr Stevenson in the Gym (no doubt dressed up looking like a hockey goalie) at 2pm on Wednesday.

Social Skills

Social skills groups are run for students who struggle with various challenges of social acceptance. Social skills such as making eye contact, personal space and identifying emotions are taught explicitly in small groups.  Activities include: role playing, games and group work which promotes social development.

Sport Equipment

Mr Stevenson has purchased various sporting equipment items that are stored in large bins so students can borrow equipment during lunchtime.  This equipment is monitored by our senior students which gives them a sense of responsibility.

Yoga

Ms Hargreaves will be conducting weekly Yoga session in the Sensory Space on Mondays.  This is an open invitation to students from all year levels but there is limited availability.

Accident Insurance 

All Principals have been advised to inform parents that the Education Department does not provide personal accident insurance for students.  Parents and guardians are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including transport costs.  Reasonably low cost accident policies are available from commercial insurers.

Working with Children

If you wish to assist the class teachers in the classroom and on camps and excursions, it has now become mandatory for all volunteers to have a Working with Children Check.  Forms can be collected at the Post Office.  You are required to complete the form then make an appointment at the Post Office to show 100 points of identification and have your photo taken.

Uniform Policy

I thought I would include in my report, an article I came across that Jane shared a few years ago when we made adjustments to the school uniform policy.  I really encourage our parents to familiarise themselves with this policy and if you have any concerns you are more than welcome to come and talk to Jane or myself.  If you are experiencing hardship and need support with purchasing uniforms we are more than happy to assist.  Please feel free to contact the office and we can organise some assistance.

Miss Pia Licciardo, Assistant Principal

School Uniforms - A Means to Meaning 

By Wilson McCaskill 

Fostering school loyalty and pride helps students to satisfy a deep seated, if not hard-wired, need to belong.  Being a part of something larger than yourself, a part of something that in some significant way defines you, will amplify your sense of self and afford you perspective, attachment and acceptance.  Children don’t just go to school, they go to a particular and specific school.  We don’t ask them if they go to school.  In a society where schooling is compulsory the question is redundant.  We ask them which school they go to.  In fact, this question is one of the earliest questions we ask children in our first meetings with them.  It’s as if, by answering the question, they in some way inform us more fully of who they are.  It also in some way suggests (be it true or not) something about the parents and the scholastic aspirations they hold for their child.

Uniforms have for centuries represented belonging, values, traditions and expected codes of conduct.  A uniform is a symbol of something beyond the material, stitch work and colours from which it is assembled.  If sports clubs are merely places where people play their chosen sport, then they don’t need a uniform.  Opposing teams can simply be identified by playing in universally accepted contrasting colours.  Black versus white or yellow versus blue – it matters not, because belonging does not matter.  The clubs stand for nothing and require nothing more from participants than the use of their skills to achieve the desired outcome of the game.  But try telling a sports team that their uniform is merely a means to avoid playing naked and with no more meaning than beneficial contrast and I dare say you’re in for an argument.  Coaches will remind players of club values and the meaning behind the guernsey before sending them off to pit both skills and strength of character against the opposition.

Can children be proud of going to their particular school?  Of course they can.

Can children be loyal to the values of their school?  Of course they can.

And if children are proud of their school and loyal to its values, will they in turn want to be identified as belonging to that school?  Of course they will.

It takes little to see that a uniform gives children the perfect mechanism to display that sense of belonging and to be seen by others and their peers as the embodiment of their school’s values.

Uniforms are a great leveller.  In being the same for all they ask a school population to treat all equally – to see past the illusion of fashion and accessories to the substance of character.  Uniforms ask students to better themselves by genuine self-improvement and not by attention seeking adjustments of the uniform.  They ask students to stand up and be counted, where street clothes ask the wearer to stand out and be seen.

Let us make it that a uniform stands for something, and ask children to understand what it stands for, and accept that by wearing it they stand for something beyond self-interest, beyond complacency and apathy and beyond the thin veil of fashion and popularity.  Let us make it that a uniform stands for values, character and that extra something that comes not from going to school but proudly belonging to a specific school, to their school – a school whose name and uniform they will remember all their lives and whose uniform will forever stand for something.