Back together again

As I sit, writing this for the school newsletter on the Queen’s Birthday holiday, I eagerly anticipate the return of our Year 7-10 students. We are so looking forward to their return, so that we can be together as a whole school community again.

While large numbers of students will be excited about their return to onsite learning, we recognize that in many ways the transition will have its challenges and different people will experience things in different ways.

The staff are so pleased to have students back in class, and will take things slowly to begin with, allowing students to reconnect, finding out where the students are at with their learning, supporting students to catch up if they need it, or provide extension for those who have thrived in remote learning. We will of course, also be on the lookout and ready to act, if there are any students who may need additional support with wellbeing at this time.

We are aware that it is likely our students will be fatigued by the constant social interactions that they are unaccustomed to and with needing to get up earlier than they have needed to for the past few months.

In many ways, it will be like starting the school year again, and we know that it can be exhausting starting things anew, however there are additional considerations in this context, where social distancing and hygiene measures need to be taken very seriously. The ways we interact and move through the school have changed, and that too will take some time to adapt to.

We have high expectations and a high level of support to ensure that our students and staff work together to secure the safety of everyone, but it will require, patience, understanding and cooperation.

We celebrated our whole school being back together again with balloon arches in the school colours (which will be safely and responsibly disposed of when they are finished with). It was a lovely way to symbolise the life and energy of our young people being back in the buildings again. A big thank you to Peta Sirec and the student leaders for initiating and organising this.

So proud of our school community

At every step of our response to the pandemic, I have been impressed by our school community. Our students and staff have shown resilience, adaptability, problem solving and independence and agency while at home, and when they have returned to school. Over the past two weeks, I have been so impressed by the senior students, who have not been deterred or sidetracked by what has been the greatest disruptor to education in history. Well done everyone. Keep up the outstanding efforts.

Ciar Foster's appointment to Principal of University High School

Ciar’s promotion is certainly a huge loss for our school community. Her contribution to Northcote will leave an indelible print on us. Ciar has done such a lot for the outward facing aspects of our school community – leading the charge on our new uniform, the website, the newsletter, Writer’s Talkfest and the fabulous communications during the COVID-19 crisis and shutdown period. She has also played a key role in leading professional learning and staff collaboration and in student care and management at the junior and middle-schools. There are a myriad of other ways she has led our school community, including through teaching English, Classics and Connect. Ciar’s deep, analytical and strategic thinking are invaluable to any leadership team. Her appointment to Principal is well-deserved. I am sure you join with me in thanking her for her enormous contribution in the three and a half years she has been at the school, and congratulating her on her appointment to Principal. Our loss, is certainly University High School’s gain.

We have advertised a replacement AP- 3 position to start at the beginning of Term 3, applications close on Wednesday 10 June.

Expressing our values

As a school community, I feel it is important that we add our voice and speak out about the current racial tensions and divisions, and the increased awareness of systemic racism sweeping the globe. The fact that tens of thousands of Australians peacefully demonstrated over the weekend, in spite of the inherent dangers of the pandemic, speaks volumes about the importance of this issue.

Our school captains wanted to speak up about this issue and the problem of systemic racism: they have prepared a powerful message, which you can find on the next page of this newsletter.

I call on our community, to safely and compassionately make a stand against racism, and refer to the article by Tony Wright, published in The Age, Saturday 6 June, 2020 where he quotes Bobby Kennedy from his impromptu speech, made immediately after hearing of Martin Luther King Junior’s assassination. Bobby’s words ring as true today in our context, as they did back in 1968, and they relate to all races,

“What we need in the [United States] is not division; what we need in the [United States] is not hatred; what we need in the [United States] is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black.”

The Northcote High School mantra of inclusion is even more important than ever.

Students doing great things

Featured in this newsletter are examples of our students doing remarkable things. I hope you will enjoy, with me, the essays from our Year 10s, Media and Food projects completed during Remote Learning, the Classics class in action and much more.

We also congratulate Leon Foggiato, class of 2019 who was interviewed for the 'Meet the Exhibitors' series. Watching his interview (see the article 'VCE Season of Excellence' in this newsletter) you might join me in thinking that if only he could have gone in to mass production of his design at the beginning of the shutdown, he could have been a millionaire by now!

Finally, Anine and Itana of Year 7 were feature in a video from the DET Student Wellbeing Division, about their experiences of remote learning. It is vital that we capture the voices and ideas of students, and learn from them, during this period of transition. These students did a fabulous job articulating their thoughts. You can see them here:

What have you learnt?

https://vimeo.com/420186319/eec62d4f33

What are you hopeful about?

https://vimeo.com/420147122/ecb832dd71

Sue Harrap

Principal

A day in remote learning life

Telling the story of iso schooling