From the Leadership Team

Pancake Day! 

Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday, otherwise known as pancake day. Traditionally, it was a day to eat up the foods that people were about to give up for Lent (a period of fasting up until Easter). We served pancakes to all children to celebrate the day. Thank you to our church congregation volunteers and parent and caregiver volunteers who gave up their time to cook so many pancakes for our school community! 

If you would like to follow up with conversations or learning about Ash Wednesday, Lent and Easter, please don’t hesitate to ask a member of our staff or our church community. The church is holding an Ash Wednesday service this evening, 5 March, at 7pm. All are welcome. 

Staff Development 

Last week, we shared about some training workshops our staff have been attending this year. Today, we would like to share about one of the unique ways St Paul Lutheran School helps all of our staff develop their understanding of our values, our pedagogical approach and our image of the child at St Paul.  

This week, our staff are participating in Learning Walks. Learning Walks are a formal learning opportunity where staff visit a learning environment with a facilitator for a short period of time with curiosity at the forefront. They will observe the learning environment, the children, the teacher and all of the action, engagement and interactions that are happening in that space during their short visit. 

The ‘walkers’ then move to a separate space and share everything they saw, heard, noticed, wondered and reflected upon. This may be noticing that there was music playing softly, or sharing what type of words children are using in their interactions.  

The facilitator of the Learning Walk then leads a conversation about what these observations mean for our work at St Paul before the ‘walkers’ use their journal to record their personal thoughts and plans for future growth and improvement. 

Learning Walks really shine a light on the amazing work being done by all our staff at St Paul and help our staff to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding in order to make sure that St Paul is the best school it can be. 

Thank you to all of the teachers who are welcoming visitors into their classrooms during this process and to all of our staff for maintaining such open minds and such a commitment to ongoing learning and improvement.