Welcome back to a new year. Also, a particular new year’s wish to all those who celebrate Chinese New Year or the Lunar New Year this week which I know many in our community will.

You will notice many changes around the school, some complete, some incomplete. We will have a new fence completed in the coming week. This will adjust how we operate the kiss and drop off, but importantly, improve safety for our students. More information to come.

Our new digital sign is in action, though a few trees will be removed and a new garden planted to enhance visibility.

We welcomed 21 new Prep students today. This is double what we have welcomed each year for the past three years and a sure sign that the good work happening at the school, and the great kids we have, is getting out there to the community.

Each of these children and their parents bring hopes and dreams and we hope to allow them to grow these dreams into the future. I often speak to senior students about the ability of Prep students to try things, to not be afraid of getting things wrong. This is the attitude required for learning. Unfortunately, along the way, we all fear the consequences of making mistakes. Whilst I want to ensure a surgeon operating on me does not make a mistake, answering a question in class should not invoke fear. But often it does. This sits with all the adults around the child, the school and parents, to ensure that we encourage children, and ourselves, to be willing to try new things and take risks. How do we feel about trying something new like learning a new language? It is a great way to model to our children that feeling vulnerable is alright.

We welcome three new staff members, with Miss Pei Yi Lim starting as teacher of Year One and Two, Miss Olivia Moran and Mrs Dharti Gehlot starting with us as Education Support staff. We have Ms Sam Semmens now working in the Office and Mrs Shokoufeh Mohammadi moving from the office to Education Support.

All parents are encouraged to come and meet their child’s teacher and say hello. These people spend over 25 hours a week with your children, so it is important this is a partnership!

As previously outlined last year with the dates, on Monday 17th of February the school will be closed. I personally don’t like doing this mid term, as I understand the difficulty for families. Please accept my apologies. However, our school is partnering with Berry Street, a leading education provider who specialise in trauma informed practice, and who are regarded as world leading practice. We will be doing four days with Berry Street over the next two years and it will impact heavily in how we support our students to feel safe, be empowered, which ultimately leads to improved social and emotional and academic outcomes.

Thanks for entrusting your children to Holy Family Primary School. We look forward to a wonderful year ahead!

Paul Sharp

Principal

More news next week....