David's Message
Dear Sunshine Heights Parents and Carers,
Over the past few weeks we have enjoyed some amazing community events and connections, with some more to come over the next two weeks. Between the 12th and 16th August, we enjoyed an incredible Science Week, brought to us all by the talents of Miss Hill and the Specialist Team, as well as our super STEM leaders. I had the pleasure of spending Thursday afternoon extracting Strawberry DNA with our grade 6 students, giving me flashbacks to my time as a high school Science Teacher (where I began my career in education). Science education is vital for our students, and scientific literacy as we navigate anthropogenic climate change, habitat loss and potential pandemics is increasingly important for our future. On the flip side, Science is just incredible fun, and gives us new ways to observe and appreciate our world. If you don't believe me, just ask the students who made giant bubbles, amazing paper aeroplanes, slippery slime or phenomenal parachutes!
A big thank you to all our staff, parents and students for a phenomenal Book Week. Everyone really brought the magic, made some amazing costumes and props to celebrate the end of the week, and we have to say an enormous thank you to Simon and the crew at the 100 Story Building for supporting us with prizes for the day. I especially loved hearing about your child's favourite books. Book week is an important reminder of just how powerful reading is as a lifelong skill, and how reading feeds imaginations and creates new opportunities for our kids!
On Friday 30th August, we will hold our Father's and Special Person's Day Breakfast, with some nibbles, coffee and activities. On this day we acknowledge fathers, father figures, mums who take on both roles, grandparents, and all the special people who help guide our students in life. As a principal I get to see so many types of families, each beautiful and unique, and we know that each of these families is valid and worthy of celebration on this day. Come grab a coffee, enjoy the activities and don't forget to come early with your coffee order to beat the queue!
Friday 30th August is also Wear it Purple Day. For our community, this day is equally important. Wear it Purple is a day when students and families can choose to wear purple, to show LGBTIQ youth that they are safe and supported in our school. I could talk now about how it is departmental policy to support LGBTIQ youth and create a safe space. I could share how my own identity as a young queer boy put me into dark places in school, because I saw no one who represented what I feared I may become, or who dared speak that school was a safe space for me. But I think in this instance, I will leave the argument to Maya Angelou, one of the greatest poets, speakers and minds of the last 200 years.
"The thing to do, it seems to me, is to prepare yourself so that you may be a rainbow in somebody else's cloud, somebody who may not look like you, may not call God the same name you call God, if they call God at all you see. I may not eat the same dishes, prepared the way you do, may not dance your dances or speak your language. But be a blessing to somebody."
Our school always has been, and always will be, a diverse melting pot of multiculturality. I love being able to hear about the different cultures of our families, to see the diversity of skin tones and hair and eyes and languages and celebrate how these create our identities. I love hearing about the different families that make up our 270 households and the relationships that exists between them. Sunshine Heights is absolutely the definition of a strong and diverse connected community. Recognising everybody with their unique identity is a choice, and it is a choice of kindness. I will be wearing purple on Friday 30th August to show the LGBTIQ youth in our school that they are safe and loved; if you would like to join me, feel free to grab some rainbow beads from the office, or a wear it purple wrist band. Crack out your purple clothing or hair ties.
Best wishes,
David and the Sunny Heights Team