Dear Blue Mountains Grammar School families,

I would like to extend a warm welcome back to Term 2. I hope everyone had a chance to reset and spend quality time with loved ones during the holiday break. We look forward to another fantastic term filled with exciting learning opportunities, personal growth, and community engagement.

I am incredibly proud of our students who represented our school at numerous ANZAC Day services across the Blue Mountains from Springwood to Lithgow. Seeing our students paying their respects to the fallen soldiers who sacrificed their lives for our country was heartening. I am grateful to our staff, who have helped instil a sense of respect and appreciation for our servicemen and women in our students. This also reflects the respect our parents have created, and I am thankful for that as well.

Looking forward to the future, I am hoping that in 2024, we can take this commemoration to another level. I hope to ensure that most of our students, in full school uniform, pay tribute to the sacrifice of our service men and women by being fully represented across the mountains. This would be a significant tribute to the bravery and selflessness of our soldiers and would show our commitment to honour their memory.

As a school, we must continue fostering a strong sense of community and a deep appreciation for the sacrifices made to ensure our freedoms. By participating in commemoration events such as ANZAC Day together, we ensure that these values are instilled in our students and that they carry them throughout their lives.

Staffing News

I would like to share some staffing news with our school community. With a mix of sadness and happiness, I share that Julie Hiam, our part-time Visual Arts/Design and Technology teacher, has decided that now is a good time for her to pursue other career opportunities, possibly outside of teaching. Julie has been a valued member of our teaching team, and we wish her all the best as she discovers new possibilities.

I want to thank Julie for her commitment to our school and contributions to our students' education and well-being. Julie has been the Acting Head of Visual Arts while being a fantastic role model and mentor to many of our students and staff. I appreciate her hard work and dedication to the Blue Mountains Grammar School community.

Although Julie is leaving her teaching role, we will always welcome her back as a casual teacher. We know she will always have a special place in our school community, and we wish her every success in her future endeavours.

I am sad but also delighted to announce that Tim Grace, our HSIE teacher, has accepted a unique and exciting position in his passion area of teaching Japanese. We are thrilled for Tim, who has been offered the opportunity to build a Japanese program from the ground up in this exciting new role.

I am confident that Tim will excel in this new position. I am keen to watch Tim's impact as he grows his professional influence, and I wish him all the best in his new endeavour. I am grateful for Tim's contribution to the Blue Mountains Grammar School community.

The John Cunningham Centre

I am excited to share with you all that work has commenced on The John Cunningham Centre building program. This is a significant milestone for our school, and we are thrilled to see this project come to life.

The John Cunningham Centre is an essential addition to our school, and it will enhance our educational offerings and help us deliver an improved environment in that building. It was initially built in 1963, so breathing new life back into these spaces will be exciting. This project has been a long time in the making, and it is fantastic to see the work under way.

Over the coming weeks, we will post progress photos and information videos of the construction. Please follow our social media channels and website for updates on the project. I want to keep our community informed and involved in this development.

Growing World-Class Teachers

At Blue Mountains Grammar School, we are committed to creating a Professional Learning culture that recognises the rapid speed at which learning is changing and the need for us to respond in a timely and forward-looking way. Of all the factors that influence positive learning experiences for children and young people, quality teachers have the most significant influence by far. Seminal research by John Hattie (2020) supports this belief, and we will continue to invest in our staff to ensure we deliver the best learning outcomes for our students. We should offer our team many benefits and be regarded as an employer of choice, and developing them professionally is one such benefit.

The critical message from John Hattie's research is clear – educators should not work in isolation. Hattie explains that schools must create the structures and cultures that foster effective educator collaboration so that they can impact student learning positively.

In 2021 through an evaluative survey, our staff identified access to high-quality professional learning required urgent attention. Since then, we have responded by removing various barriers and promoting what is available for professional development more often. We are now proud to offer world-class professional learning opportunities to our team.

In 2022, a delegation of our staff travelled to Perth, and more recently, we sent a delegation to Canberra through our connections with Future Schools. In the coming weeks, we will provide updated details from these trips and insight into what has been learned and how this will transfer into our children's and young people's learning experiences. We also invested in our staff through smaller professional learning opportunities such as curriculum days, well-being conferences, ISA Sports training and various other options.

One risk that is present in every learning community is geographical isolation. You cannot replace meeting face-to-face with a virtual interaction; we are seeing the impact of precisely this in the learning of our young people due to the COVID experience. Isolating ourselves and our students from research, experiences, and opportunities puts our progress at risk. Later in the year, we will create extended friendships and relationships with schools in Barcelona and the UK. Deep and rich global perspectives are among five key areas identified for school investment. In response, we will join with other Australian schools in sending a delegation of our staff to these schools to ensure that BMGS is leading the growth of future learning models that connect deeply with both the intellect and hearts of our community. At some time next year, we will reciprocate their generosity by hosting those schools here in Wentworth Falls and Springwood.

It is crucial to provide our staff with the resources and support they need to grow professionally. As you have heard me often say, "Everything we say, everything we do, even where we spend our money, says something about what we value." We value our staff and believe this investment in them is more than worthwhile. We will continue seeking new opportunities to invest in our team and provide them with the necessary tools to succeed. By doing this, we will continue to provide an exceptional learning environment for our students and help them reach their full potential.

ChatGPT Seminar

Please be reminded that on 4th May from 6:45pm - 7:45pm I will be presenting a Zoom Seminar on the implications of ChatGPT on schools and learning. Thank you to those who have already registered.

I invite you to register, and please ask a friend or colleague to come along as well. They do not need to be a parent at BMGS - this event is for anyone with a child in school.

Please feel free to share this far and wide. To register, please follow this link.

Mr Steven Coote

Principal

Diary Dates

May 2023

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