Ryan’s Rambling 

Dear Families,

I hope you have all stayed warm this week. As we approach the beginning of Spring, it seems that Ballarat’s Winter weather is not quite ready to leave us. 

I had the inspiring opportunity to work alongside the City of Ballarat this week to facilitate a forum for many of our School Leaders about a possible advisory program for children next year. Our School Leaders were involved in a 90-minute feedback session, where they were able to provide insight into how they would see the program benefiting students and the wider community. I was immensely proud of the way our student conducted themselves and the deep level of thought and consideration they put into their responses. I received an e-mail from the City of Ballarat later that evening detailing their astonishment at just how mature and wonderful our students were during the session. Well done, kids!

It was an exciting week for a small group of budding AFL footballers this week, with our school participating in the first 9x9 football interschool competition. I was proud to learn that our team won all of the games against our opponents. This may mean that we can send a team to a regional competition in the near future. Stay tuned for more news on this. 

Today, our school held a fantastic open morning and cooked breakfast for our community. It was great to see so many families attend. We surpassed last year’s orders by dozens this year! To all the dads out there, we sincerely hope that you have a wonderful Fathers’ Day on Sunday. Of course, we know that there are many stepdads, uncles, older brothers, grandparents, single parents and a host of significant adults in our children’s lives who continually go above and beyond to help raise and support the next generation. 

Next week, we will begin our Strategic Review process. This is an incredibly exciting moment in Dana Street’s history, as we endeavour to prepare our next four-year Strategic Plan. Over the last six months, we have been meticulously reviewing our student learning data, conducting discussion forums with students and parents and looking at ways we can continue to refine and improve our practice. I look forward to sharing our new Strategic Plan with the community once it has been completed. This should be available sometime in Term 4. 

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone! 

Ryan