Principal's Message

Dear St Luke’s Families, 

What an incredible start to the 2026 school year! 

As I walk through classrooms and across the playground each day, I am struck by the energy, focus, and joy that our students have brought back with them. It is clear that our community is ready for a wonderful year of learning and growth.

 Last year, our leadership and teaching teams undertook an in-depth review of our lesson sequences and daily timetable structure. As a result, we have introduced several significant changes to the secondary component of the school, and the early impact has been genuinely exciting to observe. Our review led us to restructure the secondary timetable around 60-minute lessons. Already, we can see that students are more focused and there is a real sense of urgency to their learning. Students are experiencing less downtime in the classroom and are utilising their class time far more effectively.

 Importantly, the new structure also means that teachers see their students more regularly throughout the week. This greater frequency of contact should lead to less disruption between lessons and stronger continuity in learning, allowing students to build momentum and make deeper connections with the content they are studying. 

Alongside the timetable changes, our teachers have made a concerted effort to deliver more explicit, strategic, and targeted workshops within their lessons. With the advantage of having three adults in many of our classrooms, we are now better positioned than ever to differentiate learning and address individual student needs. This approach allows us to draw on our detailed understanding of each student and deliver focused skill-based workshops that ensure students are receiving the right learning at the right time. It is a model that puts the student at the centre of everything we do. 

Perhaps one of the most talked-about changes this year has been the implementation of our mobile phone ban, and I am delighted to report that the impact on learning has been overwhelmingly positive. I want to share a personal reflection on this. Twenty years ago, as a technology teacher, I wrote my Master’s thesis on the importance of the early introduction of technology to young people — particularly girls — to ensure equity of access to opportunities as they grew older. I believed passionately in getting devices into the hands of students as early as possible. 

However, with the rise of social media and the deeply concerning impact it has had on the wellbeing of young people, I have reversed my position. I now very much advocate for parental control and meaningful limitations on technology use, particularly for adolescents. We knew that implementing this policy would not be without its challenges. Nobody relishes the prospect of arguing with a sixteen-year-old about phone use! However, I am so proud to say that our students have been incredibly supportive of the change. The positive impact on student engagement and learning has been clear, and our classrooms are calmer, more connected, and more focused as a result. I thank our families for your support in reinforcing this expectation. 

At the other end of the school, it has been absolutely lovely to see the joy with which our youngest learners have returned — or arrived — for the new year. Our new Kindergarten class may look so little, but they have already taken great strides in their maturity as they make their way into “big school.” It has been such a pleasure to watch the growth in their learning unfold so quickly. Their enthusiasm is infectious, and it reminds us all why we do what we do. St Luke’s is such an exciting place to be at the beginning of a new year.

Standing here and looking at all the potential growth ahead of us — from our tiniest Kindergarten students to our senior secondary learners — fills me with enormous pride and optimism. I look forward to sharing more updates with you as the term progresses and to continuing to work together as a community to support every child in reaching their potential.