Principal's News

World Teachers’ Day and ES Month

World Teachers’ Day is actually held internationally on the 5th October each year. However as the day usually falls during Australian school holidays, Australian states and territories celebrate on the last Friday of October each year instead. In 2020, it will be celebrated on Friday 30 October.

ES Month is celebrated in August each year.  Unfortunately this was the middle of our stage four lockdown, so at Malvern Primary School we will be acknowledging Education Support staff as well this Friday.  Education Support staff fill a variety of roles including administration, Integration Aides, school nurse and library technician.

The UN theme for World Teachers’ Day this year is: “Teachers: Leading in crisis, reimagining the future” 

We know from all the lovely emails we have received this year that our community have appreciated the work of our teachers and education support staff.  We also know from our experience this year that education looks a bit different and that some of the necessary developments will remain moving forward. 

As with many work places we have seen a disruption to our practice, which will have a lasting impact.  Staff have had to develop skills, particularly in the use of technology, which would previously have taken years to develop – who knew we were also such capable learners?

Overall this year has been challenging but invigorating at the same time, as we developed new skills and met the challenges head on.  As educators we have certainly felt the discomfort that comes with learning.

Below I have included a collection of quotes about teachers and education and the influence they can have.  You will notice that some come from educators of the past and their words are as relevant today as they always were. 

‘Education is not the filling of a pot but the lighting of a fire.’ –W.B. Yeats

‘I am not a teacher, but an awakener.’ –Robert Frost

‘I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.’ –Albert Einstein

‘When one teaches, two learn.’ –Robert Heinlein

‘A teacher affects eternity: he can never tell where his influence stops.’ –Henry Adams

‘I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.’ –Socrates

‘The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.’ ― William Arthur Ward

‘There is no failure. Only feedback.’–Robert Allen

‘A good teacher is like a candle – it consumes itself to light the way for others.’ –Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

‘A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron.’ –Horace Mann

‘Teachers have three loves: love of learning, love of learners, and the love of bringing the first two loves together.’–Scott Hayden

‘The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, ‘The children are now working as if I did not exist.’ –Maria Montessori

‘It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.’ –Albert Einstein

I would like to thank all our staff for their dedication, commitment and flexibility this year in the support of student learning.  I would also like to thank them for their good humour, patience and persistence as we moved from on-site to off-site learning throughout the year.

Robyn James