Principal's Report

As the new principal of Thornbury High School, I have been very impressed – and very moved – by the welcoming nature of the THS community. Clearly, this is a unique school, in which staff and students collaborate to focus on promoting great learning in the classroom. I am still getting to know the people at THS, and understanding all the rich co-curricular offerings offered at THS will definitely take time; nonetheless, it is already obvious how kind, caring and committed the teachers and education support staff at the school are to supporting all students with their learning and their wellbeing. 

Our focus as a school is on continuing to strengthen the learning experience for all students at Thornbury High School. As the principal of THS, I am committed to excellence in all areas of the school, and I believe that this great community deserves the very best education that we can offer to the young people in our care. Education is a shared commitment by parents, guardians, and school staff, so I am very keen to work with families to help to improve the positive experience our students have at school at THS. Our facilities are enviable, with state-of-the-art learning environments, particularly in the Sports and Performing Arts Centre and our brand-new STEAM Centre. We have an ambitious masterplan for the school, and we will continue to work on improving our facilities, gardens, and resources. 

We have a responsibility to make sure that every student has access to excellent learning opportunities in class and that they have the support they need to thrive. To achieve this, we are continuing to invest in more staff to help students engage with their learning at school. Our new Student Engagement Coordinators and Learning Support Leaders, together with our existing Sub-School Leaders, Year Level Coordinators, Wellbeing and Inclusion staff, Literacy and Numeracy Tutors, as well as our Senior School Academic Tutor, all work on supporting students with their learning and wellbeing. This is a collective effort, and we all share a deep commitment to supporting students to achieve excellence during their time with us at THS. 

Every week, school is a hive of activity with a great number of activities, excursions, enrichment opportunities, clubs, music, and sporting events. Rehearsals for ‘The Lion King’ have begun, and I’m keen to see the final production once that comes around later this year. Our Year 7 students are deeply immersed in their instrumental music lessons, and I look forward to the Strawbale Concert coming up at the end of this term. 

As summer still lingers on into March, I am reminded of a poem by one of my favourite Italian poets, Giacomo Leopardi, called ‘Saturday Night in the Village’. This poem describes the feelings of a young boy in an Italian village in relation to a day of rest in summer, and it ends lyrically with Leopardi comparing this day to the flowering of youth in life:

Your life’s sweet flowering is like this day of gladness,

A clear day, unclouded, that heralds life’s festival.

Enjoy the sweet hour, my child, this pleasant, delightful season.

For all of our wonderful students at THS, I wish them Leopardi’s “giorno d’allegrezza pieno...chiaro, sereno”. That clear, unclouded day of gladness is well deserved by all the young people in our great school community. 

Lars Andersson

Principal