FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Term 4 - Week 3

Welcome to Week 3 Term 4. 

A positive culture is behind every successful organisation. Our school culture is an area of focus and development every day. Why, because while strategy, processes and protocols are essential - they will amount to nothing without a positive culture.

Culture is the collection of values, expectations, and practices that guide and inform the actions of all team members. 

At St Nicholas we have developed a culture of setting our children up for success as they learn to navigate their way through a more and more complex world. This is in line with our Vision and Mission. Our culture, of setting our student up for success, is visual every day:

• Our Systems Living Well Learning Well framework, based on ‘a universal and unconditional positive regard for children and young people’.
• Our multi tiered support system which is currently being embedded at St Nicholas.
• Partnerships with our parents. St Nicholas staff will work extremely closely with your children every day. They will however never know your children as well as you - the parent. Conversely, as educators we will also understand the dynamics of school life, learning and teaching to a greater degree than our parents. Therefore we develop a professional partnership to set our students up for a ‘literate and numerate hope filled future’.
• Our reading hour is flooded with capable and professional staff to ensure our children are reading every day. Furthermore, the learning and teaching of reading is delivered with both rigour and sophistication.
• Our  learning and playground spaces are founded on ‘engagement’ rather than a deficit model of ‘compliance’
• Our three simple school rules are based on supporting our children to be safe, valued & respected and learners.

Our parents would be familiar with our K-4 Engine Yard, which opened in 2020. The Engine Yard supports our students regulation. You may have heard our children talking about their “engines” going up into a high gear (hyper) or into a low gear (lethargic) or in a “just right” gear (attentive and focused). The Engine Yard is design to return our students to an optimal state.

In 2023 with the financial support of the St Nicholas PT&F and through collaboration with local Occupational Therapists, we have created a Senior Primary Engine Yard. Enjoy the short video below highlighting how we can support the regulation of our children's engines.

The senior Engine Yard is yet another example of St Nicholas culture and determination to set our students up for success.

My sincere thanks to the PT&F for their financial contribution, Mr Tim Unwin for his leadership and Miss Bree Constable for her research. Without this wonderful example of collaboration, this space would not have been possible for our students.

Have a great week.

John Clery

PRINCIPAL