From the Leadership Team
What a busy week...
Swimming week is certainly an exciting and tiring week for all involved but what an experience for our students. It was great to see so many attempting new activities and hear them speak excitedly about their achievements. We've received some great feedback from staff and instructors who commented on how respectful students were, their courage and growth mindset when trying new things (that can quite often be a little scary) and how organised they were with their belongings. Thank you to our families for making sure our students had everything they needed each day, encouraged them to have a go and came along to support. We appreciate your involvement.
On Monday this week, I attended the State Education Leaders Day. This conference gave an opportunity to hear from our Chief Executive Martin Westwell regarding the new Strategy for Public Education. We heard from school leaders about their experiences using aspects of the strategy and also from international speakers on current educational research. Department for Education has been working with students, staff and families across the state for about 18 months to develop the strategy with the themes of Thrive & Prosper and Learn & Achieve. With 4 Areas of Impact helping to provide schools with a particular focus, we will be delving into the Wellbeing area which fits with our currenty school priorities and learning in BSEM. More information on the strategy for public education in South Australia at Our strategy for public education in South Australia
Last week Maxine Moran and I were able to attend the Halogen National Young Leaders Day with 6 of our year 6 students. During the day, they were given an opportunity to listen to and meet leaders from across the country including the Honourable Peter Malinauskas Premier of SA, Bryson Klein (Ninja Warrior champion), Anastasia Woolmer (Australian Memory Champion) and Scott Stuart (Author). The students learnt about using courage, taking risks and developing resilience which they will share with their peers and use to develop themselves as potential leaders.
As advertised to our community, our Governing Council AGM was held on Tuesday 20/2. Thank you to the large number of families and staff who came along to listen to our reports and find out more information about what our school achieved in 2023. We have now elected our Governing Council with our new Chairperson Tara Symonds taking on the role for the first time. Thank you Tara for your willingness to lead our council. Look our for more information about our Governing Council later in the newsletter.
Across the school, we are noticing more students bringing personal items and toys to school. Pokemon cards are popular items at the moment but we ask that students keep these at home, as with any other toys or valuable items as we know the upset it causes when things are damaged, lost or mistakenly swapped. If students are bringing an item to share with the class, please arrange prior with their teacher so care of this can be arranged. Thank you for your support.
It is hard to believe that we have now passed the halfway point of our term. Please make sure you keep an eye on our What's Happening? section of the newsletter for information on our pupil free days and other events.
Enjoy the long weekend.
Anita