Principal's Message

Dear Parents,

As we come to the end of another successful term, I want to express my gratitude for the hard work, dedication, and community spirit that has made this term so memorable. Our students, teachers, and staff have all shown incredible resilience and creativity, making this term truly outstanding. Our 100 years celebration was an amazing community event and gave us an insight to the history of the school. These celebrations will continue.

We greatly value the partnership between parents and teachers. Our recent Parent-Teacher Interviews provided a fantastic opportunity for meaningful conversations about student progress and ways to support learning at home. Thank you to all the parents and guardians who attended and participated actively. Your engagement is crucial to our students' success.

As we head into the holidays, please stay safe, especially in the cold weather. Take this time to recharge your batteries, enjoy the break, and spend quality time with your loved ones. We look forward to seeing everyone back on Tuesday July 23, refreshed and ready for a new term.

A Powerful Lesson From The Bees

My dad has a hobby post-retirement. He has hives all over the place in his garden. And he collects honey. Not a lot, but enough to distribute to all his friends and relatives. I make it a point to visit him whenever he collects honey. A few days ago, I went to his house and he showed me all the honey he had gotten from the hives. He took the lid off of a large pot, full of golden honey. All I could see on top of the honey was 3 little bees, struggling.

 

They were covered in sticky honey and drowning. I asked him if we could help them and he said he was sure they wouldn’t survive. Casualties of honey collection…

I asked him again if we could at least get them out and kill them quickly, after all he was the one who taught me to put a suffering animal (or bug) out of its misery. He finally conceded and scooped the bees out of the bucket. He put them in a large empty yogurt container and put the plastic container outside. Because he had disrupted the hive with the earlier honey collection, there were bees flying all over outside.

 

My dad called me out a little while later to show me what was happening. These three little bees were surrounded by all of their sisters (all of the bees are females) and they were cleaning the sticky nearly dead bees, helping them to get all of the honey off of their bodies. We came back a short time later and there was only one little bee left in the container. She was still being tended to by her sisters.

When it was time for me to leave we checked one last time and all three of the bees had been cleaned off enough to fly away and the container was empty. Those three little bees lived because they were surrounded by family and friends who would not give up on them, family and friends who refused to let them drown in their own stickiness and resolved to help until the last little bee could be set free.

We could all learn a thing or two from these bees.

 

It really takes a community to save the most vulnerable and those who are struggling, to set everyone free. My point of sharing this is just to remind us all that when others are struggling, doing what you can to help, rather than leave them to dwell in their own “sticky” situation, is powerful. Not only does it help to release and set the “struggling one” free, but gives you such an uplifted feeling because you have supported another human bee-ing.

The final message – Bee supportive, Bee Peers, Bee friends, Bee loving and Bee kind.

(Taken from Dr. V. Ranjan. Published in Age of Awareness Oct 15, 2021)

Wishing you all a safe and enjoyable break. See you next term!

Leonie Burfield

PRINCIPAL