Message from the

Head of Senior School

Term 2 Week 5

I hope all parents of students doing or preparing for exams this term are not too stressed! It can be caused by concern that your child is working too hard, or not hard enough, or that you feel unable to assist him or her. We all know that the secret is to apply a consistent effort throughout the school year so exams don’t assume a disproportionate importance when they arrive – helping your child to do that is quite a task, however.

On Saturday I was in Sydney presenting one of the sessions at a day for HSC French students. The day was organised by experienced examiners and markers belonging to the NSW Association of French Teachers; the main message there was also consistency of effort. Students have to take ownership of their learning and make sure they are doing regular practice of all the skills involved. This holds true for every subject, of course, not just French. Please encourage your child to be doing that little bit extra each night above and beyond just what has been set by teachers. Success at the HSC is often down to good and positive habits, established early and kept up right to the finish line.

On Wednesday I will be in Sydney again, this time at the School Law Conference. The main emphasis at such conferences, and all the information that comes through from the Association of Independent Schools and other similar organisations, is that our very first duty of care is student safety. We must make sure that our grounds and facilities are safe, both in the day school and in boarding. I think we all know that’s a given. However, what is becoming increasingly the focus is that students should be safe while on excursions, doing experiments, playing sport, in the playground and the like. And it’s not just physically safe – they should be safe from harassment or intimidation, both in person and online. Recommendations that have come out of the Royal Commission are being dealt with by schools now and we are being asked to be particularly vigilant about ‘child on child’ abuse (the term used by the Commission). This is a sensitive matter for wider school communities and very challenging for school leadership teams. I look forward to learning more on Wednesday.

On Tuesday 5 June the school will be welcoming inspectors from NESA; they will give us the final ‘tick of approval’ following online submission of many policies and documents prior to Easter. I am old enough to remember inspectors coming into classrooms (and we thought they were there checking us pupils out, of course, not realising that it was actually teachers being inspected!); this no longer happens but many other aspects of the school and its procedures will be checked carefully on that day.

I look forward to seeing some of you at the Coonabarabran equestrian expo; meanwhile, have a great fortnight.

Bev West

Head of Senior School