Principal's Report
Principal for a Day
On Thursday 8th September, Louisa Ellum - CEO of International Specialised Skills Insititute - joined me as to participate in the Principal for a Day (PFAD) program. Organised by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), this program assists schools and businesses to build partnerships and find opportunties to link with the community.
Our day included visiting classrooms and working alongside teachers and in the afternoon we met with representatives from the Yarra Ranges Council and Japara House to discuss ways the school could extend its work within the Kilsyth Community.
It was wonderful to be able to highlight the great things that go on here at KPS everyday. I am very grateful that Louisa was able to take the time to participate in the PFAD program as we gained some terrific insights into new ways we can extend the learning experiences for our students by working closely with community groups.
A thank you to Principal Daniel Gooding and his team at Kilsyth Primary School for welcoming me into the school on Thursday 8 September as the ‘Principal for a Day’. This program, facilitated by ACER, connects business leaders and Principals together for the opportunity of mutual learning and exploring future opportunities through supports and collaborations. As a local resident and a CEO of a professional learning based organisation, International Specialised Skills Institute, I had the privilege of spending the day at the school and was exposed to not only a school community that was vibrant, active and engaged in learning but one that held relationships and respect for one another other at its core.
I have worked in the education and training sector for a long time but have not had much exposure to primary education. I would like to think that all primary schools value their students, parents and staff in the way that was demonstrated to me today. I was also reminded again how precious the role of teachers are in the lives of our next generation and their skills, passion for their profession and craft and also the integrity they hold around their role as cultivators of young thinkers, innovators and doers is something we all must celebrate more. I also shadowed an incredible leader today in your Principal Mr Gooding and I was reminded again from his work and actions about the power of listening, respect and building on the strengths of others. Thank you Kilsyth Primary School, Principal Daniel Gooding, staff and students for allowing me to spend a day with you and experience just a slither of what your school is all about.
Lousa Ellum - PFAD 2016
Child Safe Standards
This months all schools throughout Victoria are expected to identify whether they comply with, or how they plan to comply with, the new Child Safe Standards which are now mandatory in all schools. Mrs Kate Thomson and I spent a day last week gathering our documentation and reviewing our processes, and I am pleased to say that we have identified as being fully compliant with all aspects of the Child Safe Standards. There have been a number of minor changes to our practices and these will be discussed and likely ratified at our school council meeting next week, and will come into effect next term. You will notice a few small changes to the way we do things when you visit the school, and I will provide a full overview of these in the next newsletter.
You can read more about the requirements of the Child Safe Standards here.
Social Media & eSmart Week
This week has also been eSmart Week. eSmart, an initiative of the Alannah & Madeline Foundation, uses a cultural change approach to improve cyber safety and reduce cyber bullying. We are close to completing the steps involved in becoming an eSmart school, and will gain full accreditation by the end of this year.
It is timely to discuss our use of social media, both as a part or our eSmart initiative and as we finalise our Child Safe practices. A few weeks ago, it became apparent that a few students in the senior school were using the messaging side of Instagram to communicate with each other outside of school time. Whilst seemingly harmless, left unsupervised this environment can provide opportunities for inappropriate and possibly hurtful comments to be made by young people that can have long lasting effects. In this particiular case, some hurtful comments were made and the argument continued at school. We immediately followed up and worked with the families involved to sort through the issues and support the young people in making better decisions about their online behaviour.
All our students sign an Acceptable Usage Agreement at the beginning of the school year which outlines the appropriate behaviour we expect of our students when working in online learning environments. If you would like a copy of this agreement, please contact me and I would be happy to provide you with one.
Our Child Safe policy, and Department of Education code of conduct, remind us that teachers must act in a professional way at all times, inside and outside of the school environment. This means that is inappropriate for school staff to "friend" students, or parents, through social media. This is an important boundary in maintaining the professional relationship that is integral in our maintaining our duty of care and fullfilling our role as teachers.
If you would like to read more about the eSmart program you can click here, or go to: https://www.esmart.org.au/news-events/national-esmart-week/
There are also some useful resources:
Working Bee
A reminder that we have our Spring Clean Out Working Bee tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you there. Join us from 8am for a great day of community.
Lunch will be provided and we will be playing a game of Parent vs Kids basketball at morning tea.
Have a great weekend
