Leadership and Management
Reconciliation Week
Reconciliation Week
by Bridget S, Ali C and Isabel G(Yr 5)
What is Reconciliation Week? Reconciliation week is a celebration of the anniversary of Indigenous peoples’ rights. Before 1967, Indigenous people weren’t allowed to swim in public pools or travel on the bus: It was the law! But in 1967, all that changed. Reconciliation week is held between 27th May and 3rd June. Now Australians feel strongly that Indigenous people must have the same rights as anyone.
Why do we celebrate Reconciliation week? We celebrate Reconciliation Week to recognise the struggle of Indigenous people to have equal rights. We now recognise our mistakes of the past and try not to do it again. There was a time where Aborigines were not trusted and Indigenous children were taken away from their families and given to “white people”. Thankfully, we do not do that now. Aborigines have fought for their rights to vote and become treated like others. That is why we celebrate Reconciliation Week.
How do people celebrate Reconciliation week? Most people go to church to celebrate. Some families donate clothes. Some people organise an event for National Reconciliation week at schools and workplaces. At assembly last Friday, we talked about Reconciliation Week. Meegan Good began the celebration with an Acknowledgment of Country, recognising our first people, as well as people of all cultures, who have lived where our school now stands. Each class did a short presentation about a famous Aboriginal person. We learnt lots of new things about these people. We also performed a sit-down dance and song, Taba Naba, a Torres Strait Islander song about going down to the reef. Thank you to Mrs. Ferris for organising the assembly.
2017 Annual Report to the Community
The Annual Report is a summary of the happenings, results and plans for the year past. Principals are required to certify that information in the report is the result of a rigorous school self-evaluation process and is a balanced and genuine account of the school's achievements and areas for development. A copy of the 2017 Annual Report to the Community has been uploaded to the school website and is also featured throughout this newsletter in the various spheres of Education in Faith, Leadership and Management, Learning and Teaching, Student Wellbeing and School Community. We thank all those in our school community for their contributions throughout the 2017 year to enable this report to be written. A special thank you to the Leadership Team and our School Board Chair, Donna McMaster, for composing parts of the document.
Annual Report-Leadership and Mangament
Some of our achievements in this sphere include:
Developing Leadership for School Improvement: New Leadership Structure was implemented at the beginning of 2017: English Leader, Mathematics Leader, STEAM Leader, Religious Education Curriculum Leader, Faith Leader, Wellbeing Leader, ICT Infrastructure Leader, eLearning Leader, Community Partnerships Leader, Outdoor Education Leader and Specialist Leader.
Identifying the Vision and Purpose: New Vision Statement was written in collaboration with students, staff and parents.
Developing effective Communication Strategies: Updated the format of the school newsletter using the company ‘iNewsletter’, to include a contribution from members of the school community.
Build Performance and Development Culture strategies: Introduction of the following meetings: goal-setting, data and Annual Review linked to AITSL standards.
Promote Student Safety: The installation of safety netting on the grass playground, and the changing of open areas (Library, Prep F classroom and Learning Street) for Recess and Lunch, has led to a dramatic decrease of student injuries.
Occupational Health and Safety: Creation of an Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Team, including a five day training course attended by the OH&S representative.