From the Head of Junior School

We’ve been blessed with glorious weather this week, clear skies and gentle breezes each afternoon. I’ve noticed many classes seizing the moment by taking their lessons outside, enjoying the fresh air and exploring interesting spaces to learn. The outdoors is such an energising place, and we’re fortunate to have so much of it around us for everyone to find their own space to think, read, chat and compose their thoughts. Enjoy some of the pictures of our students enjoying the great outdoors.

This week we will hold our first virtual assembly, this Friday at 2.20pm. It will be pre-recorded and uploaded to MyGSG - Junior School Information page, Assemblies and Events document folder. Linked Here.

I suspect this will be the first of many reimaginings as we endeavour to maintain the core elements we value while operating differently. So why are assemblies important? Some may argue they’re not… although, I feel, done well they honour a school's past, celebrate its present and cultivate its future. Lofty goals for a 30 minute time slot! A good exercise someone once got me into to when you’re not sure where to start with a project or an event was to ask two simple questions ‘What is the core purpose, and for who?’. You can change the start of the sentence to suit the occasion, eg. ‘What’s the problem to solve?’, or ‘What’s the opportunity to explore?’ I’ve found this exercise trains you to find the core of something, and consider the audience you are addressing specifically.

The core purpose of an assembly is to share an experience together. The experience might be to honour traditions and rituals that promote community, or we might use the assembly to celebrate achievements, showcase an area or educate others on a topic. Perhaps all of these.

For whom? The students, families, staff, special guests? All of these, but mostly our students. Our assemblies are designed to celebrate, educate, showcase and share experiences with each other to develop our students as their grow and move through the school. At each age and stage our students experience an assembly as an audience member, they’re acknowledged for their efforts and achievements, they contribute an item and lead a section as a member of our Junior School. Assemblies connect, foster belonging and develop our young people.

Now that I’ve set a high bar for assemblies, I’ll bring it down a little and be kind to ourselves for our first virtual assembly! It will still have many of the features we share at our regular assembly, but it will have its own style to make best use of the pre-recorded medium, and no doubt continue to develop over time. I plan to make best use of this opportunity in developing our students multi-media and presentation skills as anyone with a smart phone can already see the popularity of the short video format is continuing to grow across all areas (Social, Professional, Educational, Public Service etc…).

This is an exciting new project for the Year Six cohort to start the year with, and offer a powerful message that will serve them well, years into the future – embrace adapting and innovating how we do things to meet the needs of today and tomorrow.

This week's theme for assembly comes from our School Values – Respect. Our Year Six Leaders will share the different aspects of respect and how we can demonstrate it in our daily lives.

Respecting ourselves – our health, wellbeing, education
Respecting others – safety, feelings, opinions
Respecting our environment – natural, classroom, shared spaces
Respecting our heritage – traditions, cultures, beliefs
Respecting belongings – materials, resources, personal items

Respect is a core value of Great Southern Grammar, and a large topic to cover, but age and stage appropriate we believe our students understand why the value of respect is so close to us.

Revisiting core messages from the Parent Information Sessions

Class teachers did a wonderful job preparing videos to release on MyGSG, which I can see have been viewed by families, thank you very much for taking the time to view these messages.

Whole Junior School messages included

• Introducing P&F representatives and Junior School staff

• Junior School updates and focus areas for 2022

• School related COVID-19 updates

Just briefly, the key Junior School focus areas for 2022 are:

• Family Experience

• Learning Experience

The Family Experience relates to families feeling connected, well informed and able to easily access information when required, and feel included in school activities throughout the year. Despite the challenges that some COVID-19 guidelines may present, we feel a positive family experience is still very achievable and perhaps even more valued across our community. Small adjustments like events pre-recorded or live streamed, events reimagined in a new format, clear communication bundled on certain days (SEQTA Tuesday, and general communications Thursday bundle) so it’s easier for families to know when information is released. Personal communications like responding to emails or phone calls will still be attended to as required in a timely manner (not waiting for the general communication Thursday bundle). Storing copies of key communications in MyGSG Junior School documents so they are easily accessible when families need them. These are just some of the changes to enhance the experience between home and school.

The Learning Experience refers to the learning environment for our students. We foster a culture of learning where every student enjoys school, feels safe and welcome, supported and stretched, inspired and proud of their efforts. We believe in flexible learning spaces that can adapt to meet the needs of students and the context of their learning. We have targeted programmes from Early Years through to Year Six for literacy and numeracy and use inquiry approaches to integrate different subject areas around a central idea to provide meaning and purpose to their learning. We bring these elements to life with action; students putting their learning to work with activities, tasks, projects and experiences that we share with each other and our families.

We are looking forward to sharing these focus areas for 2022 with our community.

With warmest regards, and thanks,

Mr Ken Raven | Head of Junior School

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