It's Good to Be Back!

Tanya Vaughan - Head of Primary

I can't tell you how wonderful it is to hear the sounds of little voices outside my window again! I can’t help but just stand and gaze as the picture is perfect... it’s morning tea and there are little clusters of students scattered around the playground. There are lunchboxes, there is chatter, there are balls, hoops and drink bottles rolling, teachers are smiling, and our community is beginning to look like it should. There is a normality about the daily rhythm of school life, as staff and students interact, as relationships are developed and as community is shaped. It just feels right.

Together with all our students, a new group of Donvale ‘members’ have made their way to our school grounds. Scattered in various parts of the gardens, Spoonville characters have nestled into the soil and become familiar with their new home and they have been introduced to new friends. Our Spoonville friends are much more than a decorated wooden (or other) spoon. They are a means by which our students have been reminded of the aspects of life and community that we value.

Knowing that the range of emotions experienced by our primary students in the return to school would be varied and vast, the Spoonville characters have generated a language that is centred on creating a spirit of cohesion and community amongst our P-2 students. Learning to live and learn harmoniously in a vibrant community is a necessary and important skill for our students as they return to school, and this has been reinforced as our ‘new friends’ have made their way into our garden beds!

It is lovely seeing teachers engage with students in the classroom, taking the necessary time to allow for conversation, fun and laughter, all with the goal of ensuring that everyone knows that they belong, they are valued and they are loved – a rich, fertile soil upon which to see young lives flourish.