Principal's Report

Dear families,

It is with great anticipation that we as a College begin a new term of learning. I believe that we are all life-long learners and if we have a growth mindset that almost anything can be achieved. In light of that belief, I was fortunate enough to attend a three day EduLead conference in Singapore in the first week of the holidays. This certainly provided me with some professional renewal and reinforced my philosophy about the future of education. The main take outs from this conference were that we need to develop our students for the VUCA world in which they will enter. VUCA stands for a world that is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. This is the environment in which we our children will be operating in. The other big takeout was that impact that Artificial Intelligence will have on our society. The future is already here. I hear that one supermarket in Queensland has already gone fully automated with no human cashiers and robots stacking shelves. One local supermarket here in Horsham has removed more cash register operators in preference to more self-service lanes. These sort of jobs where technology can replace humans will not exist for much longer. 

So, what does all of this mean for our children? I spoke to our teachers on Monday’s Professional Development day about what we as educators will need to do. Rather than being a ‘Sage on the Stage’ drip feeding all of the knowledge we have, we need to become ‘Guide from the Side’. The content of subjects becomes less important as Global Knowledge is increasing exponentially and artificial intelligence knows more than I ever will. The key is, according to the World Economic Forum register of employment attributes for 2025, we (both teachers and parents) need to develop our children’s social skills – problem solving techniques, collaboration and self-management strategies and critical and creative thinking. To demonstrate what is possible and for a little fun, I have created this 30 second video I encourage you to view. https://share.synthesia.io/1ced0ff1-2fb9-43a8-ae87-3825182bd795

On Monday we have our school Open Day and Information evening. Can I ask that you spread the news within your circle of influence and encourage families that do not know what St Brigid’s is about, to come and visit us on this day. Links on how to register are in this newsletter. We are a great school and I want to show it off.

Stay Safe,

Gerard Raven