Principal's Report

Term 4

Thank you to our staff, students and parents for the commitment you have all shown to learning and wellbeing throughout this very challenging term. As I look forward to Term 4, I know that we still face many great challenges, but there is a real sense of hope and excitement as we can start to see the time that students will be able to return on-site to school.

I know that our entire staff is so excited for the opportunity to connect with our wonderful students in the classroom and our students can't wait to be with their friends; learning, laughing and playing outside. The sense of gratitude that we will feel, for what was once just a given, will be extremely powerful.

Our F-2 students are due to return from Week 2 of next term, and our 3-6 students will hopefully be back just a few weeks later (depending on community transmission numbers). We are not yet sure of the protocols that will be in place (such as parents being allowed on site, staggered starts and finishes, etc) but we will keep you informed as soon as these decisions have been communicated to us from DET.

Prior to 2020 beginning, we had planned a student-free day for Friday 30th October. We had arranged training with the Therapeutic Engagement Support Services Association (TESSA) to train our staff members on Protective Intervention Training. We are extremely committed to this training as it builds capacity of our staff to maintain a safe environment for all students, however we absolutely do not want to lose any on-site days we have with our students for the remainder of this year. As such, we have been able to move the training date to the first week of next term (Friday 9th October) when we will still be in a period of Remote Learning for all students. We are so pleased that our staff are able to engage in this valuable professional learning without losing any valuable time with our students on site.

On this Student Free Day (Friday 9th October), Their Care will be providing full-day care to students of permitted workers with permits who are not able to organise alternative care arrangements for their students.

Once again, I would like to thank the entire school community for your support of student learning and well-being, I hope you all safe and well and I hope that you can enjoy this upcoming school holiday period with your children.

RUOK Day

Thank you to everyone for your participation in RUOK day. So many students, staff and parents checked in on other members of our community to check if they are OK. 

Checking in on those we are connected with is a great habit to form and something I would encourage our entire community to commit to on an ongoing basis (I know many people do this so well already). I am inspired to increase my efforts to check in on my family, friends and colleagues to make sure they are OK and to know that I care about them.

Foundation students took some time to think about how they help themselves if they are feeling sad, lonely or frustrated. Lachlan, Tiarna and Sade wrote some great pieces!

In Japanese, students practised how to say Genkidesuka? (How are you) and they made a Kokoro (heart) card to share with someone. 

All classes held discussions via Webex about what RUOK means to them and how they can help others. Junior School Council representatives like Ava (below) spoke to their peers about having meaningful wellbeing conversations. 

We are kind. We are resilient. We are respectful.