Principal's Report 

Dear Parents, 

As we approach the halfway mark of term one, we can happily report that our response to the COVID-19 situation is working very well.  By now your child will have received their third delivery of rapid tests and we really appreciate your co-operation is ensuring these are administered twice per week. With the easing of restrictions, it has been wonderful seeing parents able to come along to our outdoor assemblies as parent involvement seems to be one of the last hurdles to us operating as close to pre-COVID settings as possible. Assemblies are weekly starting at approximately 9:05 with all double-vaccinated parents welcome. 

At our last assembly, the student leaders announced we are encouraging students to dress in the clothes of their, or their families homeland, and bring (however not share) food particular to that region of the world on Harmony Day which will be held on March 21. Harmony Day is a time where we acknowledge and celebrate the wonderful fabric of our community and the richness of cultures across the globe. If national dress or food is not possible, of course we encourage students to dress with a touch of orange.  This could be an orange headband or hair-tie, an orange t-shirt, orange hair for the more adventurous or orange zinc-cream as examples. On the following day, Kaboom will be coming to school so our students can experience all the fun of sport and physical activity with some very excited Kaboom instructors. All in all it will be a very exciting week coming up.

Also coming up on Tuesday March 15th is the second of four pupil free days this year. Students will not be required at school on this day, however TheirCare will be operating for those students booked in.  On this day the staff will be furthering their work on our IDEAS project taking the success of developing our school vision ‘Empowering Global Citizens’ to now develop our school-wide agreed approach to student learning, otherwise known as our School-wide Pedagogy. 

For parents familiar with our journey, last year we developed our Teaching and Learning Plan which can be thought of as the ‘what and when we teach’.  Now the development of our school-wide pedagogy will detail the ‘how’ of what we teach. The final piece of the curriculum map is the work being currently being undertaken by our leaders in developing assessments linked to our plan to determine ‘how well’ we taught the subjects. This is an enormous body of curriculum work undertaken across the past 15 months and it is testament to the strength and expertise of the staff.  

The remaining two curriculum days will be the Friday before the Queen’s Birthday and the Monday directly before the Melbourne Cup. 

Unfortunately late last year our school was broken into several times with considerable damage done to toilets, classrooms and offices. At the time we employed security guards for additional late night protection, however as a more long-term solution, and to improve the street appeal of the school, a new fence will be constructed over the term 1 holiday period. This fence will replace the now quite dilapidated existing fence. It will be considerably higher and far more attractive. This, along with our recent landscaping and repainting, will certainly change the appearance of the school making it a far more inviting place for us all. 

Finally, we recently said good-bye to a much loved staff member in Gabrielle O’Meara who retired after more than 30 years here at Mackellar.  Her departure was a very quick affair with her notifying us on the Tuesday and then finishing up on the Wednesday. Gabrielle did not want a fuss made, however we have extended an invitation to her to have a send off at a time of her choosing should she so wish. We wish her all the very best in her well-earned retirement and hope that she won’t be a stranger to our school in the future. 

Kind Regards, 

Regards, 

Simon McGlade

Principal