Principal's Report
Uralla Central School
If no mistake you have made, but losing you are. A different game you should play.
Yoda, Jedi Master 896BBY-4ABY
Welcome one and all to the 2020 school year. Hopefully, everyone was able to get some down time over the Christmas vacation and spend quality time with family and friends.
It has been a tumultuous summer with the fire situation which had obviously been going on for some time here in the Northern Tablelands. It seems odd in light of all that, that as I type I am receiving flood warnings on my phone. All of this puts me in mind of the John O'Brien poem, 'Said Hanrahan' first published in 1919.
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
In accents most forlorn,
Outside the church, ere Mass began,
One frosty Sunday morn.
The congregation stood about,
Coat-collars to the ears,
And talked of stock, and crops, and drought,
As it had done for years.
"It's lookin' crook," said Daniel Croke;
"Bedad, it's cruke, me lad,
For never since the banks went broke
Has seasons been so bad."
"It's dry, all right," said young O'Neil,
With which astute remark
He squatted down upon his heel
And chewed a piece of bark.
And so around the chorus ran
"It's keepin' dry, no doubt."
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"Before the year is out.
"The crops are done; ye'll have your work
To save one bag of grain;
From here way out to Back-o'-Bourke
They're singin' out for rain.
"They're singin' out for rain," he said,
"And all the tanks are dry."
The congregation scratched its head,
And gazed around the sky.
"There won't be grass, in any case,
Enough to feed an ass;
There's not a blade on Casey's place
As I came down to Mass."
"If rain don't come this month," said Dan,
And cleared his throat to speak--
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"If rain don't come this week."
A heavy silence seemed to steal
On all at this remark;
And each man squatted on his heel,
And chewed a piece of bark.
"We want a inch of rain, we do,"
O'Neil observed at last;
But Croke "maintained" we wanted two
To put the danger past.
"If we don't get three inches, man,
Or four to break this drought,
We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"Before the year is out."
In God's good time down came the rain;
And all the afternoon
On iron roof and window-pane
It drummed a homely tune.
And through the night it pattered still,
And lightsome, gladsome elves
On dripping spout and window-sill
Kept talking to themselves.
It pelted, pelted all day long,
A-singing at its work,
Till every heart took up the song
Way out to Back-o'Bourke.
And every creek a banker ran,
And dams filled overtop;
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"If this rain doesn't stop."
And stop it did, in God's good time;
And spring came in to fold
A mantle o'er the hills sublime
Of green and pink and gold.
And days went by on dancing feet,
With harvest-hopes immense,
And laughing eyes beheld the wheat
Nid-nodding o'er the fence.
And, oh, the smiles on every face,
As happy lad and lass
Through grass knee-deep on Casey's place
Went riding down to Mass.
While round the church in clothes genteel
Discoursed the men of mark,
And each man squatted on his heel,
And chewed his piece of bark.
"There'll be bush-fires for sure, me man,
There will, without a doubt;
We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"Before the year is out."
To all in our community who are involved in volunteer activity, whether in SES or other community organisations - we salute your service.
Staffing
We have had a number of changes to staffing since the end of 2019.
Tracey Jenner continues on long-service leave pending retirement in her absence Bruce Nield continues to relieve as Deputy Principal.
Mark Wittig also continues on long-service leave pending retirement and in his absence Greg Wood continues to relieve as Head of Senior School.
Dan Williams continues in his role as Curriculum Adviser and is relieved as Head of Middle School by Sarah Targett.
Charmaine Endacott continues in her role as Instructional Leader and is relieved by Amy Brodbeck as Head of Junior School.
Amy Hobbs whilst substantively our Head of Administration and Organisation is relieving as the Head of Curriculum Design and Innovation and Glenn Pardy is relieving in the HoAO.
We welcome the full-time permanent appointment of Risa Matsui into the vacant Music position.
Julie Clark and Sam Brown have taken up secondments at Armidale Secondary College for 2020 and have been replaced by Tony Dawson and Luke Walker respectively.
In early January Cherie Stoessel resigned from the Department of Education after over twenty years service to take up a leadership role in the non-government sector, we thank Cherie for her contribution to the lives of so many Uralla Central School students and wish her every success in her new role. Sasha Riordan has taken on Cherie's vacated position. We welcome all of our new teaching staff and the support staff behind the scenes. Could I also congratulate Ashleigh Ayre on her recent permanent appointment to our staff.
Lifelong Learning
We have been investigating implementing our own Bring Your Own Device laptop purchasing program. We fully appreciate that not all learning requires technology but equally we cannot avoid the role that technology plays in all aspects of life today and will in the future. We'd expect that this program would involve the agreement by parents/carers to purchase the device and pay it off over a number of years through regular payments at the end of which the device would be owned by you. We believe this can be achieved at a cost of under $4.00 per week and envisage that the scheme would run over four years. More detailed information will be forthcoming in the next little while.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
Martin Luther King Jr (1929-1968)
Curriculum
We continue to look for ways to innovate in our curriculum and believe that past actions are bearing fruit. Once again the graduating Academy II students achieved outstanding HSC results with multiple Band 5 & 6 results achieved across a range of subjects. There are strong trends of improvement in NAPLAN results and our VET pathways students continue to excel. At the end of last years we transitioned five students off School Based Traineeships into full-time apprenticeships.
Assets/Maintenance
Work was completed on the new garden beds at the end of the new BER Building, new shade sails erected in the main quad, but unfortunately the quad project has not been completed as yet due to all of the rain (a good and a bad thing). The upgrade on the Basketball court has commenced and should be completed before the end of term. Three major murals will also be completed by Week 9 - two on the Library walls and one on the IA building in the quad.
As always cherish your children, enjoy the next three weeks and until the next newsletter we will continue to strive to be a school where students achieve at their personal best, where our school improvement projects continue and where all of us not only stand tall and walk proud but Make their Mark!
The capacity to learn is a gift;
The ability to learn is a skill;
The willingness to learn is a choice.
Frank Herbert (1920-1986) Author of Dune