Principal Team Editorial

Reconciliation Week

Throughout this week we have been acknowledging Reconciliation Week in several different ways. Nationally, the week officially started on 27 May as a tribute to the 1967 National Referendum when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were finally counted in the census. It will close on 3 June paying tribute to the 1992 High Court’s decision to establish native title, recognising that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the traditional owners of the land. 

At Wantirna College, we started the week with a smoking ceremony conducted by local elder Uncle Colin, and we finished the week by celebrating the poetic expressions of some of our students and staff as they submitted poems and lyrics voicing their beliefs of what Reconciliation means to them. 

In a time when society is still recovering from the pandemic years, it’s more important than ever that we teach our young people the power of unity and respect which is at the heart of the Reconciliation movement. At school and at home, we need to be explicit in how we teach our young people these values and provide opportunities for them to share perspectives, celebrate differences, listen to each other’s voices, accept other cultures, and continue to develop into good human beings! 

Hopefully, the events this week will have contributed in a small way towards creating some of these opportunities. 

Staffing

We are continuing to do everything we can to address the staffing issues that are prevalent not just in our school, but across the state in both government and independent schools. 

Our staff, including teaching and support staff, are not only highly professional and hard working but their commitment to doing their very best for our students is evident daily. As we continue to navigate Covid absences and struggle to recruit staff to fill teaching positions, our staff are busily writing lesson plans for other’s classes, creating extra resources that can be shared, running after-school tutoring sessions, helping newer and less experienced staff find their way, and staying committed to continually improving their practice and focussing on a progressive way of teaching. 

There’s a lot going on, and that’s why next week is Staff Wellbeing Week - ‘The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of wellbeing’ Dalai Lama. If you think there’s a staff member who is doing great things, please email me to let me know what they’re doing and what impact they are having. I’d love to share some positive feedback with staff!

Finally, there have been some changes to our Leadership team with Mark Oudshoorn taking on the role of Acting Assistant Principal of Senior School for the next five weeks. Hervaye Lobriza is filling his shoes as Acting Maths Leader and we welcome John Rainbow as a Learning Specialist to the maths team. 

Carrie Wallis

Acting Principal