Principal's Message
Lock-down 7 days Dear School Community As you may be aware there will be a 7 day lock down starting from 12am 27 May 2021 lasting until next Thursday 11.59pm. Today is a pupil free day so there will be no virtual classes. Virtual classes will run from Monday (31 May) to Thursday (3 June) . It is an expectation that all students are completing all learning requirements during this time.
|
Creating a whole school vision
On our professional development day in week 5 the staff at Fairhills began to create a new vision for our school.
A vision statement has at its core two major and complementary components:
- Core ideology, which defines what you stand for and why you exist
- The envisioned future, which is what you aspire to become, to achieve, to create – goals that will require significant change and progress to attain.
To begin with, each member of staff focused on their educational purpose (what drives them from an educational stand point). It was great to hear the common language was student-focused.
After a few more activities staff had to list three words that they wanted to see in the vision. The words were then put in a Wordle (the larger the words the most frequently listed by staff).
Below is the resulting Wordle
The most frequent words were:
- Community
- Inspire
- Inclusive
- Supportive
- Empower
In small groups the staff created vision statements. At the end the staff had some well thought out statements that will be used to develop a whole-school vision. Our next step is to create 2-3 possible visions with each member of the school community having the opportunity to vote for their preference.
Student Workshops
In week 6 we met with students from each year level to hear their thoughts and ideas on the school.
The two main areas of focus were:
- An orderly and supportive school environment
- Enhancing learning outcomes through quality teaching and programs.
The workshops focused on small group activities that ensured each student had their voice heard. The students were able to communicate their perspectives on what makes a school great. I would like to thank the students for their honesty, insight and innovative suggestions. These workshops were invaluable and the data obtained and will help drive future improvements at the school.
Empowering your child
Being a parent is the most difficult job that we can undertake in our life time. Unfortunately, there is no training to equip us with the demands and rigours of parenting. We do what we believe is best for our children.
One of the most painful but important life lessons we learn as we grow is that while we are free to choose our actions, we are not free from the consequences of them.
As a school community we must focus on empowering our teenagers so that in time they have the skills, knowledge and experience to solve their own problems.
As parent/carer do you enable or empower your child? Please look at the below examples and identify which one best reflects your parenting.
A child texts their parent due to an issue in class and asks to be picked up.
Parent 1:
|
Or
Parent 2:
|
If you are parent 2, then congratulations, you are empowering your child.
When children are empowered it builds resilience (they can bounce back) and:
- A growth in confidence and self-esteem
- Greater independence
- Increased self-respect
- Makes us better learners
For further information on empowering strategies please see the below links.
https://childstudy.org/2018/12/18/coping-tips-how-empowerment-improves-childrens-mental-health/
http://thespoke.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/empowering-children-through-empowering-choices/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/empowering-children-the-r_b_13380428
Regards
Ian Van Schie
Principal