Principal Report

Principal Message – Week 10 Term 4

What a year we have had! 

After two years of COVID it has been wonderful to be permanently back onsite this year. If we learnt anything from the lockdowns, we know learning is a social construct (students rely on others to help create their building blocks and learning from others helps them construct their own knowledge and reality) and building on children’s social capital has been of outmost importance this year. 

“If children feel safe, they can take risks, ask questions, make mistakes, learn to trust, share their feelings, and grow.” ~ Alfie Kohn

A child’s journey through the primary years is about setting the foundations. A lot of time and focus is spent on teaching the skills that as adults we take for granted. Without these important foundational skills, a child’s education can be on shaky ground. Whilst it may appear early on that not a lot is happening, below the surface a lot of connections are being made. Just like in the foundations of buildings, you need every steel rod to be in the right position holding the concrete in place before the bricks can be added. And with each additional element added the structure is reinforced and in the school context the learning is embedded. Now children start to make connections with their past learning and use this combined knowledge to make new predictions and assertions which in turn leads to new deeper understandings of the world around them. And after a while you can start to bring down the scaffold and you can see that the children have become more independent and more willing to take risks with their learning. They no longer require the cleverly crafted supports as often but are in fact making meaning for themselves and using their intuition and learning to solve more complex problems, investigate solutions, glean new possibilities, and can create new and original thinking.

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” ~ William Butler Yeats

A lot of work goes into ensuring those strong foundations are laid across the primary years so that the children at our school will have the opportunity to become life- long learners who value and see themselves as competent learners who can engage actively in the world today, tomorrow and the future, and prepared to meet the challenges and responsibilities that will come with this.

This year as an IB world school our students and teachers have continued to develop the learner profile and approaches to learning. Our staff have become more ‘responsive’ teachers. Responsive teaching is setting clear goals and planning learning carefully based on needs and current levels of understanding. It's identifying what pupils have understood and where they are struggling. This has been particularly important as we came back from two very uncertain and disjointed years. To be responsive educators we have listened to and observed our students, noticed skills and dispositions, and made connections to conceptual and enduring understandings.  Whilst also carefully scaffolding, challenging, provoking and inspiring students to be curious inquirers and learners. Throughout the school we have seen our students become more responsive to their learning, embracing opportunities to act, and becoming more focused on identifying their own strengths as learners. This came through clearly during the Year 6 Exhibition. This culminating experience of their final year brought together their learning in an authentic transdisciplinary manner and demonstrated the richness of their learning across the curricula including literacy, numeracy, digital technologies, and the arts throughout their time at St Columba’s.

Inquiry is not just about knowing how to plan – it’s about how we teach. It’s about what we say to kids and how we say it. It’s about the way we listen and the way we feel about what our kids are saying. It’s about knowing when to step back and when to step in. The language we use the silences we deliberately leave. It’s about what we are thinking about what we are doing. 

Kath Murdoch

As we bring 2022 to a close, we have been very blessed as a community for the wonderful learning opportunities our students have shared with their peers, teachers, and the wider community. We are very much looking forward to what lies ahead.

We have been extremely fortunate to have been able to secure, prior to the start of next year, a wonderful staff for 2023. Unlike other schools, who are yet to finalise staffing at this stage of the year, back at the end of term 3 we had over 60 applicants of very strong and suitably qualified candidates apply for a position at our school. Which means that we have been able to employ experienced and passionate educators who have worked across a diverse cross section of schools in Australia and internationally, in a full-time capacity at each grade level.

Our 2023 staff have already spent considerable time planning and developing units of work that will maximise the learning opportunities for children next year. They have participated in our recent school closure day, professional development after school and ‘step up’ days this term. And are already very familiar with our school and processes. After a thorough induction  their enthusiasm for the opportunity to work with your children is notable in their desire to be as prepared as possible for the new year. 

Our school has a strong emphasis on the arts, and I am very excited to announce that we will have Performing Arts as a specialist program along with Visual Arts, PE and Mandarin in 2023. Stephanie Campbell (Young) will return after maternity leave in Term two as our Performing Arts teacher and Chris Lazzaro will ensure we are off to a great start in Term one in this role.

Extracurricular programs for 2023 will include lunchtime clubs, instrumental music lessons, school choir, Lego and chess clubs. We are also very excited to be offering for the first time the opportunity to participate in STEM, Drama lessons and basketball sessions after school.  

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff for their care, professionalism and nurturing of the children. I know that each staff member has worked resolutely to provide the best education for each of your children.

To the families and staff who are leaving the school community at the conclusion of this year, we thank you for your contribution over the time you have been here. We wish you all the best in the future. On behalf of the staff, I would like to thank you, the parents, for your continued support of the school and St. Columba’s. community. 

Enjoy the holiday season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.