Principal's Report

If no mistake you have made, but losing you are. A different game you should play.

Yoda, Jedi Master  896BBY-4ABY

Welcome to the Week 9 Term One newsletter.

By the time this newsletter is published there will remain only two weeks of term before the Autumn break. Can I commend everybody for their combined efforts to maximise their learning outcomes in all areas - students and staff. 

Staffing

I can confirm that Dylan Smith has been offered and has accepted the Head of Wellbeing position at our school. We now just await an official start date for Dylan in this position; we have requested before the end of term but I suspect it may be the start of next. Many of you will have had the opportunity to meet with Dylan as he has been a temporary member of our staff this term. Dylan comes to us after eight years at Gilgandra High School. In his short time with us he has proven to be a valuable and popular addition to the staff and we look forward to him adding his skills to our executive team and the school as a whole. I'm sure all in our community will join with me in congratulating Dylan on his promotion and in also joining the Uralla Central School community on a permanent basis.

Our Head of Middle School, Dan Williams, was at the end of last year asked to step temporarily into the role of Curriculum Advisor in the Armidale office - this was effectively a promotion to Deputy Principal level within the Department. The position is filled on a three year basis and was recently advertised to be filled substantively for that period. Dan decided to apply for the position and was successful in gaining an interview, whilst disappointed obviously, I am very confident that Dan will be successful in gaining the position substantively and we wish him well. Again, when concrete information is at hand I will inform the community. The silver lining of this position is that Dan will hold a 'right of return' to our school at the end of the three year term - so he won't necessarily be gone forever. In Dan's absence Sarah Targett has been doing a fantastic job relieving as Head of Middle School. Given Dan's decision I recently called for expressions of interest from staff to fill the Relieving Head of Middle School position for the three years of Dan's absence - I'm pleased to announce that Sarah has been successful in this process. Congratulations, Sarah.

Lifelong Learning

We often talk about the need for everyone to continue their learning because life isn't static. We don't and haven't instituted change at our school for change's sake alone but rather to ensure that our students are the best equipped that they can be for their life. I sometimes hear staff wishing for a return to the days when they were more comfortable - which they have learned is just an encouragement to continue to innovate. In the end none of us are at Uralla Central School to be comfortable - we are here to push ourselves, as individuals and collectively to achieve our best at all times. This indeed aligns with the stated aims of the NSW Department of Education - that every student is known, valued and cared for; and that every student, every teacher and every school improves every year. The Department is keenly aware of the need to develop its workforce and has been busy instituting a variety of strategies to assist that process.

Among the most significant is the development of leaders for the future. Last year they created a Leadership Institute and rolled out an 'Aspiring Principals Program'. So far there have been three enrolment intakes, which have been highly competitive and involved the aspiring leaders in a very rigorous selection process. Each of the intakes has been limited to 50 aspiring leaders and I'm very proud to inform you that two of our executive have been invited to participate - Dan Williams in the first intake and more recently Bruce Nield in the third. Both of these executive are outstanding members of our staff and the teaching profession and thoroughly deserve the accolade of being accepted into this program. More importantly it is a testament and recognition of the work that they have carried out at Uralla Central School and the regard in which it is held. Again, I know that everybody will join with me and congratulating them both.

More recently I have nominated Charmaine Endacott to our Director, to be selected to participate in the Mastery of Teaching program - I am confident that Charmaine will be accepted into the program and will easily complete the requirements to see her officially recognised as an Highly Accomplished teacher - Charmaine is quite simply one of, if not the finest classroom teacher I have ever seen or had the privilege of working with.  

On a personal level, in January all principals of five or more years standing were invited to apply for one of 35 scholarships to complete a Master of Instructional Leadership through the University of Melbourne. I am very excited to inform you that I was informed last week that I am one of the successful 35 principals selected.

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

Our Academy students have now completed the end of Preliminary Course examinations - I congratulate them on their efforts in that regard and thank the rest of the student body for their perseverance in accommodating the changes necessary to allow the examinations to take place. Academy end of course reports will be distributed by the end of term.

Assets/Maintenance

Anybody who was present at our whole school assembly on Tuesday or who perhaps voted in the hall on the weekend will have seen the latest improvement to the hall - the carpet tiles. We are awaiting a few more to finish the flooring off and then we can move onto the audio-visual component of the hall refurbishment.

New playground seating for the Junior School quad and the Middle and Senior School quad should arrive in the school in the next fortnight and be installed and ready for the commencement of Term 2.

Due to a number of senseless acts of vandalism during the Christmas vacation (the first such acts in nearly five years) we have installed the latest state of the art Closed Circuit TV surveillance within the school - hopefully, this will ensure that such things do not take place again.

As always cherish your children, enjoy the Autumn break 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 ASPIRE!

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