From the 

Shadow Principal 

Dear Parents/Carers,

As part of my journey to understand primary schools I have spent most of this term learning from the ground up by covering staff absences as both a classroom teacher and Learning Mentor. Primary School is a very different place to Secondary School and the key aspect I have enjoyed is spending quality time with a grade and really getting to know the students both as learners and as people. 

It was a joy last week to spend a day as the garden teacher as I was lucky enough to introduce some of our Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 students to our new baby chicks. The children were amazing and so respectful of our baby feathered friends. They made astute observations of the chicks, their size, feathers, bodily functions, and habitat. I was surprised by the depth of knowledge from some about chickens and the level of thinking students were doing in developing their knowledge further. Some of the questions were thoughtful and highlighted the curiosity of the students. My favourite question for the day came from a young boy in Foundation. He had a very puzzled look on his face and then asked, “What came first, chickens or eggs?”. Clearly a deep philosophical question which I had never known the answer to. A quick look at a scientific website and I discovered the current thought is that eggs came before chickens. It was too complex to explain but my friend went away with an answer to a question I am sure he will come back to when he is a little older.

Kind Regards,

Catherine Ford

Shadow Principal