School Communications and Management
PDHPE
LED Lighting Upgrade Program
The LED Lighting Upgrade Program (LED LUP) commits $157.8 million to replace inefficient lights with new LED lights, in up to 1,000 public schools across NSW over a two-year period. This is expected to reduce operating costs for schools as well as deliver over 1,200 jobs in for NSW.
Schools have been selected and prioritised according to factors such as greatest impact on savings, educational outcomes and other benefits, and our school has been included in the first tranche of the program.
The benefits of LED lighting include:
- Energy saving – reduced electricity usage and lower bills over the long term by replacing inefficient fluorescent lights with efficient LEDs.
- Lower maintenance and repair costs when compared with fluorescent lights.
- Improved learning outcomes in the classroom as a result of improved lighting.
The LED Lighting Upgrade Program will be planned to minimise interruption to school classes or learning. The installation will be planned outside school hours where possible and a typical installation program is expected to be completed within 4 to 8 weeks. We’ll let you know as soon as we know more.
School Spaces and Facilities - upgrades and improvements!
With the end of Learning from home, contractors and works have been able to resume on site. We have had new smart screens installed in a number of TAS rooms and the canteen, with further installations pending in additional classrooms to ensure all teaching spaces have appropriate technology to support learning.
Excitingly in the library we will take delivery of two “hush pods” to increase spaces available to support senior students requiring either separate supervision in exams, or quiet space to contact Distance Education and School of Languages teachers.
The Spaces Committee has overseen choice of furniture and acoustic wall treatments in Classroom A3, created when the English staffroom shifted into the combined Learning Support Staffroom and Staff Kiosk spaces, following the move into the Library of the Student Services team.
Further upgrades to staff spaces for HSIE and Science will occur over the holiday break, while work on the CAPA Studio upgrade is also expected to be shortly underway. Finally, audio-visual facilities will be installed in the Sue Holden Amphitheatre in 2022. These improvements will allow additoinal use of spaces for teaching and community purposes.
Staying Safe Online & Appropriate Use of Technology
We encourage all parents to be familiar with the advice of the esafety commissioner website:
With the necessary increase in screen use and time online due to Learning from home, it is more likely young people will encounter instances where safety and wellbeing could be at risk.
We suggest all families carefully monitor mobile phone and internet use, paying particular attention to apps, social media pages followed, and chat groups. The age appropriateness of social media in particular should be considered.
Online bullying or other concerns related to digital technology can be reported to the school if necessary for follow up. We frequently liaise with the local Inner West Police Schools Liaison officers to assist students understand appropriate, acceptable and legal use of mobile phones and social media.
The Entertainment and Technology sections on the Raising Children website is another trusted source of information on these topics:
https://raisingchildren.net.au/teens/entertainment-technology
Message from the Admin Manager
As the year ends, I would like to acknowledge and thank:
Parents/Caregivers/Wider School Community - your positive words of encouragement and understanding in a very difficult time have been appreciated.
Students - have managed to adapt to all the rules and regulations of covid i.e. mask wearing, staying in their own cohort etc. It is not an easy situation however the students have risen to the challenge.
Cleaners - ongoing cleaning day in and day out.
Executive team - for their leadership, support and hard work.
Teachers, counsellors, support workers etc - thank you for hard work and support.
Year 12 and leaving students - good luck in all your future endeavours.
Year 7 2022 students - welcome to our school.
Finally - I would like to thank my team: Rick, Helen, Ruby, Jess, Nursu, Pam, Giovanna, Maria, Caitlin, Cheryl, Chantal, Brigid, Lucy, and Daniella. I could not do this job without their ongoing support, hard work and sense of humour. Quite often, our work is in the background and can go unnoticed. I believe our work is essential for the school to run efficiently and effectively.
On a sad note, one of our staff Caitlin Jurd, will be leaving at the end of the year. Caitlin was a student of Canterbury and started working part time in 2014 in conjunction with her university course. She has been an extremely valuable SASS and team member. Her ethos of seeing no person or task as trivial or unimportant was evident everyday. Each task was completed with professionalism and of a high standard. Her communications and dealings with staff, students and the community were positive and ensured their needs were being met. Caitlin had no issue with mentoring staff in various tasks and was always willing to learn new methods or process. We have been extremely fortunate to have her in our team.
Caitlin has fully qualified as a school psychologist and has been appointed to several local schools. I would like to wish her every success.
Lastly, I would like to wish everyone all the best for the festive season and hope the new year brings peace, joy, and happiness.
We look forward to seeing you in 2022 and Happy Holidays.