Principal's Report

Thank you

Once again we are so grateful to our whole school community for their grit and perseverance during the latest period of Remote and Flexible learning. Students have come back to school in good spirits, and have continued with learning from last week, only now it is with their teacher in the classroom.

I read a commentary over the weekend that students have 'missed 111 days of their education due to Covid-19'. While we would all acknowledge that the learning out of the classroom cannot be as robust as in the classroom with their teacher, I would strongly disagree that students have missed out on 111 days of learning altogether. Those 111 days have been filled with not only engaging with school work and 'learning' but, and some could argue, more importantly, those days have contained opportunities for us all to build upon our relationships within our own families, discover new areas in our local neighbourhood (my bother in law challenged himself to walk every single street in his 5km radius last year - which he managed to achieve), to develop their sense of connection in other ways and to use grit to navigate the challenges. I have often wondered what positive impact will these past 18 months (and who knows how many more to come) will have on our young people. There have definitely been challenges for everyone, some large, others not so much. However, in 20, 30, 40 years time how will this experience shape our youngest generation? 

 

Sensory Garden

Work needed to halt for a short while during lockdown, however this week we are seeing some of the larger pieces go in such as the synthetic turf. The works were initially scheduled to be completed by now, however, it now looks as though 95% will be completed this term, with one piece of equipment being delayed and installed either over the break or very early next Term. 

The transformation each week over the build has been amazing and having a prime position to notice the change from my office has been wonderful. 

We look forward to officially opening the space soon and being able to show not only students but also Jackson Taylor MP around as his support in this project enabled it to become a reality for our school. 

 

Reports

As communicated last week via Compass we are delaying the release of our Semester 1 reports. This was something that we have been discussing during the lockdown as we did not want students to return with two weeks left of Term to then be asked to sit end of unit/semester assessments when we needed to be focussing on returning to school after lockdown. This approach has enabled us to slightly alter our assessment schedule for this time of year, with students undertaking assessment over these two weeks, plus the first two weeks back next Term, something that is much more manageable for them. 

Reports will therefore be made live on Compass on Friday, July 23rd, and Portfolios will also be sent home on this date. 

As always, should you have questions about your child's learning and progress, families are welcome and encouraged to communicate with their child's classroom teacher at any point in the year. At this time this needs to be over the phone, webex or email, we are hopeful that the restrictions to parents being in classrooms will be lifted soon. 

 

Leave

Just a reminder that for the first four weeks of Term 3 I will be on Long Service Leave. Simone Ryan will be stepping into the Acting Principal role for this time, with Natalie Morrissey working in 5/6A for this period of time. While travel is off the cards for us all at the moment, we are moving house over the school break and I am taking the time to settle into our new home, do some simple (very simple with my lack of handyman skills) jobs around the house. I know that the school will be very well supported with Simone in charge during my leave and the Department of Education will be on hand to support as usual.