Principal's Update 

DREAM of possibilities.

BELIEVE in yourself.

ACHIEVE great things.

"Let your light shine" Matt 5:16

Dear Parents, Carers and Guardians,

The joyous season of Advent will be upon us soon. As Christians, during Advent we celebrate the birth of Jesus, who has been born into human life, and we look to the future when God’s Kingdom will come.

The season of Advent reminds us that the life journey is a series of endings and beginnings – as it must be if we are to grow as human beings and as people of faith. 

As we prepare to ‘let go’ of 2021, we also begin looking to the year to come and all that it might bring.

It can be challenging to hold to the invitation of Advent amid the 'busyness' of the end of the school year, and the preparations for Christmas and the holidays. But somewhere in the midst of this 'busyness', we are called to take time to renew our choice for love and life and open our hearts to the God who waits to be born there.

At this time there is a lot of work going into ensuring adequate staffing for 2022. As our enrolments continue to decrease each year, this has an impact on funding and staffing. We have 43 Year 6's departing and 27 Preps coming in with a few more in other levels. This needs to be taken into account as we plan our classes. 

In anticipation of the changes ahead we need to focus on some of the things that onsite learning during covid has taught us about our students...

• That they possess great resilience in navigating sudden changes.
• That learning onsite across levels and in multi age groups is positive and healthy and successful.
• That many new and lasting relationships were formed across levels and for many greater confidence was discovered.
• That there was wider opportunity for building friendships and making new friends.
• That many learned from each other and modelled great work habits and capabilities.
• That many benefited from great modelling of leadership from older students and many flourished in the smaller group settings.

Please trust the judgement and knowledge of our teaching team, many who have Masters degrees and postgraduate qualifications in education, leadership, pedagogy and allied psychology. Many (3) are studying such degrees at the moment whilst working full time.

As professional educators who put student needs first, we know how to group our students for maximum learning opportunities and wider friendship opportunities. Research shows that positive outcomes for children's learning are more dependent upon quality teaching than anything else. It is a teacher's job to design effective learning experiences, utilising evidence based pedagogy, for students to achieve optimal growth.

The two largest variances are the innate abilities of the students themselves (50%) and teacher effectiveness which accounts for 30%. “It is what teachers know, do, and care about which is very powerful in this learning equation.” - John Hattie. Therefore, it makes absolute sense to enable teachers to become as effective as possible, thus enabling their students to learn and think for themselves.

In a small school building relationships and friendships across all levels not just within 1 class level is so important. For our children to know each other well will help them to get along better and have better support structures.

Please also understand that when parents start to request particular structures, pairings and separations for their child, in a small school, other children then miss out on potential friendships and the organisation of classes becomes complex and inequitable for others. 

The arrangement of our class structures and groupings for 2022 is a staff consultative decision, and one which is made to benefit all children not just a select few. Our emphasis post covid is for maintaining small classes, maximising learning opportunities for all at their point of need and building social connections. 

I ask you to trust the teachers and leaders who work with your children everyday. Relationships and friendships require hard work and sometimes things go wrong or sometimes we don’t get along with everyone. If we can continue teaching our children that this is ok and help them to problem solve within these occasions then we are teaching restorative practices and building their capacity to successfully navigate a similar situation that may (will) happen again.

We thank you in advance for supporting your child's positive transition. Much time and consideration is given to particular needs and suitability of individuals, peer groups and teachers in the process. 

 The children will move on very quickly from any ‘disappointment’ if the adults around them are resilient and positive!

I was very privileged to walk to the RSL today with 4 of our Year 6 leaders where we joined in the community Remembrance Day service and lay a wreath. Congratulations to Sophie, Ryan, Tayla and Jasmine for receiving the 2021 RSL Scholarship awards generously donated by the RSL to support the educational journey of these fine young people.

Our Fatima Poppies are all over our place and a gentle reminder of the fragility of life and importance of remembrance, especially on this day, Remembrance Day 2021.

As always go gently and look after your families with the greatest of care. 

God Bless,

Patrika Rowley

PRINCIPAL