From the Principal

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are ready for another fantastic year at Blue Mountains Grammar School.

I would like to start the year by acknowledging the Darug and Gundungarra people, the Traditional Owners of the land on which we spend each day at our school. During our staff week we had the unique opportunity to enjoy a smoking ceremony to help focus our appreciation for our space and place here in the Mountains.  

As we start the year I would like acknowledge our dedicated staff who work creatively to provide the best possible education for our students. I am delighted to announce that we have just one staff departure.  Mr Braiden Whiteside graduated from his university degree at the end of last year and has pursued a role in his career of choice – which is of course teaching. We were so thrilled to see him step into such a role and we wish him all the success and enjoyment this career path provides. 

In the coming weeks, we will be introducing our new Learning Enrichment teacher. Mrs Alicia Michielsen has done such an incredible job in learning enrichment for some time, however with her responsibilities in the area of Dean of Curriculum the demands of both roles have been too much. Despite the workload Mrs Michielsen has lead this area of our School exceptionally well. 

Our staff conference was a great success, and we heard from the inspiring futurist, Peter Hutton. A futurist is someone who studies the future and helps organisations prepare for what's to come. Staff had a wonderful time engaging in the first love of every teacher. 

The hot topic on every educators lips right now is the rapid pace of artificial intelligence. As a team we have been working hard to understand the impact of AI on schools, specifically ChatGPT. As a school, we have decided to engage this technology and explore how it can enhance the learning experience for our students. What we know is it is not foolproof, to use it needs discernment and understanding, and it will never replace human intelligence in any way. We have communicated this to our students. 

On Tuesday I spoke with our students in the Senior School and reminded them how proud we are of them. They are remarkable young people. We are excited to see what 2023 brings for our community. I look forward to connecting with our Junior Schools next week. 

We look forward to walking this path parents, grandparents and friends as well.

Let's make this year the best one yet! Thank you for being with us and welcome back to school in 2023.

Mr Steven Coote 

Principal