Assistant Principal's Report

FPS School Values

I love walking into classrooms and watching as students exhibit our school values throughout their day. It is also wonderful to see them displayed so prominently in the rooms – posters created by the students themselves.  Some values are easy to see in action – Excellence when a student performs well with a task, Creativity when students use their imagination to solve problems or create amazing art work and Community when students collaborate together during class or play together during breaks. Respect can sometimes be a bit difficult to define so our Student Voice Team (SVT) representatives have decided to make this a focus across the school. 

SVT representatives will be creating posters with clear, positive messages for our school community about what respect means, what it looks like and sounds like in different areas of the school. They will also be collaborating with their classroom teachers to identify respectful behaviour displayed by students and acknowledging those that show respect.

Student Voice Team Update

Another wonderful action initiated by the Student Voice Team was the sustainability of the sushi packaging in the lunch orders. Students were concerned that the packaging was not sustainable so this concern was raised with the Environmental and Sustainability Working Group Committee, who contacted our lunch order provider, Classroom Cuisine. Classroom Cuisine kindly explained that their sushi packaging was actually made from a new product called Natureflex, which is 100% home compostable and biodegradable. The Student Voice Team were thrilled that their concerns were addressed and with a positive outcome!

You can read the email communication from Classroom Cuisine in the link below, as well as the latest Student Voice Team minutes. 

Recognising & Celebrating Diversity & Inclusion at FPS

Harmony Week & Harmony Day

On 21 March, Australians unite in orange to support cultural diversity for Harmony Day. Given this is a Sunday, Fairfield Primary School will commemorate Harmony Week all week, from 15 – 19 March, with Thursday 18 March as our Harmony Day. 

Harmony Week represents the recognition of diverse national, ethnic and religious backgrounds to help build an inclusive society, and to acknowledge and celebrate the enduring principles of fairness, harmony and respect. This year the theme for Harmony Week is ‘Everyone Belongs’. There will be different activities based on the theme ‘Everyone Belongs’ throughout the week and students and staff will be encouraged to wear orange on Thursday 18 March, in recognition of cultural, ethnic and religious diversity.

World Down Syndrome Day

On 21 March, people all around the world celebrate the lives and achievements of people with Down syndrome, creating a global voice, advocating for the rights, inclusion and wellbeing of people with Down syndrome. 

World Down Syndrome Day is a great opportunity to raise awareness about what it means to have Down syndrome and how people with Down syndrome play a vital role in our communities. It is an opportunity to highlight their strengths, their achievements, what they have to say, their active involvement in the community, their personal contributions to the community and just who they are!

On Friday 19 March, students and staff are invited to wear mismatched socks for ‘Lots of Socks Day’, which recognises World Down Syndrome Day. All you need to do is choose some socks that are going to get noticed – they might be mismatched socks or your craziest and most colourful socks… whatever takes your fancy!

The idea is to start a conversation, so when people ask you about your socks you can tell them, "I'm wearing them to raise awareness of Down syndrome". 

Why Lots of Socks?

Lots of Socks is a Down Syndrome International campaign to create conversation and bring awareness of Down syndrome. The idea behind the Lots of Socks initiative is that all types, shapes, sizes of the same thing can be unique in their own way, and yet do the same thing.

Children understand what socks are, how they look and what they are for, and children understand that no two socks are the same. Lots of Socks is a campaign to create conversation about diversity, uniqueness, inclusion and acceptance.

~ Sarah Abbott, assistant Principal