Associate Principal, Operations Report

The sight of blue uniforms around the Senior School this week has gladdened hearts.  It’s been noisier outside my office too!  The return of the majority of our Years 11 and 12 students is the first step towards the return of the whole school to the secondary campus.  In a bit over a week, the second step will see most Year 7-10 students return.  A third step, hopefully early in Term Three, will see all other students – the internationals who are overseas, the South Australians limited by border restrictions and those others who, for various reasons, will not return this term because the timing is not right – back at school.  We look forward to the day when we are all together again.

 

This week, in Assembly, I reminded students whose classes are based at Chaucer Street of the need to adjust to new ways of doing things: social distancing, hygiene practices, wiping equipment they have used, other new procedures, and so on.  I thanked them for their efforts in the first days of their return to school: they have done well.

 

I also pointed out that they need to take other steps: to smile and laugh, to enjoy each other’s company, to kick a footy (no pack marks!), to walk the grounds, to talk to their teachers, to make additional friends.  We have learnt much during the period of restrictions: the biggest lesson is the need to make the most of these sorts of simple things which we have often taken for granted.

 

So, I am looking forward to the remainder of this term as we return to some types of familiar ways.  I hope we can make these positive and productive weeks, full of laughs and learning, as we combine old ways with new to create a better environment for all. 

 

Neil MacLean

Associate Principal, Operations