Principal's Report
Reconciliation Week
As we conclude Reconciliation Week and with Mabo Day tomorrow, a session we had at our Principals Meeting this week, couldn’t be more poignant for catholic education and for our wider community as a whole. We are seeing so many things in the media regarding the upcoming referendum on First Nations Peoples’ Voice to Parliament and there have been many important changes in the latest Australian Curriculum Update regarding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures that just make me question how much we really know and understand about our own country. We are such a diverse country with many cultures and after my recent long service leave where I was able to travel to Europe and experience the vast richness of so much history and culture, it has left me wanting to know and experience more about the world in general but particularly about my own amazing country. As we navigated some of the changes in the Australian Curriculum at the Principals meeting, we touched on a deeper, broader learning experience for our students which is very exciting. Regardless of how we each intend to vote in the upcoming referendum, this will be another point in time that will be marked in our history. I encourage you to listen to the Uluru Statement from the Heart read by Megan Davis and I hope it helps you ask some questions as it has done for me. I do believe we have shared another version of this previously
School Board
It was such a pleasure to meet with our School Board again this week. This is a particular part of my role that I enjoy immensely and the group of parents and staff we have in this group are very passionate and committed to supporting me in my role to help St Benedict’s be the best school we can. The board’s role tends to deal with the ‘big picture’ parts of developing our school community and they have provided significant leadership support with creating our Mission, Vision and Values along with all school based policies. We also engage in faith formation as a group to ensure we have the foundations required to contribute holistically to the School Board deliberations. We are looking for at least one new member to join the School Board and invite you to send a written Expression of Interest to me detailing why you would be interested and what or how you think you could contribute to discussions. Please note that our School Board has a model of discernment and does not follow a governance model. I would also be happy to answer questions you may have about potentially joining the board.
School Reports
Our teachers have been busily collating student assessment results from across the semester and are collaborating to make professional judgements in assigning grades of achievement for student reports. This is a very busy time for teachers and I am so proud of their professionalism and care as they approach and prepare for this formal reporting period.
Next week, our Year 5 students are heading off to camp and I know that many of them, including their teachers, are very excited about this opportunity. School camps are such a great experience for many students and something we remember with fondness for many years. I am so very grateful, we continue to have teachers and school officers willing to give their personal time to provide these opportunities. I hope everyone has a fabulous time.
Best wishes to everyone for a fabulous week. I’m looking forward to my first full week back at school next week.
Cheers
Penny
P.S Thanks to Janeen for waiting so patiently for my late article for the newsletter- time away from school can be very tricky :)