We are past half-way in the term and on reflection have achieved many things for, and with, our students.  We had a highly successful Science Week, and we are very hopeful of an awesome day on Thursday as a culmination of our Book Week celebrations, including our parade.

All of these activities take a significant amount of time, effort and dedication to organise and conduct.  Through the commitment of staff, often in their own time, we are able to ensure that students can access and participate in meaningful opportunities – often making memories that last a lifetime. We are also conscious of the effort parents make in preparing students for not just special events but more generally for each day of learning.

Ensuring that students have had a good night’s sleep, a suitable breakfast, that they are in uniform and are punctual are all things that we appreciate as it gives our learners the best opportunity to be ready to learn.  We also are working as a staff team to ensure that we are consistent in our language and expectations, with and for students, so that they are as regulated as possible for all the challenges that each day provides.

When students aren’t quite in the right mind set or one of their needs hasn’t been fully met, we make every effort to help students recognise this by giving reminders.  This is done in a calm and respectful way. In some instances, we provide access to reset strategies to enable students to get themselves back into a position to be an active learner.

We know that by practising these dispositions and behaviours that students will enhance their self-control and are much more likely to be successful into the future with work, relationships and further learning.  The fundamental quality in all these situations is acting respectfully towards others.  Especially when we are disagreeing with others getting angry is far less productive than being respectful and ensuring that you get your point across.

We have a few more upcoming events with the NE Cup hopefully happening on Friday, weather dependent and our K-2 Cross Country on Monday.  We are really keen to have our younger students have this opportunity after we had to postpone earlier in the year.  We have students participating in the Maths Relay and also have a number of our high school students put up their hand to represent us at the after school basketball competition on Thursday afternoons.

We also have been able to support students trialling future study options, particularly in the Vet sector, both at Lilydale and in other northern extension schools.  On Tuesday we had almost 20 students visit to look at our Agriculture and Horticulture programs.  We are very hopeful of having them enrol with us to pursue their learning pathway beyond year 10.

Colin Pearson – Principal