Change is a given throughout our life. Managing change relies on our resilience and our ability to self-regulate before making a reactive decision or response. Often when we have time to process a change that has been scheduled, we are able to think through what the positives and negatives are and to ask clarifying questions about the situation and any implications. Most of us manage this situation in fair and reasonable ways as we do when the change works to our advantage.
When we are challenged with unscheduled changes, often the emotion generated with such a surprise, impairs our decision making. While we always try to inform students of upcoming events and schedules, it is not possible to do this every time. We have seen a number of our students struggle with changes to routines, staff absences or having to deal with a new set of circumstances and expectations. We try to manage situations for students who we know don’t do well with relief staff by placing them in an environment that supports them. We are encouraging all our other students in these situations to make respectful choices. By genuinely listening to and following reasonable requests students will be more able to participate in their learning and maximise their time at school.
All our Year 10 students will be participating in Year 11-12 college orientation days next week, collecting information about the schools as well as courses. This is a key part of each student’s Transition Plan, which is an ongoing process that staff have been working on with students during the year. Students will also receive information relating to Designed Learning Programs based on course offerings from extension schools and be able to attend open days at these venues during Term 3. We encourage students to make choices based on their passions and interests, understanding that they can be enrolled at one school or have a dual enrolment with two schools. There will be plenty of information available for families and we encourage further conversations if advice or clarification is needed.
We are hopeful for some sunshine on Friday for our first home round of 5-6 sport. Students have been practising and are keen to display their skills against our visiting schools. It is great to see the work being done by our senior students who have been umpiring coaching and supporting our junior sports stars.
There has been a concerning trend of students at school after hours making poor choices in the school ground. Recently we have had reports of students being up on the roof of various buildings around the school. Obviously this is a dangerous practice as falling from such a height will cause serious and significant injuries which we wish to avoid. We have also had some student behaviour in the grounds where bikes and scooters are being ridden inappropriately, including riding through garden beds and within the kinder playground. If your children come into school after hours please reinforce the need for them to be respectful and courteous to staff if they redirect them.
It was a real positive to share individual successes with our 7-10 students Monday morning, with Cross Country winners from our recent carnival receiving their certificates. We also were able to present certificates for students who competed in a national Geography competition earlier in the term. We had some excellent results with our top ranked student, Zeke, receiving a High Distinction. We will continue to provide opportunities for our students to aspire to be their best. We look forward to the results from the History competition and have a few more events that we will present to students in Term 3.
We wish everyone a relaxing and safe holiday and trust that students come back refreshed and ready for Term 3. A reminder that students don’t return until Tuesday, 20 July, as staff have a Professional Learning day on Monday, 19 July.
Colin Pearson – Principal