FROM THE HEADMASTER
connecting
a community
At a recent staff meeting
I asked the staff to describe
the School in one word.
A school is of course a very complex
organisation that involves a broad range of
people, so to bring it back to one word you
really must get to the essence of what you
stand for and what intuitively comes to mind
as you reflect.
I was asked the same question by renowned
educator Sir John Jones during a professional
development program and the word that
jumped out at me was ‘Connected’.
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At our staff meeting the word that was
consistently fed back by groups was
‘Community’.
All schools would aim for this to be the case;
however, whilst I may be a tad biased, I do
see this as a real strength of our School,
which is often reinforced through our survey
feedback. I trust that in reading this edition
of the Forward you will get a sense of why
‘Community’ is so important to us and
evident through the life of the School.
As I reflected on what I love about the School
a number of examples of connection and our
strong sense of community came to mind. I
always aim to share these with the student
body to reinforce our values and what is
important in life;
• As part of the recent Year 4 presentation
at assembly, students who were new
to the School shared what they liked
about their new school. The strong focus
was on positive relationships, feeling
welcomed, valued and accepted.
• A new parent to the school commented
to me about how she had done a recent
drop off and was genuinely impressed
by how many people had welcomed her
with a good morning, including students.
• A parent was stranded with a flat tyre
and students came to her aid and
assisted with the change.