The Secondary Cross Country this afternoon was a great opportunity for students to test themselves, as they ran or walked the natural bush track in Heathcote. The day kicked off with some photo booth fun which was themed around our fundraising for this year, Hands at Work.
The principal went on to give an example of a father who accused multiple staff members of lying when they reported their observations of his daughter doing something wrong. The father said that the only source of truth was what his daughter claimed to be true. The newsletter article also recounted a comment by a very angry mother that her child's ‘life was actually over’ unless an academic grade was changed. The principal went on to advise parents to avoid living their lives vicariously through their children.
By contrast, with only a small number of exceptions during my 4 years at the school, our parents come across to me as the complete opposite of what is described above. I'm very thankful that our parents are appreciative of our staff and are keen to work in partnership with our teachers when an issue or concern arises. I have been involved in numerous conversations where difficult issues needed to be addressed and I have found the parents often practice what the apostle Paul taught us in Colossians 4:6:
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
Not only have I found our parents to be thoughtful in their speech when a difficulty arises, but also genuinely appreciative when our staff go above and beyond in teaching and caring for their children.
I trust that the parent teacher appointments this week and next week will be a helpful way for parents, students and teachers to have meaningful, constructive conversations with the aim of helping every child to improve his or her learning outcomes. Traditionally these conversations have been called parent/teacher interviews. I'm not particularly keen on this term because it over formalises what we are trying to achieve. They are more a parent/student/teacher learning and student wellbeing conversation, although this is an enormous mouthful, so if any parents can think of a catchy title to describe what it is we are trying to achieve I'd be very happy to hear from them!
I understand that some parents had difficulties making appointments if they were trying to book for more than one child. Our Deputy, Mr Stonestreet, said that the likely cause was a recent software update. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience caused.
As I close, I would like to encourage our parents to pray for our Year 12 students. The period from now until the end of the trial exams in August is arguably the most stressful period in 13 years of schooling, with multiple high stakes assessment tasks and a great deal of complex material to learn and remember. I am sure our students will appreciate your prayerful support.
Mr Brett Hartley
Principal
