The Gift of Energy - Thank you!

The school has kindly been given a cash donation from the Hinsman family to install more solar panels. What a lovely gesture and much appreciated. Their four children have completed Class 12 and are out in the world now but the family will be remembered through this gift. 

The kind gift has inspired a few parents - Tracy Burns, Paul Burns, Graham Moles and Alex McLeod - to look at installing enough solar panels on four buildings, to cut our electricity bills to near zero. More news and details will be shared later but a huge thanks to everyone involved, including FGM Coordinator Peter, for spearheading this sustainability project.  

NAPLAN

Letters are being sent out to families in Classes 3,5,7,& 9 about the upcoming Naplan tests. 

While the College of Teachers are not big fans of the Literacy/Numeracy tests because of the one dimensional focus, and that they don’t necessarily align with our curriculum and our approach to assessment, we can appreciate that as a tool they demonstrate, especially to the government, that our approach to education meets standards. Understandably, if we are meeting standards then we are more and more free to continue to provide a holistic education that values creativity, imagination and social/emotional wellbeing, as much as numeracy and literacy.

The tests can be seen as a novel activity for the students and nothing more than a “snapshot in time” assessment. We are fortunate in WA that our school is allowed to sit paper based tests, until Class 9, when it goes online.

Camps

Our school has a robust, compulsory camp programme including horse riding, sailing, caving, canoeing, abseiling, hiking, leading, and retreating. We view camps as an integral and significant  part of the curriculum and urge every parent and carer to get behind the many benefits of camps and outdoor education. We are especially fortunate to have staff willing to support the camps which can be disruptive to daily schedules and a mighty physical effort to attend! It is a pity to hear of many schools cancelling or modifying their camp programmes as a result of various pressures. 

There is a camp for each year group from Class 4 to Class 12. The camps are linked to the curriculum and a child’s stage of development. While some are more adventurous than others, all of them create an opportunity to disrupt entrenched patterns and allow a new narrative to be told about who I am. The change of location, living together in close quarters, challenging oneself and each other through peak experiences, are all catalysts for transformation. It provides kids with a chance to renew how they meet, and how they are met, by their classmates and teachers. So valuable!

In this edition, the Repair Hub run by Stefan, the P&F AGM and the Library Owls are mentioned. Great chances to be involved and to be social, in our school community.