From the Deputy Principal - Cathie Egarr

Art Is... A reminder as well that we are calling for any artists within our School community who may be interested in exhibiting at our Art is… Art exhibition during Term 4. Please contact the School or me if you would like to exhibit. In previous years, we have enjoyed celebrating this event as a whole School community. Often, we are unaware of the skill sets and expertise within our School community. So, if you are an artist, please reach out to determine if your works are suitable for inclusion. We would love to add this extra element to our event.

As lifelong learners, we and our students and staff have been privileged to be involved in many events over the past fortnight. At a recent AISSA event, three staff members participated in deep engagement on the Benefits of Play and reflected on our eight Play Personalities for children and adults. We also had over 20 staff members attend an after-hours professional collegial group hosted at various schools to share practices and learn from one another. Personally, I enjoyed the workshop on The Science of Reading, along with five of my colleagues. We are constantly learning, sharing, and modeling our learning for our children.

This week, we also held our internal competition for the Junior Orators Competition. This public speaking event requires children to prepare a four-minute speech on a topic of their choice and present it to adjudicators. We welcomed back Mrs Dorian Black, a former Deputy Principal and champion of public speaking, who provided the children with wonderful feedback after each speech. Of greatest significance as an adjudicator was the level and variety of topics that our Year 5 and Year 6 students chose to present. Whether the topics related to climate change, swift parrots, social media, women’s pay parity, politics, sports, or friendship, we were very impressed with their presence, preparation, maturity, and sense of participation in this volunteer event. All 23 students who participated deserve congratulations. We look forward to sharing more information about this in the next fortnight’s Bell.