Principal's Report
Over the past weeks we have continued to be impressed by the resilience and perseverance of our students, parents and staff.
Never before has our country and community experienced such uncertainty and lack of control over our present and future decisions. For many people this has been difficult and various emotions would certainly have surfaced.
Added to this, many families have faced unexpected financial hardship which can bring another layer of complexity and emotion. With all of this in mind, I have been very proud of the sense of community, engagement, and compassion that has been demonstrated and I wish to publicly acknowledge this and thank you.
Our focus for our students during this time is on their wellbeing, however we never lose sight of their educational needs. We know that learning and wellbeing are interconnected and that our students are unable to effectively learn and develop if they are not emotionally well. As we continue with our Continuity of Learning Program, and as we move towards our return to school, we will continue this focus and work towards supporting the unique needs of each of our students.
Our plans will be outlined further in this newsletter by members of our school Leadership Team.
Permission to Feel
This week our staff worked through some professional learning and personal reflection and collectively explored evidence based practices from around the world in relation to emotional intelligence and the importance of unlocking the power of emotions to help our students, ourselves and our community.
We were inspired by the work of Marc Brackett, a Professor at Yale University’s Centre for Emotional Intelligence and his book and videos, Permission to Feel. In these he provides a system for understanding our emotions and using them wisely so they help, rather than hinder our success and well-being.
Our biggest takeaways from our professional learning included his MoodMeter and the need to effectively label our emotions, and the RULER approach to accurately identifying, understanding and mastering emotions.
Our parents, carers and community members are able to find out more about these approaches from the Permission to Feel resources but I have included the images that outline both the MoodMeter and the RULER approach below. Having engaged in this professional learning our staff will be in a stronger place to support our students and parents as we work from home, and when we come back together, hopefully from the 25th May 2020.
Staffing Update and Teacher Changes
After the completion of a rigorous recruitment and selection process, I am excited to announce that Ms Dianne Nicolas has accepted the role of Deputy Principal at our school. Ms Nicolas has held the role of A/Deputy Principal at Shailer Park State High School since January 2018.
Her strengths are in her engagement with students, parents, staff and the community. She has strong relational and strategic leadership qualities and has lead many successful school improvement priorities in her previous roles.
Ms Nicolas has held Senior Leadership roles at Brisbane State High School and Whites Hill State College and was the Head of Academic Success at Queensland Academies (Science, Mathematics, Technology Campus).
She is a passionate and positive leader and we are very fortunate to have her joining our Executive Leadership Team.
Ms Nicolas commenced on Monday 11th May and has already begun to establish strong relationships with staff and our students who are site. I am sure you will all make Ms Nicolas feel very welcome, in the normal Foxwell SPIRIT, when your get the opportunity to meet her face to face soon.
It is common practice in Secondary Education for students to have different teachers across the year as they move to different learning areas in their studies. We had intended for these changes to occur in Semester 2, however to reduce the amount of change that our students will experience across this already complex year, we have made the decision to make the changes from May 25th. These teacher/subject changes will stay in place for the remainder of the school year (unless in extraordinary circumstances). Your child will be well supported as we make these small changes to their timetable and the transition plans for each student will be shared between teachers to ensure continuity of personalised learning for our students.
Enrolment for 2021
Parent and Community Engagement
We have many ways for our parents and community members to engage in our school community. One great way is to get involved in our Parents and Citizens committee.
This group meets monthly to provide valuable input in to the strategic and operational decisions affecting our students and our school.
They also look for opportunities to build our school community and to provide enhanced resources for our students. In each newsletter there will be a section from our P & C Executive so all families can be kept up to date on what is happening. Remember, together we are great.
COVID – 19 Implications
As you are aware the Premier announced that from Monday 11 May, 2020, students in Kindy, Prep, Year 1, Year 11 and Year 12 could return to their school and community kindergarten.
Children of essential workers and vulnerable children continue to be able to attend school for supervision. For students in Years 2 – 10, which includes our Year 7 students, the current home-based learning arrangements will remain in place. If low COVID-19 transmission rates continue, students in Years 2 – 10 will be able to return to school from Monday 25 May, 2020.
It is recognised that some parents may choose to keep your child at home due to concerns about COVID-19 and this is respected. If parents choose to do this, I ask that you notify the school to discuss how we can support you as you continue to home school your child.
Our staff have greatly appreciated all the positive feedback that has been provided to them over the last few weeks. My sincere thanks goes to all parents and carers for your support and understanding during these challenging times.
Until next week
Kym Amor