Developing a sense of independence and achievement - by riding, scooting or skating to school

I remember the first time I rode my bike to school - 3km along a busy main road, in the gate and down to the bike racks. I was about 9 years old and I stalked off to class feeling on top of the world.

You can't buy that feeling of independence and achievement but as humans when we experience it we want more and more of it. And riding to school with a group of friends is a way to get it. I'm not suggesting kids ride down the David Low Way or the Motorway to get to school! (What were my parent's thinking?). The majority of our kids live on a safe estate where nearly everyone drives slowly and looks out for them. It's the perfect environment for parents to allow children to stretch their wings (and their legs) and increase their child's sense of achievement and purpose.

And if nothing else, a ride to school in the morning will fill their lungs with oxygen ensuring a clear head for the start of a busy school day.

Hands up if you rode, scooted, skated, car pooled walked or bussed to school today?

Did my child really say that at school?

Many years ago as a new Deputy Principal I wandered into a Year 2 class while they were doing 'Show and Tell'. This is sometimes called Morning Talks or News or some variation on that theme. A little boy was proudly showing the class some photos of his parents that he had found in their bedside table. I could see the teacher about to have a conniption and children's eyes getting rounder by the millisecond. I quickly collected the photos, distracted the children with a joke, introduced the next speaker and glided out of the door. I collapsed at my desk half in laughter and half in horror about the conversation I now needed to have with the little boy's parents.

I tell this story not as a warning to parents to lock up their private lives but as an insight into the sharing that goes on between staff and children in the classroom. Children tell their teachers, teacher aides, volunteers, and other kids all kinds of things that they see and overhear at home. Most parents would be horrified, frankly, if they had an inkling of the content of some of these stories.

Teachers, however, are not horrified. They are professional and skilled enough to understand that the way a child sees the world from their shoes and current levels of development is vastly different to the actual reality. Most teachers discard much of the information children chatter about all day. And this is really good practice, generally!

We know that sometimes children come home with all kinds of stories about things they've observed, experienced or heard at school. And I'm sure some of it makes parent's blood boil. The best thing parents can do is listen, make a constructive comment about behaviour you want to encourage and then politely request more information from the class teacher.  Listen to your children with an open mind, sort out the bits that sound valid, and ask more questions of the teacher - if you really need to!

When my daughter was very young, her (very wise) teacher said to me 'I'll believe 50% of what she says at school about home, if you believe 50% of what she comes home and tells you about school!

It seemed like a fair deal.

Six weeks in and all is well

Dave excitedly announced this afternoon that he had seen some significant shifts in the school over the last week. 'Since Tuesday', he said. 'There's purpose, everyone is positive, things are moving'.

And my reply... 'It's the end of Week 6'.

It's six weeks into the new school year. I always say it takes six weeks, give or take a week, for teachers to get their know the students in their class really well. It takes six weeks to set routines and for things to become automatic in a classroom. It takes six weeks to build relationships with parents, set the homework routines and iron out the kinks. It takes Preps six weeks to realise that school is every day, from 8.37am to 3.30pm.

And Dave's right - there is purpose, staff are positive and optimistic about student achievement, plans are in place for the semester and the hum of innovation across our classrooms has set in.

Things are definitely moving - the Year 6 curriculum is on fire, the Prep teachers can't keep up with their students, the Year 3s and 5s are focused on building their skills for NAPLAN next term, the Year 1 and 2 rooms are humming with the sound of kids reading, writing and practising their number skills and the Year 4s are stretching their wings in the senior school, Sofia (the Performing Arts teacher) is jumping for joy about her new sound system and its capability of individualising music choices for groups, Maree (our Teacher-Librarian) has kids clamouring to borrow books, Cam (our PE teacher) keeps rushing into my office to inform me of the latest sporting achievement of one or more of our students and Alex (our Japanese teacher) is looking ahead to our excursion to Tokyo in November.

It's six weeks in and again we are shaping up as an impressive place to come to every day!