Activism starts early

There's one thing that gives me hope for the future... and that is

1. kids these days seem to instinctively know that they have a voice
2. their teachers encourage them to use it

I remember when I was in Year 6 and Mr Williamson set us a task at the end of the school year which included a presentation to the class. The task was to pick something you want to know about, research it, and find a way to communicate what you find out to the class.

At the time Melbourne was in the throws of a really serious drought. The dams were drying up and there was no rain in sight. The media were imploring citizens to save water, and I remember asking Mum what we had to do to save water - it was the ideal topic for my research. To cut a long story short, I wrote to the Ringwood Croydon Mail and was interviewed by a journalist. It was all very exciting for my family. Mum was so proud she kept six copies of the paper (which I am now the proud owner of!)

These days kids are writing to all kinds of movers and shakers demanding social and environmental change.

Recently, Maeve in 2M has written eloquently to every single local, state and federal politician imploring them to act on behalf of the environment. And to their credit they have all replied and she has rushed excitedly to the office so we can read the letters together. We are both actually learning so much about what steps are being taken to lessen human impact on the environment in Australia.

The future is in the hands of our youngsters; let's ensure they have to tools and the voice to make the difference that's needed.

(By the way, it rained the day my article was published in the Ringwood Croydon Mail!)

Art...for art's sake!

In the years since our school opened many parents have requested more art - I sometimes think this is a response to just not knowing how often art is a feature of our every day programs. I see children painting, creating, designing, decorating, and using colour and texture in classrooms every day of the week - even though the official time allocation for this key learning area is somewhere in the vicinity of 45 minutes per week!

And then came the Art Fair! Friday afternoon was an explosion of colour, craft and visual excitment. It's clear some of our students will make their future careers in art of some sort - the inherent creativity and talent of children fostered by skillful teachers on show all afternoon was astounding. The wow factor was shining out of each child's (and many teacher's faces) as they toured the school and appraised the exhibitions.

Balancing arts with the right mix of more 'academic' subjects is always tricky in a general education program - everyone always wants a different mix. I'm pretty happy with our mix - it's collaborative, there's variety, and appreciation of the work of others underlies all activity.

Impromptu class visits

Some excited children from 32BH burst into my office just before lunch and dragged me down to their classroom to see their parachutes. They were testing different materials, lengths of string, how to carry a passenger and numerous other high level scientific theories around forces and tension. Lego people in cupcake pans have never had so much fun!

The discussion was incredible - so was the collaboration and team work. There was so much learning going on; excited voices comparing and contrasting and experimenting. This is a modern day classroom - and it also mirrors a modern day workplace. The work gets done when people talk, share, work and play together.

And at the end is a celebration of the success. Thank goodness for our double story building!

A morning in the life of PSSS...

I wandered around our school this morning reflecting on all that was going on.

There was that fantastic Assembly with 6D's Rube Goldberg machine and 1W's (also known as Super 1W) ideas for social learning.

Then our Pre-Preps from Peregian Springs C&K came for their time in the Resource Centre

3M have an army of parents in and they are building billy carts and doing hands on maths.

And there's Mr Wise demonstrating the LEEDR board to some teachers and a visiting Principal. And later he was putting in an order for 3D printers as we've been successful in securing a grant for Young Entrepreneurs.

I've had a meeting with a couple of young girls who are starting a small business selling their crocheted products - they are learning skills for a modern day workforce. Employers now want confident problem solvers who can speak well and collaborate with others.

And here's another student discussing with me how she plans to light up the world with a solar buddy project. This looks like it could be a fantastic Project Compassion for us in 2017.

Ms Marszalek is doing some exciting maths with 2G.

And Mrs Harbour took 21 children to Arcare today to have morning tea with the residents. The children heard stories from a 94 year old triathlete which brought tears to everyone's eyes.

About 590 children have said good morning to me with a smile on their face. And Elaine, our publicity officer, is struggling to decide which good news story to write next.

And it's not even lunch time yet...

NAPLAN by any other name...

I received an email from a teacher today who had elicited an apology letter from a student who had caused a little bit of a ruckus outside the classroom during the Year 3 NAPLAN Reading Test - right after the whole class had been asked to be as quiet as they could to help the Year 3s concentrate.

I opened the attachment and I couldn't help myself - I just laughed out loud. And I'm still chuckling...

Nutplan... as polically incorrect as it maybe to say - I think this little kid is onto something.

Ms Sands...will you be at Assembly this week?

You know you've missed too many Fridays at school when little kids are asking if you will be at Assembly this week. 'Yes', I told her. 'I wouldn't miss this Assembly for any meeting in the world.'

Assembly; it's my favourite time of the week. A time for kids to shine, to get recognition from the rest of the school for a job well done, to have some fun, and to enjoy the learning of another class. Many people refer to Assembly as Parade - I never do. The term 'Parade' brings back memories of my first primary school in Australia where we had to march in time into a hot quadrangle and stand with our hands behind our backs for what seemed an eternity. If you were lucky, you escaped the sting of the cane on the back of your bare legs while Parade dragged on.

Today's Assembly was extra special. The whole school community turned out to support a little boy to cut his hair very very short in order to raise money for Shave for a Cure, the Leukemia Foundation's signature fundraiser.

From this....

To this....

In 10 minutes...

942 (or round about) kids cheering and supporting him.

Call it Parade if you like. To me, it will always be Assembly

I fear no carpark...

It is always interesting to see how others work when they step into different roles in the school. A couple of weeks ago I asked one of our teachers, Chris Wise, to do my carpark duty on a Friday afternoon. His reflections on this experience are both hilarious and sobering at the same time.

I have reblogged his post here for your enjoyment!


There’s a scene in the 1953 War of the Worlds movie in which a priest attempts to subdue the aliens by calmly walking toward the invading horde quoting a psalm:
‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.’
So I imagined myself as headed out Friday afternoon in to the most dreaded of school activities – car park duty.
I’ve lamented our car park along with parents and colleagues. We’ve joked about multistory parking facilities and the chaos that envelopes the area around 3:00pm each day. We’ve heard the stories of how it can take 25 minutes to move from the Rec Club to the traffic lights up the hill. Our school car park dramas have been no secret and there have been many attempts to improve it; car park duty being one of them. It’s no secret to our local Police Officers either.
This happy Friday, I was joined by Officer Marlene. I didn’t know she’d be there. She’d been keeping an eye on the car park over the last week and decided it was time to intervene. While I did the usual duty in the Green Zone, Officer Marlene stood at the top of the drop off line and as it became full, directed entering cars to either park in the lower car park or loop back around.
As an observer, there’s a couple of things I wanted to pass on:

1. Over 1000 people leave our school at 3:00pm each day.
2. Despite some initial confusion, the car park was almost clear by 3:15pm. Given the sheer numbers, this should be seen as a great result.
3. Some of you are very rude.

There’s a saying in education that it ‘takes a village to raise a child,’ well, it clearly takes a village to operate a school car park efficiently. We all (students, parents, staff and visitors) want to get home quickly and safely. Everyone needs to make the effort and exercise patience. Please take the time to understand the car park procedures:

• The Green Zone and Pick Up line is strictly for picking up, if your child is not there – you can not park; you must move on (please have this conversation with your child, not with whoever is on duty, we can not magically make your child appear).
• If you can not enter the Pick Up line – you must move on to the lower car park and park OR loop back around the car park. You can not block the round-about. The Avenue outside the school is a yellow lined zone which means there is no stopping. We must keep traffic flowing. Yes, you might end up driving around the car park once or twice.

Believe it or not, we have a big car park compared to many other local schools. Its size is not going to change. We will have more students, more families and more cars. Please play your part in making sure everyone has the opportunity to get home safely and happily. Even it means you are inconvenienced by a few minutes.

By the way ***Spoiler alert*** The priest didn’t make it.

Chris writes eloquently on many issues about education, parenting and learning in the modern classroom. I encourage you to read more here.

I actually love the Drop Off Zone and you can read why here. 

The things kids say...

Kids actually say the funniest things. Not a week goes by when one of us isn't chortling in the Staff Room about the latest gem. This week has led to some outright laughing outloud.

Poor Ms Marszalek was called Mrs Marshmallow - not that she minded. She loves the Preps, and she had had a particularly good time that morning so the name did leave her feeling all soft and gooey inside.

Maree was in stiches when a child informed her that her mother had referred to all the books in the library as Maree's babies. And then she couldn't contain herself when a Prep marched out of the Resource Centre exclaiming loudly ‘Well, that was fun’ as if he hadn’t expected it to be, and was clocking up yet another fun activity.

One of our gorgeous Year 2 girls informed her class that her mummy was so sick of her little sister telling her how to turn the pages of a book that she bought a kindle.

And earlier this week another little girl informed her mother that the President (me) had explained to her where she was supposed to play. I've been called a lot of things in my career but that title was very funny.

Many of us say 'I wish I had written down what that child said'. No matter how funny the comment is we do sometimes forget a child's view on life. We have started to record them - so if you hear us laughing outloud any time, it's probably because a little one has imparted an hilarious observation on the world around them.

The standard you walk past, is the standard you accept

Congratulations, David Morrison, AO, on becoming the 2016 Australian of the Year.

Source: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BMtxrz7CIAA_uUf.jpg

In June 2013 as Head of the Australian Defence Force, Morrison made an announcement to the Australian Army about the allegations of sexual harassment and unaceptable behaviour by Army members. He made no bones about his attitude to this behaviour and what he thinks, not just of those who perpetrate it, but of those who know about it and do nothing. He famously said 'The standard you walk past is the standard you accept'. He also said 'Every one of us is responsible for the culture and reputation of the ADF and I need every one of you to support me in achieving this.'

We could replace the acronym 'ADF' in his speech with 'Peregian Springs SS' and apply it to our own organisation. Over six years we have crafted high expectatons and standards in achievement, behaviour, attendance, uniform and effort. We expect and help everyone to work on maintaining these - from the smallest Prep to the newest family to the most experienced staff member.

Teachers (and other staff) ask kids to step up and try harder, to remove a non-uniform item, to treat their peers with more respect, to welcome newcomers to the school, to be on time, to be prepared for learning, to use common courtesies in all situations. Parents are asked to support us in this. These are tough conversations for staff to have, and they are not always received kindly.

So why don't we walk past poor behaviour, lateness, disrespect and coloured jumpers? It's because the research into what makes kids successful and happy at school is the adherence to high expectations and consistent boundaries. And our kids are testament to this - every day.

I can't wait to see them all again tomorrow for the start of another year of learning and smiling. Happy New School Year, everyone!