From the Principal and Deputy Principal

‘School and Community Working Together’ 

Since returning from long service leave and Covid, along with having some reflection time, I have had lots of time to appreciate just how important our ‘Motto’ is. Just in the last two weeks as I review a range of events, it struck me just how committed and supportive our students, staff and community are. In naming a few recent events I want to thank on behalf of the school the Lucindale Lions, who are once again running the incredible Mad Minute at Lucindale for the Years 5s across the district to practice and compete in Public Speaking and our local Ambulance Teams, who make an incredible difference in supporting the school and community in times of critical need, along with the support of parental expertise in keeping our students as safe as possible. In times of challenge, and I am certain some of us can relate to teenagers pushing boundaries, it is fantastic to have local police, families, Community Health all teaming together with our families and school to help with decision making and support to keep everyone as safe as possible.

So, over the last two weeks of term all teachers and school staff will be working closely to thank and recognize the vast majority of our students who make great choices and who are supported well at home to do so. We will focus in on a small group to help change their behavior and choices with care, support and a clear focus on making yourself better, smarter and stronger each day. We each have a moral and ethical obligation to leave no stone unturned as we support our next generation to learn, take safe risks and grow and develop into successful adults who contribute to our world in a productive way.

Uniform: The tireless efforts of a few to help update our school uniform is wonderful. This work started around July 2021 and is now about to be shared with all families following some work with small groups of students, SRC, Governing Council and volunteers, including Anna, Cathy, Sarah, Eliza, etc. We hope you can all appreciate the work that has gone in and can support by making certain you respond to the information coming home, along with having a look at the display in the school if you like. All teachers will be having a blitz on uniform in Home Group and classes, as it goes a long way to helping build and maintain a team environment, along with fast tracking getting ready each day.

Class Visits: Again, thank you to our community members who have supported students with work placement, volunteering as they explore their career pathways. This week I have watched some of our Year 10 Personal Learning Plan presentations where they are clearly planning the pathways for their future careers. These have been very inspirational to watch and I thank Denise Parkins for overseeing this. I have also spent time with the Year 1/2 Class and loved having the students, under Taylor Ferguson’s teaching, explain a wide range of examples to me of what Homophones are, along with clearly articulating each of the meanings.

New Building: On Thursday 23/6/22, both Jane Gill and Tim Durik joined me for a meeting with the Assets teams to review what works are complete and what is still to be complete for our new buildings. Dare I say it, but we are very close and have reached agreement in the most part about works still to be complete and if the works on Friday and an inspection Monday go well – we will be able to take students into the new buildings and start setting up the learning environment at long last. So, fingers crossed and we will update you further next week.   The patience and dedication from so many parties to help secure Lucindale the new specialist Arts, Science and two General Learning Classrooms is amazing. The timeframes and delays have not been great for our students but as we open the new facilities, I can’t wait to see the learning possibilities and celebrate the buildings with everyone. To think the last facilities went in during the 1960s and now in 2022, we have modern, updated and professional facilities to replace the old Art room and Science Lab.

Staffing: Between Covid and the Flu, we are still operating with multiple staff away and we thank everyone for their support with having to be patient and adapt to front office or library options daily for student services. We are on our 4th run looking for an appropriate teacher to replace Ms Moore but in the meantime, I sincerely thank Carol Hille, Jane Gill and Tristan Taylor for taking on some additional workload to ensure the students are engaged in meaningful and assessed work to the appropriate curriculum. We will continue to seek a suitable teacher and will update you when we have had success.   We are underway with our Deputy Principal panel and have undertaken interviews this week. To clear up a few stories, I wish to personally thank Jane Gill, who is and has done an amazing job as Deputy for the last 8 or so years, along with filling in as Principal when required. Jane is definitely going to have big shoes to fill but I also know how lucky we are as a school to be getting her expertise back into the classroom full time in 2023.

Footsteps Dance: To complement our PE programs and support the performing Arts, we have Footsteps Dance at Lucindale next week working with students from Reception to Year 9. Students will complete a small performance on the Friday with information coming out soon. An update will be provided around how many people can attend if wishing to and if we can film for those who can’t attend as per previous years. Apologies for the delay in info but with many staff away we are still working on our Covid requirements and options.

Reports: Teachers are working on reports at the moment and these will be sent home with students on the last day of Term 2 as they are dismissed. All students will be asked to open their reports with a parent/caregiver to discuss their efforts across Semester 1. If your child is absent on the last day of term reports can be collected from the front office after 3:20pm or they will be posted home during the Term 2 holidays.

Our Finance Committee (Vanessa Clark, Henry Legoe, Jack England) and Administration Team are to be commended on a successful Finance Audit last week even if we could not be there in person.

Reminder re the last day of Term 2: Just a reminder that we will dismiss students at their regular time of 3:10pm on Friday July 8th, 2022.

Thank you to all who contribute, support and work towards both individual and school success, let’s keep focused and ensure the end to Term 2 is a good one!

Adrian Maywald