The future is here now...

I am often asked after Year 6 Graduation about my speech for the students - much of it has been reprinted here.

There is a common catchcry around these days that goes something like ‘the future is here now’. And when I look at what you are doing in your classrooms I believe this to be true. You have been swiping and typing and coding and creating your way into the future since Prep and Year 1 and are now on the cusp of one of the most revolutionary periods in human history – and that is the automation of much human activity.

This new world will bring innovation and excitement and new possibilities. It will also bring new ways of working and living together as we explore new laws and ethical standards and the impact of this on our environment and developing nations.

This little invention here demonstrated ably by Zara and Millie is set to change your lives in ways you could never have imagined. Zara and Millie have been part of a Drone Squad assisting Mrs Allan introduce this technology into our school curriculum. I’d like to acknowledge these girls as well as Hayley Clarke, Jessica Gavin and Lila McIntyre for the work they have done in this area this year. These cute little things are, of course, drones. And I know many of you have one at home for photography and to play with.

These amazing machines though are about more that passing the time in an entertaining way. They will shape your careers and the way you live your lives – they actually already are – and perhaps you just haven’t noticed yet.

Drones are used for filming movies and many other exciting entertainment. They are, however, extremely useful in the daily lives of our scientists and other professionals. For example

• a geologist uses drones to hunt for clues in the landscape
• a marine scientist uses drones to monitor whales and sharks either from the beach or from boats
• a landscape ecologist uses her aviation skills to look after the environment in NT
• They assist with pest identification and improving the speed and efficiency of which they can be removed. 
• They can be programmed to recognise types of sharks – the difference between bull sharks, bronze whalers and nurse sharks on our beaches is significant. In the desert they can be programmed to recognise foxes, feral cats and dogs and wild boar.
• They can help farmers identify ripe crops
• Drones in all shapes and sizes are being used to deliver life saving equipment, help out in accidents, to search and rescue, to deliver pizza, for crop dusting and weed spraying. Sending a drone to do the work is cheaper, more efficient and less time consuming than having a person do it    

I’m sure you can see the possibilities of this technology are endless – and so are the possibilities and opportunities for you and your future

The bottom line is that it is all about the choices you make and how your choices apply to all areas of your lives, all our lives. It applies to whether you choose to make the best of your high school years or fritter them away. It applies to how hard you work, the effort you are prepared to put in, how you manage peer pressure. It applies to how you respond when you are harassed by someone or see an injustice affecting someone else. It applies to your stance on violence, and it applies to the value you place on your own and other’s learning.

All these habits of mind have been at the forefront of your education at our school. How you have responded to this is what makes our school so special – that is, the people and the interactions between us. Teaching you about relationships, effort and choice has been at the core of everything we do at Peregian Springs SS. And the ultimate reward for your teachers, teacher aides, Mr Foxover, Mrs Reid, Ms Marszalek, Mr Slocombe, Ms Slattery, Ms Westlake and I is when we see you happy, managing yourselves well, even in trying situations, and achieving your very best.

You have had the benefit of world class teachers in every year you have been at Peregian Springs. I’d like to thank Andrea, Justin, Chris, Sandy, and Kent for the work you have done with our Year 6s. You continue to learn yourselves and teach with such innovation, passion, courage and care – again this year you have challenged your students to learn; you’ve set high expectations; you have tried new strategies and new approaches to learning; kept them on the straight and narrow; cared about each and every one of them; and have worked hard to instil a love of learning they will take with them to high school and beyond. Every child in front of me this evening is a better person for your dedication and commitment.

And this is true of all the teachers and teacher aides you have worked with this year – Mrs Hobson, Mrs Ellison, Mr Rickert, Ms Deady, Mr Huxley, Ms Johnson, Mr Hutchins, Mrs Dean and Toni. Without realising, you have learned an enormous amount from being at this school – not just about English, Maths, Science and History but also about the more important attributes of how to be a better person in this world, in this country, in this community. 

Graduation from Year 6 marks the end of an important chapter in your young lives. We hope that your time here has begun to prepare you for the complex future ahead – a future in which you will realise that you have the power for making something of yourself, and for contributing towards a better community and world.

There's a new kind of learning going on

Much has been made of 'child centered' learning over the years stretching from the teaching of Jerome Bruner in the sixties right through to the recent work of Sugata Mitra. But it's when you see it in action you realise the power of students solving real life problems, using technology to generate possibilities and research what others have done, truly get engaged in high level learning thought to be beyond Year 3s, and producing atefacts and work samples that have quality and lasting value.

It's teaching at it's best when the teacher puts teaching analysis and evaluation at the heart of the work. At the end of the day it isn't about the building, creating or making. It's about the problem solving - doing something useful with paper, technology or a device that can be applied to our lives.

Such is the work of 3T this year. It has been truly inpiring.

I love my white shoes

Developing resilience is such an important part of education and parenting. And when a little ditty that gets stuck in people's heads comes along to cement that idea, it's serendipity!.

Earlier in the year Prep A delighted Assembly with their little song and play from Pete the Cat. Ever since whenever any of us looks tempted to sweat the small stuff someone sings 'I love my white shoes...'

Not sure what I'm talking about? Take a look at this

Me - I actually like red shoes!

Because it's all good...

Children and art

A friend told me a story the other day about his wife dragging him to the Picasso Museum in Barcelona. This gorgeous place traces the life and times of Picasso, and Simon was aghast at the simplicity of Picasso's 'works of art'. I mean, really, it's just a square for a head! That was until his wife showed him the paintings Picasso was doing at 14 years of age - take a look. Picasso painted Man in a Beret when he was 14! The rest of his career was spent on simplifying and creating some of the most iconic images of the nineteenth century. Picasso famously said 'Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.' (We will just assume he thought girls could be artists too.)

And so for class teachers, the teaching of The Arts is fraught with uncertainty, and for some, anxiety. The curriculum includes skills in all mediums, knowledge about art and artists, self expression, appreciation, creativity and imagination. Underlying all of this is self esteem and children's ideas about themselves as artists, as mathematicians, as scientists, as problem solvers, as creators.

Visual arts at Peregian Springs SS includes all of these aspects - we have talented artists on staff whom balance our focus on maths and technology, we offer Master Classes with working artists for our older students, we have an Artist in Residence who relishes her role two days a week (we'd like more but two days is all she can manage), we've had visiting artists describe their lives and works to children, we've had a 'bigger than Ben Hur' Art Fair, and we have hard working classroom teachers who are maybe not artists themselves (although some of them are) apply the curriculum, encourage creativity, and celebrate children's efforts in art and design.

We've had kids win some competitions too - it's always a treat when the community also recognises children's efforts.

Art is allocated a very small amount of time in the curriculum by the powers that be - inspite of that we absolutely make the most of it.

Gross National Happiness

I’ve been on long service leave for a few weeks.

Many of you might remember I spent a week in Bhutan on an educational tour with the Asia Education Foundation. As always, when I return from overseas I am astonished at the contrast between our education system and its generosity and quality, and that of countries still developing. However, equally amazing are the similarities. I visited a lovely primary school the same size as ours in Thimphu, the capital – children performed on assembly, the school was focused on recycling and teaching about the environment and growing food, they had a maker space for learning to be creative, teachers spent time every week on social and emotional literacy and measured their progress on student happiness, and even more amazing and quite funny, the school also had car parking problems! I loved it.

A stand out in the developing world is the high value parents and students place on their educational opportunities. Education is viewed as the singularly most important activity in the community and parents commit enormous energy in getting their children to school and providing them with the resources they need for participation. Hardly a day of school is missed for any reason except extreme sickness, and teachers and other staff are held in very high esteem. Australia is certainly the lucky country in comparison with other systems from around the world. Our governments provide fantastic facilities, high quality and highly trained teachers and other staff, and most of the resources Australian children use every day. I walked around our school on Monday morning on my return and marvelled at our beautiful well-maintained school and quietly thanked the lucky stars that have helped us amass the best teachers and teacher aides you will find anywhere in the world.