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!

Putting a cat among the pigeons...or in this case, the hens!

Attendance at school is so important for academic and social progress - so important that when a child's rate of attendance falls below 85%, their academic progress is severely effected. Most families know that we take attendance very seriously, and they concientiously provide us with the reasons why their children are away.

Sometimes these reasons can be an enormous source of entertainment. Take this one for example.

 (Names have been changed to protect the 'not so innocent'.)

And it came complete with a photo!

And then arrived the after shot - just love it!

So the moral of the story is - if you are going to be away from school, an entertaining reason softens the blow, and a photo always helps! :)