Dear Parents/Carers,                                                                        

As we move towards the end of this term, at its completion we will have celebrated the two most significant community events of the year; St Paul’s school fete and this Friday, Grandparents and Great People Day.

A small strategy that I use to connect with the students is conversation over a game of chess.  Many of the students have learnt the mature skill of booking a meeting, arranging for a friend to also attend to play “Mr R” in a game of chess. You would be amazed at what I learn from a game of chess with two of the students! The art and wisdom of conversation enables me to learn about the aspirations of our students, their challenges with friendships and gives an insight into their values, sense of belonging and connectedness to school.

For the students, the St Paul’s fete and Grandparents and Great People Day is not just about their “special” person or the day itself. These special community events are in fact a part of their identity and offer the children some community which is welcoming and stable in a world purely defined by rapid change.

In my conversations with students over a game of chess I have come to understand that whilst these two events are hugely important to their belonging story, their identity is multi-faceted and seems to rise from many sources:

• How we welcome new students and families,
• Regular school assemblies and liturgies,
• Participation in public events together (eg ANZAC Day March, Netball Gala Day),
• Celebration of school events (eg Fete, Grandparents Day/Special People Day, St Paul’s Feast Day, sacraments)
• School rituals eg House Cup
• Development of student and parent loyalties to the school eg donations for fete day and the Fete Poster Competition

I now deeply understand what glues our students to the St Paul’s school community. It is in the experiencing of an affinity for the school as a place where they are recognised by people and feel linked with others. This affinity offers support and affirmation for each person in the school community, including the deeply valued grandparents who will turn up at the gate in droves this Friday, on the very last day of the term. Our students have told me, in their own way as we have chatted over a game of chess, that their presence in the school community is significant to the group and they have a real contribution to make to its growth.

Thank you for such a wonderful term, where community has shone a light brighter than words can describe upon us all.

Go gently and may there be a chance for all to have some form of rest, not just the students and staff.

Go Gently,

Michael Reardon
Principal