Dear Parents & Guardians,

As I begin to draft this newsletter, I am amazed at how quickly agendas begin to compete with each other, we become somewhat manic as we move to that deadline that everyone wants things done by, Christmas Day!

The teachers are incredibly busy at the moment as they finalise assessments and begin drafting end of year School Reports.  A significant effort goes into moderating assessment tasks and work samples to ensure the grades are accurate and consistent across the grade.  Moderating is a process where teachers look at work samples from the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) and the Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority (ACARA) that are graded and are a benchmark for setting  A to E  grading expectations.  These work samples are then compared to the quality of the work exhibited by each child to place them on the A to E grade scale.  When this is achieved in each Key Learning Area teachers are then able to plot each child on this scale.  However, one work sample or assessment is not just used, but a number of assessment tasks and student work samples.  Teachers have met as a grade and there has also been significant professional learning in the past at staff meetings to ensure this process is followed closely and consistently.  

When you also add in the complexities that COVID19 has imposed on the education system, it does become somewhat challenging.  These complexities include five weeks of remote learning, which was hugely stressful for everyone, the loss of two and a half hours of teaching time each week due to the necessary staggered pick up process in the afternoon, and finally, due to the above, the inability of all schools to fully teach the curriculum in 2020.

Yet, like through remote learning, the staff at St Paul’s has found a way through it to deliver the best possible outcome for the students.  I am somewhat reassured after the experiences of this year, our school community can cope with virtually anything that comes our way.

Finally, as most are aware, we have begun the process of creating the classes for 2021.  Whilst most are happy to leave this up to the teachers, who know your child best in the school context, there are still some minor matters that need attending to that enable this process to be as successful as possible.  I am currently in the process of meeting with some parents who have requested a conversation about their child’s needs.  Whilst this process has been informative and in many cases helpful information to take back to the teachers to consider, most cases are about friendship issues.  It can be very difficult to get the balance right between protecting a child through fence building around them, and enabling them to feel a little discomfort in relationships in order to help them deal with their friendship matters as they arise, either in the classroom, on the playground, at home, at the soccer or netball on Saturday or the many other situations where children have to meet and get on with each other.  As a parent, I went on this journey myself and on many occasions the protective instincts became somewhat overwhelming.  These are the times when we need to stand back and as best as we can, manage our own emotions which can on occasions far outweigh those of our children.  This reflection has taken me back to Leeton, twenty-two years ago when we were at a parish fete and my three year old son was playing on a jumping castle.  Another toddler kept coming up to him and pushing him over and Jacob had never experienced that before and obviously didn’t know what to do.  All of a sudden, the protective instincts “fired up” and I outlined my displeasure to the other parent.  My approach never really helped things and the end result was my son was removed from the jumping castle and he missed out on having the fun he was also experiencing.  

I look back on this now with a totally different mindset, I suppose that is what parenting is all about!  Unfortunately, we grow into parenting just like our children grow into maturity, warts and all.  I’m sure anyone who reads this newsletter can share similar stories about being a mum or dad.

The challenges of parenting!

Go gently,

Michael Reardon
Principal