Principal's Reflection - 7 February

A Year of Hope

It has certainly been an exciting two weeks with students returning to school. For the most part, students seem keen and happy. Of course, there are always some anxieties and tears at the start of the year but for the most part, these disappear as students settle in. If your child is still having difficulties, I encourage you to reach out to their classroom teacher, in Primary, or their Pastoral Care teacher in Middle and Senior. My experience has been that the earlier the School is made aware of any concerns, the easier it is to get on top of them. 

Each year our Archbishop sends video messages to Anglican Schools across the State. I have linked these for you below, and I really encourage you to watch them. We were fortunate to have Archbishop Jeremy in the School last week as he took part in the Middle School Genesis Week program and officially opened and blessed our Upper Primary Precinct. He took the opportunity to speak further with students about the theme for this year; Flourishing Together for Hope. A key message that the Archbishop passed on is that hope is more than a wish without action. Real hope involves careful consideration and thought, combined with “the courage to roll up our sleeves and help make things better.” I couldn't agree more with this message, and it applies to big and small things. If, for example, a student was hopeful of making a representative sporting team, and sat around hoping and praying to make the team, but didn’t actually commit to training or improving their skills, then this would be a particularly ineffective form of hope. Archbishop Jeremy challenged our students to think about what they were hopeful for, and to share with him what they were prepared to do to help make that hope a reality. 

• Video - Archbishop’s message to ELC students

• Video - Archbishop’s message to Primary students

• Video - Archbishop’s message to Secondary Students 

At St Luke’s, we often talk about a growth mindset, which is the conviction that our skills and abilities are not fixed, and that they can be developed. It has been found that this type of mindset has a significant impact on attitudes to learning and, therefore, rates of success. The Archbishop talked about having a hope mindset. Similar to the research about growth mindset, Archbishop Jeremy pointed out that the research around hope suggests that hopeful people lead healthier lives, both physically and mentally.

Communication

Last year I talked to families about changes to the way the School communicates. A significant learning for us was that parents were overwhelmed by the amount of email that was sent by the School. We have made several changes, and I hope you are already noticing this. One change is that except for email from your child’s specific teacher or teachers, general information is being sent from consolidated addresses, such as a specific department or a subschool. We are also considering the types of information usually sent via email, and diverting certain types of information to more appropriate places, such as Parent Orbit and this newsletter. One of these things is “The Week Ahead in Primary”, which you can now find in this newsletter, and linked in the Facebook parent groups. We believe that these small changes will reduce the email fatigue parents report while still providing the same level of communication. 

Thank you for your ongoing support of our School.

Matthew Hughes

Principal