From Adversity Comes...

I must mention the wonderful growth and development, contribution and responsibility I have heard about from parents and students, as well as staff in one of the most unusual semesters I have experienced in my career in schools, which now moves across five decades.

None of us would have volunteered to enter the set of circumstances that a virus has brought upon us but having had no choice, what remarkable developments have occurred through necessity and more than a little discomfort.

The headlines responses to our parent and student surveys are illuminating and reflect our strong and positive school culture, one that is people and learning focussed. For parents (Prep-Year 12), the top three positives from the survey were:

1. Child's independence, organisation, time management & responsibility
2. Teacher support & engagement
3. Child's adjustment & enjoyment of continuous learning

For students (Years 5-12), the top three positives were:

1. Flexible learning/Being able to work at own pace
2. More available time/Not having to wake up so early/No travel time
3. Being able to interact with peers/teachers

There are some clear messages for our new normal as we conclude term 2 and prepare for term 3 and beyond with students returning to our Burwood Highway site.

In age appropriate ways, we need to recognise, honour and implement systems that support the development of independence, organisation, time management & responsibility, with proper scaffolding. Proper scaffolding will ensure that students receive appropriate supervision and support to continue to develop these skills and attributes.

This is critically important as the student survey (students from Years 5-12) clearly recognised their preference for flexible learning (some control over their time) and the pace of their work. We are therefore developing systems that provide this while assuring appropriate supervision and support.

Under no circumstances do we wish to see academic standards slip. Indeed, we are on a path to see them improve.

As Principal, I have responsibilities to ensure risk management at TKS is first class and thus a reoccurrence of a shutdown of the physical site of the school must be accommodated in that planning. We cannot simply repeat what we were doing in February 2020 and leave behind what has occurred since, assuming it will never reoccur.

We must maintain the ability to pivot back to home campus learning overnight if required. We are considering how to best maintain and deepen the new digital skill set developed by all over the last weeks

Very few of us like change, let alone rapid change. It produces anxiety in most of us. Even the few of us who see change as an enjoyable and/or creative challenge often suffer considerable fatigue because of our endeavours to manage the situation and see success.

Therefore, there is no doubt involuntary challenges provoke new learning and provide discomfort. Or one could turn that around and say the involuntary discomfort produces new learning, a reflection on what was the status quo, what were our unthinking habits. 

We have all faced moments where we could have stepped back and decided to give up. Yet we persevered and are rewarded as per the parent, student, ELC and staff survey results show.

There were times when we were well out of our comfort zone, taking on the unknown, risking possible failure and yet we continued, learning new skills, dealing with new challenges, growing, and developing new skills, attitudes, and confidence.

Let us all hope we now have space to ‘get our breath back’, reflect on what has occurred, consolidate the positive outcomes, remove, or mitigate the negatives and plan a better future.