14 Mar 2016
Students, graduating class of 2015 and their entourage, family and friends of students at Ebenezer, my wonderful staff.
It's my great honour to stand before you as principal of Ebenezer Public School… a school with heart. Firstly to the dedicated Ebenezer staff, for all you do for the students here. Committed staff who love teaching are a blessing for a leader and I am certainly blessed by a passionate bunch of educators and assistant staff not only skilled but open to new ideas. Last night every staff member stayed back after our staff meeting to muck in and help Mrs Proglio set up the hall. Mrs Lawson, your tendency to have the doors to the office and the phone lines open early… The impact of the little things you all do I'm not sure you know, but all of these things go together to create the Ebenezer we want. You are all integral to us reaching our vision. Thankyou Mrs Proglio and staff for organising today, you have again done credit to yourselves and the school.
To the community. I said this last year and I will say it again… thank you for bringing your children to our school and trusting us with them every day. Your children do you credit every day as we join with you in helping them get ready for the world. Thank you for supporting the school from the little things to the big things. The P&C Committee this year has been just a joy again, thankyou Rachael and the rest of the parents who express their love for the school by going the extra mile. It can be a lot of work on top of raising a family and working, the quintessential volunteer ethic that makes this world go round is alive and well here at Ebenezer. As I said last year I have seen open debate, small controversies and true cooperation. We share a common purpose in that we all congregate here at Ebenezer Public School for the sake of your children's academic, social and emotional development. This year the fastest and healthiest path to turning off the white noise that distracts us all from our common purpose has been the pathway to your child's teacher. We have a wonderful staff here. Communication is the way to ensure we are all on the same page and I ask you to keep this up.
To the students of Ebenezer. I have been fortunate enough to take the Support Teacher role here at the school this year. This has meant I can see more of you more of the time! Your focus on learning and improvement, love of each other and love of the staff is a constant source of joy for me and all of us who work here. Sometimes I can't believe I found myself in this job! You are why we all get out of bed and come to this school each day and you make Ebenezer a fantastic place to be for all of the staff here. Keep working hard to improve and we will constantly try to meet your enthusiasm for learning with the right environment to make sure you reach your potential.
To the captains, you do receive an extra mention as the students who the rest of us wanted to follow. Oscar, Zach, Nadine and Racquel have done their jobs beautifully this year. They are truly a resilient, thoughtful bunch of future leaders.
To our captains for next year. Good luck to you all and congratulations on your election – the wonderful thing is all you really had to do was watch past captains and how they did their job. There is a real legacy of effective student leadership here at Ebenezer.
Thankyou to the contingent of candidates for 2015 Captain positions who weren't chosen this year. It can be challenging dent in confidence for a child. I'm a big fan of all of the kids here and it was wonderful to see so many candidates not only having a go but risking failure! I am impressed with the way you resiliently bounced back. We will be needing you next year. You are a mature and thoughtful bunch and you will go a long way.
We are living in a time when only 2 companies own basically all of the media – newspapers, TV and radio. 1 of these companies is led by a man who lets us all know he can create the winner of an election just by choosing a winner and running a campaign for them. How are we to be sure we are getting the truth about what is happening in the world? Combine this with the flood of inescapable information to sift through accessible now on any computer or Smartphone and we suddenly discover the most important skill our students here need to have – critical literacy, the ability to understand the author's purpose and not to be fooled. Here at Ebenezer we are moving to a curriculum model, guided by the New English Syllabus, where the incremental development of critical literacy is embedded in everything we do. L3 and Focus on Reading across the helps us veer away from busy work to real-world engagement with learning. I thank the staff for going on this journey together.
There is a lot happening in education at the moment, as Mr Heslop stated last night at the Hawkesbury High School Presentation Night, our schools are being reformed at a rate not seen since the late 60's. Currently there are 15 school-changing reforms out there for us to grapple with as our government seizes the opportunity to restructure NSW education. It is exciting but also daunting. All the way from a new finance system beginning next year to New Syllabuses for each Key Learning Area to all staff needing to design their Professional Development plans to meet accreditation requirements. There is a lot on. At Ebenezer we are trying to maintain the focus on learning and simplify and strengthen our processes. We hope we are successful in ensuring this school continues to provide a quality education for all as we absorb the new.
I would like to let you all know that next year Mrs Lansdowne will continue at Blackett Public School as relieving Assistant Principal Early Intervention next year.
Mrs Vallis has proved herself as a teacher with excellent teaching skills and high expectations for the children and she will be joining us again next year. We value your contribution to our school Mrs Vallis.
Finally to the whole of Year 6. All the way through my schooling I keenly watched the older students. I watched how they behaved, how they reacted, how they approached learning, how they dealt with disappointment. This shaped the way I did all of these things later on. Year 6 I am delighted to say the younger students at Ebenezer have been able to see maturity, fortitude, resilience and respect in all of you. We have all seen it. I have more to say tomorrow night but for now, keep Ebenezer in your hearts, remember the connections you made, the things you learnt and the ‘feel' of the place. Use that feeling as a place to go to when things get hard. Small schools like Ebenezer are gentle and nurturing, you have been a big part of creating this place for the last 7 or less years.
On that note apologies if I have left anything out. Have a wonderful and safe Christmas and we look forward to a 2016 where teaching and learning is our focus, driven by passion and heart.
Thankyou.