2024 started, and continued, with community being embraced, assisted and built by many, many school families.
The end of the year is always accompanied by reflections on our children: their growth, their energy, their engagement, and their happiness.
A feeling-centred engagement distracts children from a focus on endeavour, and in doing so, contributes to a missing out on the confidence that overcoming hurdles brings.
In a family there are always jobs to be done – some big and some small, some daily, some weekly, some monthly and so on.
The superhero child dreams of exhibiting their best self, the self that fights the good fight, of being a person who believes in – and defends – a set of qualities that includes honesty, truth, goodness and courage.
Earlier this term, I enjoyed listening to a group of Tinies playing Chasey through the school. This joyful soundscape prompted the following reflection: I am blessed to have this expression of exuberant joy as part of my day.
The plays produced at our school acknowledge the variability of experience and the breadth of personality types, yet also demonstrate that kindness, courage, perseverance and love eventually carry the day.
Yesterday we ran in the rain, while today the rain arrived a little while after we finished our run. Be it drizzle, shower, or downpour, running in the rain is an uplifting experience for me.
The end of the year is always accompanied by reflections on our children: their growth, their energy, their engagement, and their happiness.
Every year, a number of children miss a day of school here and there to visit potential secondary schools.
My primary aspiration for all of the children who I work with is that they are good people.
I have wanted to perform this story as a play for many years, as it is a story that I dearly love, and a story that I feel has many elements that speak to the spirit of our school.
Amongst the hardest conversations I have relate to placing students – the task of determining what class or year a child should be in when I want to lift the child off the conveyor belt.
The school our children attend here in France requires signed permission slips for outings; outings and activities that are not unlike those that most schools in Australia require permission slips for.
My wish for a village resembles a community that values the well-being of all children and is inhabited by adults who naturally assume a caring authority over the children.
A significant challenge I face as a parent and educator is in being brave. I see this as a challenge that I cannot back away from…
I recently received two pieces of correspondence that give an insight into our children’s weekly interactions with pre-schoolers and older folk.
The play, while a significant event in the school year, is only the success that it is due to many hours of work conducted over years with our children, day after day and month after month.
In my interactions with these parents, I am often left feeling a little sad. Sad that families that would be a great fit for our school cannot find a spot. Sad that there are simply not enough options out there.
I frequently reflect on competence and fear as I strive to run an empowering, happy school. I see happy and empowered as intrinsically linked, as my ongoing observation is that we humans are happiest when we feel ownership over what we do.
My mother, Faye, reflected that two new terms have entered the parenting lexicon since she became a mother: meltdowns and losing the plot.
NAPLAN exams were in the second week of May, and were generally attempted in what I see as the right spirit. The lack of stress and anxiety before, during and after the exams I think speaks to the success of our approach.
Every so often, I hear conversations between parents and their children about school life, and I reflect on these and the messages that they convey to our children.
There has been much debate over this website, which I have followed with interest. Overall, it is a good addition to the information available to the families of schoolchildren in Australia, and I applaud the government for launching it despite some furious opposition.
At the start of each school year, when the staff gets together, I have a couple of mantras. One of them is: if in a day's teaching, you (the teachers) encounter an issue where social or emotional growth is needed, then this should supersede the planned lesson.
It is Sunday am – early – and the world cup is on later today. I cannot sit still. I feel like Steve Smith when he bats… constant fidgets.
Why is the question of faith important in choosing a maths teacher?
I have been saddened in recent years watching the constant erosion of the freedoms that we once took for granted. In this State election, one issue stands out clearly, and that is the ability of like-minded people to choose to educate their children as they feel appropriate. The issue is faith.
An aspect that I feel sets our school apart is that the children are able to show their soft sides – their fears, weaknesses, but perhaps more importantly, their gentle sides. This makes FCS a very special place.
I am often asked what makes a successful FCS school experience for a child. I appreciate this question and the fact that prospective parents regularly ask me this. My answer is that it all boils down to trust: if you trust us with your children, then they will do well.
Dishonesty always carries a cost. Dishonest child-raising practices can literally cripple children. We need to be honest about compliance requirements.
This blog examines a small snippet of the contrast between the French and Anglo attitude to independence and parental-child separation.
Those who have visited our school will know that there are few days when there are no babies around, while on many days there are a number of mums, and the occasional dad, spending time in the school with their little tots.
I have been asked about the Gonski Review – and what it will mean – at least a number of times a week over the course of this year.
In schools, duty of care has sat somewhere between 30 seconds and the duration of a class (50-60 minutes). Logically, for those held responsible, the duty of care, defined as total responsibility for a very short duration, has led to massive restrictions on action for those in their 'care'.
I do not know a family that has not had difficulty finding childcare, kindergarten, or a school place. Many families have difficulties with all three!
Our school play this year was an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, starring all 63 of our students.
Your children will sit their NAPLAN exams early in term two. Our approach has always been to make this a low-key affair.
A Letter to the Victorian Minister for Education about the review process imposed on independent schools, a process that is often experienced as hostile to the ethos of the independent school and detrimental to the delivery of good education.
Schools in the UK are no-longer allowed to have a no-touch policy. The UK Government has moved to give teachers the power to enforce safe and effective school environments, and cuddles are back!
My job as a school principal can be described positively or negatively—as helping families raise positive, empowered children or dealing with overly anxious, overprotective parents.
Many of us are, as caring parents, too inclined to speak up for our children, to buy in on their behalf. But are we, in doing this, actually doing the right thing by them?
I have noticed in my time a shift in some family lifestyles away from “reality” parenting – which I will re-phrase simply as parenting.
The British Conservative/Liberal Democratic Government recently passed legislation allowing for parent and community groups to start new schools, schools that would be fully government-funded (and therefore free). These schools are called Free Schools – in that they do not charge fees.
We believe that families should not be denied access to the education that they feel would most benefit their children on political grounds and that all Victorian children should have the same opportunities.
I feel uneasy each time adults talk doom and gloom with children. I do not think that this is something that should be laid on them. My thoughts and writings on education have for many years revolved around hope.
I have pondered the concept of hope for many years, and slowly come to the firm belief that hope is part of the human condition, part of what makes us human.
The organisation of fetes at FCS is done by the children – they organise who will bring what, and who will staff the stalls.
Click the link below to see how parents and guardians are actively engaged in the FCS community.