Welcome to Term 2! Our campuses are alive with students once again and across all sites, we are enjoying the results of a number of maintenance and improvement projects that took place over the break. Ask your child if they’ve noticed what’s different at school this week: there’s a new garden area at Middle Cove, a new roof at Castlecrag and all sorts of wonderful outdoor works underway at Pre-School that are set to enrich the children’s experience quite dramatically.
Professional Learning Days
Monday’s PD Day provided valuable time for K-12 teachers to work on a variety of operational and strategic projects including:
· New Mathematics Syllabus mapping and implementation (Primary teachers)
· Child Development Study Years 10-12 (High School teachers)
· An exploration of unconditional positive regard as a mindset for teachers (High School Teachers)
· K-12 Wellbeing Framework (K-12 teachers)
· Professional Growth for Teachers (K-12 teachers)
And back on April 6, staff were involved in a variety of training sessions in CPR, First Aid, and Youth Mental Health First Aid.
Ahead for Term 2 and beyond
I’m very pleased to be able to provide parents with the Term 2 Parent Education Program. This link can be used to peruse what’s on offer this term and make bookings for sessions. Glenaeon offers Parent Education workshops, lectures, and interactive sessions each term. We aim to support Glenaeon parents and carers through:
· Education about parenting from early childhood to adolescence and beyond
· Sharing an understanding of Glenaeon’s curriculum alongside our picture of child development and its application at the school
· Opportunities for broadening engagement with the wider community and building community ties
· Addressing current themes and issues in education
We look forward to welcoming you to a Parent Education session this term.
On the co-curricular program front, we are eager to provide Debating as a regular after-school offering for Glenaeon students in Years 7, 8 and 9. Debating provides an exceptional vehicle through which to build self-confidence and learn the art of respectful civil argument and debate. Of course, the program running relies on enough students signing up each term. Parents can read more about the Debating program linked here and sign up. Lessons start Wednesday, 10 May.
Term 2 culminates with our annual Community Mid-Winter Festival (Wednesday 21 June, 6.30pm) and the MidWinter Party (Saturday 3 June, 6pm). These are iconic Glenaeon events – mark your calendar now!
Lastly, please find linked here and on GLO Term Dates for 2024. Knowing these dates well in advance will allow families to make travel plans within gazetted School Holiday periods. Parents and carers are asked to adhere to these dates for family holidays and to apply in advance for any leave from designated school days. Please know that approval is not automatic.
For more details on Staff News and Generative AI and Technology at Glenaeon, please click 'Show more'.
Staff News
This term we welcome Nour Tohamy as Class Assistant for Class 5 on Mondays and Tuesdays. Nour is completing her teaching degree and is also studying the Steiner Education. Her background includes tutoring in Science & Biology, running Homework Clubs, teaching swimming and working as a Youth Leader for the Islamic Women’s Welfare Association.
Dani Demos joined Glenaeon in Term 1 on a casual basis with the Professional Services team, and now, for Term 2 will be our regular Monday Receptionist/Administrator. Dani is a member of the Glenaeon community as a parent and has also taken a keen interest in school activities from Parent Education sessions to the role of Class Parent.
It is with mixed emotions that I advise of Angela Sutton’s resignation. As Head of Learning Enrichment since 2021, Angela has been instrumental in the shaping of the current Learning Enrichment program and the provision of comprehensive support structures for students with additional needs. We will miss her deep knowledge and her systems thinking but are delighted for Angela as she moves on to a promotional role as Assistant Principal at Sydney Children’s Hospital School at Randwick. Angela, we wish you well! From Week 3, Jenni Foley, a respected member of the Learning Enrichment Team, with vast experience in leadership and in special education, will take on the daily management of the LE program, supported by Dani Finch, Deputy Head of School (K-6).
Generative AI and Technology at Glenaeon
ChatGPT launched in late November 2022, and since then, the commentary within education circles around it and other generative AI tools has centred largely on the possible implications for teaching and learning and on the validity of certain types of assessment tasks used in schools. There’s much about ChatGPT that’s enticing for educators, and for students; there’s no doubt it can provide information and ‘fast fun’. It cannot, in my view, do the thinking for students, nor help them truly learn. I was struck by a recent paragraph in a Newsletter from AHISAs* CEO, Chris Duncan in which he states, ‘As technology continues to disrupt traditional schooling provision, the challenge for educators and in particular school leaders is how to anchor in that provision all that is necessary for young people to grow their human potential’.
What I find most refreshing about Glenaeon’s approach to the use of digital technologies is the intentional and thoughtful consideration given to child development, learning purpose and the natural sequence of the curriculum. Linked to all three, and crucial in my opinion, is the thought given to developing academic, emotional and social capacities in young people that enable them to make connections between isolated skills and concepts to form abstract thought and deep conceptual understandings and experiences that result in intrinsically and motivating learning, transferable to leading a meaningful life. This means that digital technology is introduced as and when its needed, as a useful tool to design, create and complete projects and to enhance the meaning built intrinsically into the learning. As our teachers continue to explore and learn more about ChatGPT and other generative AI tools, be assured that these fundamental considerations will remain at the forefront of our thinking and our actions. Parents and carers can learn more about the approach Steiner schools take to digital technology in Australia through the video below, launched last week by Steiner Education Australia and featuring Glenaeon students and our very own Evan Sanders (ICT Integrator).
*AHISA – Association of Heads of Independent Schools Australia.
With very best wishes for a wonderful term ahead,
Diana Drummond
Head of School