From the Principal’s seat…

Now I sit down to write the very last newsletter article for 2020. When the year started I never thought I would have achieved what I did this year. I didn’t even think I would be principal! I have realised over the past few weeks that it is really important that we take the time to reflect.

When we have lived through a year like this and we stop and look back for a moment, we have 2 ways of thinking. I could consider my feelings as post traumatic trauma OR think about my post traumatic growth. We know that our resilience is fed by our ability to show gratitude, empathy and mindfulness (The Resilience Project taught me this). By practicing these over the last year, I think I may be viewing 2020 as a year of post traumatic growth for me. Which way are you thinking?

Let’s share some of the ways that Badger Creek Primary School has grown over the past year…

• Scott our Principal of 5 years suddenly left us. We were sad and shocked, but we got on with it. We didn’t let it define our year ahead.
• We experienced fear of an illness that was spreading across the world at an epic rate. As a village we did the right thing to keep our village safe. We stayed home for months to protect each other. That took a lot of strength of mind and determination from each of us. That was extremely hard. We discovered how persistent and strong we could be.
• We have learnt to appreciate our connection to our village. By not being able to see each other, I think it has made us all prioritise what is important to us. As the school has opened up again it is so nice to see friends reunite.
• We, as a community, completely flipped education. Families took a huge leap of faith to become parents and teachers, balancing so many plates. Our teachers changed the way they will teach forever. I am so proud of how Badger Creek evolved and all of the new learnings that have been made this year. I know it will make our educators in the school better equipped for the way learning needs to be in the future.
• My favourite growth this year has been the learning growth by our students. As Erin and I have looked over reports, we have been really focussing on learning growth of our students. 85% of our students made at least 6 months learning growth this year. This is phenomenal! Our kids have shown true grit as they navigated a whole new way of learning. They followed routines set by the learning team (families and teachers) and when they came back to school, they truly came back with a whole new appreciation of school. Our kids have matured immensely! They are amazing.

How have you grown as a family this year? Take some time over the Christmas-New Year period to reflect. I am sure you will realise that you have learnt a lot!

As I mentioned earlier in this piece, I didn’t enter the year thinking I would be the principal of the school. I did get thrown in at the deep end. I want to take this time to thank all the people who have encouraged me to have a go at the job (you know who you are), all the people who have shown forgiveness towards me when I may have made a mistake, and all the people who have supported me as I took the journey this year. It helped me find the strength to keep going, during the times when it was hard. THANK YOU sincerely.

So let’s hope that 2021 brings us a better year. It would be silly of us to ever think that it won’t bring challenges either, but maybe we will be that little bit stronger and have a few more strategies that will help us get through.

I look forward to seeing many of you, on our first day of school at our Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony on Friday the 29^th of January at 9:30am. We invite you to stay for morning tea afterwards to connect with our families.

Have a very Merry Christmas and here is hoping that our New Year keeps us connected! Stay safe!

Nerae Preece

Principal