Head of Junior School

After two years of COVID-affected schooling, with periods of learning at home, it was wonderful to step back into normal school life in 2022.

The spirits of staff, students and parents lifted at the start of the year, as we dared to dream we would be back full time and these continued to stay high as we progressed throughout the year. This good feeling was reflected in a Resilience Survey undertaken by our Years 3 to 6 students, where our girls scored well above national averages, especially in the areas of hope, life satisfaction, having teachers who care for them, feeling good about themselves and being ready to learn. It was also reflected in the results from our Student, Staff and Parent Survey earlier in the year. This year saw the move to online NAPLAN, with our girls in both Years 3 and 5 continuing to score high across all subject areas, particularly in the area of reading where our average score for Year 3 was well beyond the expected achievement level for Year 3 across the nation. These results are testament to the teaching expertise of our Barbreck staff who invest considerable time and effort into creating engaging lessons, tracking student performance, targeting areas of need for support and extension, and knowing our girls well, both as a learner and person. Our girls respond positively to our staff and, as a result, they are happy and successful learners. To provide a greater level of feedback to students and their parents, we trialled Continuous Reporting in Years 4 to 6 during Semester Two. A feature of this reporting practice is to report more regularly and provide feedback on areas of strength, areas for improvement and advice moving forward. This initiative was well received by both students and parents and, as such, we will continue to report in this manner next year. The development of the Junior School Portal, centralised information for our Barbreck parents and gave the opportunity to unify the vast co-curricular program on offer for our Barbreck girls across areas of Sport, the Arts, and many clubs. It is pleasing to report that dance is once again part of this program and to note that girls, after two years of lockdown, were eager to reengage with these activities. The atmosphere in Barbreck is very special. Visiting teachers and guests often comment on this and those who are looking for a school for their daughters say, “You can just feel it!” It is one of warmth, friendliness, and care for each other that exists across staff, students, and parents. We all play a part in creating and sustaining this atmosphere and I thank everyone for their contributions to making Barbreck such an incredibly special school.

Ms Karen McArdle Head of Junior School