Brighton Secondary School
Newsletter ISSUE 2 I March 2016
From the Principal Congratulations to the Year 10 Negative Filter F1 in Schools team for winning the Australian Championships. They are off to Austin, Texas, in October to compete in the World finals - what an extraordinary achievement! Duncan Olivia O’Neill and Dr Morphett, for er mb Me ge, rid McFet Ella Harry, and l tha sen with Jake Ro sented pre ins Cygnet House Capta val shield rni Ca ng mi im Sw with the
The F1 in Schools win ning team – Negative Filter – Nic ole Kascak, Luke Battjes, Sam Wa rburton, Jesse Stevens and Eth an Govender
Department for Education and Child Development T/A South Australian Government Schools CRICOS Provider Number: 00018A
305 Brighton Road North Brighton, SA 5048 P 618 8375 8200 F 618 8296 0949 E admin@brighton.sa.edu.au www.brightonss.sa.edu.au
Congratulations to the Lift Dance company for their dynamic performance entitled, Carapace, in the Fringe Festival. The Advertiser review by journalist, Matt Saunders, gave acclaim to this outstanding performance. Amongst many statements of high praise, he said, “The dancers are framed in thoughtfully executed light and darkness, with the lighting of the otherwise bare performance space playing a key role in the production. The audience responds enthusiastically at the close of both acts, and one can’t help but marvel at the quality and ambition of the secondary school production.” These are both outstanding achievements in competition with adults. It got me thinking about the students involved and their humility in the face of significant success. C.S. Lewis, author of the Narnia books, said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” All the students involved in F1 and the Lift Dance are humble students who know their own strengths and weaknesses, are open to new ideas and are able to appreciate the talents and needs of others. As such, they are excellent team players - the only way these students excelled is because they operated as a team. The skills for the 21st century are team work, communication, collaboration, problem solving and creativity. F1 in Schools and the Lift Dance company successfully exemplify these skills. In 2016, at the end of every calendar month, the staff have the opportunity to provide anonymous feedback via a Google Doc. This is a simple and effective way to collect a lot of feedback in a very short time frame and a painless way to write feedback. Yes, it does bring out some ‘keyboard warriors’, however, in the main, it is respectful and constructive. We are hoping to establish a similar process with parents to improve communication, so please stay tuned while we work out the best way to hear as many opinions as possible. In the meantime, please email any concerns you may have to the relevant
staff member. We aim to reply within 24 hours, but trust you will be understanding if sometimes other priorities take precedence. These days, everyone spends a lot of time on computers, iPads and phones. At recess and lunch times we think the students should be getting a break from technology and enjoying some rest and relaxation in the open air. To this end, and by way of clarification of our new codes of behaviour in the library, unless students are studying or reading in the library, then they will be asked to enjoy the outdoors. I shall conclude with what your children may hate hearing: “Leave me alone!” (this means you are brushing them off irrespective of how tired you are after work) “You’re so..” (this means you are labelling them and adding more pressure on them) “Don’t cry!” (this may suggest they are not allowed to describe their feelings) “Why can’t you be more like your sister?” (this may undermine self- confidence) “You know better than that!” (Learning is a process of trial and error - give your child the benefit of the doubt) “Stop or I’ll ground you for a month!” (threats are rarely effective from parents or from teachers - maybe a repertoire of re-directions is more helpful?) Oh but don’t I know as a parent and an educator that we can all be clever in hindsight! Together, I hope we can find ways to help all the Brighton students find their passion and explore it into a successful career. I would like to welcome the new Governing Council members (Catherine Mayfield, Amanda Staples, Robyn Clark, Rachael Edwards, Manuel Solis and Carlos Canini) who joined the Council at the Annual General Meeting held on 7th March. A full list of Governing Councillors is listed later in the newsletter. Olivia O’Neill Principal
BRIGHTON SECONDARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER I ISSUE 2 I March 2016
Responsibility | Integrity | Fairness | Co-operation | Respect | Excellence
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