Each year at GPCC we develop a School Improvement Plan to give some direction and impetus to what we are focused on achieving. These are generally available on the website and you will find here, our Plan from last year and a review summary of how far we got in completing the Plan.

I have just sent out the 2022 Plan to staff for comment and then it will be posted as well. Feel free at any time to make comment about these Plans. The Executive Team and I work to stay in touch with the whole school community to ensure we are focusing on the things that matter to people. While doing that we are still looking ahead to move the school forward in ways perhaps others might not think about.

Schools are and can be places of very set routine. Each year is very similar to the last and we are bound by many requirements in relation to Government regulation and curriculum requirements that can limit the scope of what we might like to do. Being creative within that space is the trick to keeping the school fresh and moving ahead. Each Plan does not contain detailed information about what will be done, we do that outside of the Plan as we work on each project, so don’t think that the focus areas are limited or lacking in scope.

In the fast-changing environment we live in, I believe it is important not to lock ourselves in too much to certain goals, but to remain responsive to opportunities and uncontrollable changes that are bound to come our way. The 2022 Plan may well change as we move on through the year.

We are now a few weeks into our ban on mobile devices during break times for Years 7 – 10. I want to say thank you to the many parents who took time to contact me with support for this move. It has been very successful so far with very few confiscations taking place each week. If a student has a device out during break times, they are required to hand it in to the Office and collect it at the end of the day. Two confiscations in a term means handing it in at the start of the day and collecting it at the end for five school days.

Some of you are still phoning your child during school time and this is not very helpful. You can certainly SMS them and they will see that at the end of the day when they can check their phones again. Often this relates to pick up arrangements, but your child can check their messages at 3:15pm so they know how to get home.

It has been great to see some sunny days recently and our field is again open for PE classes to use. We are waiting to see if it holds up before making it available for break time play. I have enjoyed seeing a lot more relational interaction between students who are not fixed on their devices during break times. While this has been a challenge for some, it is proving to be a blessing to many.

Phillip Nash