Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher said, 'there is nothing permanent except change.' Over the years this quote has been reformulated however the sentiment remains the same. The concept of change is a true representation of life. It can be disruptive and at times we don’t like to change the way we do things, but often we find there are benefits that we may not have foreseen.
Change is a constant within a school setting and can be seen across many facets - management, strategic, operational, governance, teaching and learning. It can be a tricky balance between what is planned for and what is unforeseen yet inevitable when working in an educational institution when everything surrounds people. Here at Girls Grammar we see change as an important part of our ongoing growth and development and is witnessed in the way we listen to and take on board feedback from parents, students, staff and community. Recently this feedback is in the form of the ABSA survey that all boarding parents and students engaged in. I viewed the results in draft form yesterday and am very pleased with what I have seen so far. Of course in all feedback, there will be areas for improvement and these survey results will be shared with our school community when finalised. From here there will be specific aspects that we will identify as areas for improvement that we will unpack further as an Executive team and share with our boarding families.
Next week all parents, students and staff will be emailed details of a school satisfaction survey by MYP Corporation (MYPCorp) who we have engaged with to provide this professional service. All confidential results will be collated externally before a summary is provided to our Executive team and then shared with the school community. We strongly value this feedback as it allows us to evaluate how we are progressing, to acknowledge and celebrate what we are doing well, and most importantly identify where we can make necessary adjustments for improvement. I strongly encourage all members of Girls Grammar to take the opportunity to engage in this survey and provide valuable and confidential feedback across all aspects of our school community.
Currently, change can be seen in our staffing at Girls Grammar. Over this past week Ms Laryssa Anger commenced her maternity leave a month earlier than anticipated. We wish Laryssa and her husband all the very best for this new chapter in their lives as they welcome their daughter into the world. We have completed the process of recruitment for Ms Anger and will be sharing this with the school community in the coming days before they commence with us at the beginning of Week 9. Mrs Stephanie Marsden will be commencing her maternity leave from the start of Term 3 and we wish her and her husband all the best for the birth of their daughter also. We are currently finalising her replacement for Business and Legal Studies and will communicate this prior to the end of term.
This week we have added an additional duty to the afternoon pick up area along Agnes Street. Thank you to those families who have been following the flow through zone expectations. Please ensure that you are not parking in any free space alongside the footpath of Agnes Street. We have requested that all bus students arrive at their Girls Grammar bus by 2.55pm each day to allow buses to leave soon after 3.00pm. This will then free up more of the Agnes street flow through zone for student collection. No cars are to be parked along this pick up zone as this area is allocated to families who remain in their vehicles and move forward as the traffic continues to flow.
We thank all families for their ongoing support and consideration of this as we continue to review our current processes to ensure our management puts student and family safety as our number one priority. As always we welcome any feedback on the items mentioned above.
Kara Krehlik
Principal