Heard on the Hill Term 4, Week 5

From the Principal

Bonjour à tous, and Wanju

The news cycle moves quickly and what was last week’s news and turmoil for us has moved on quickly.  However, some very important lessons and information came from the experience.

“those who don’t take heed of history are doomed to repeat it”

Firstly, I am truly sorry for the impact that this has had on you, the students and the reputation of our school. While I can understand your anger at the way the SSTUWA used the Union Branch motion, it is naïve of us to think that they would not do so to advance the Keeping Our Workplace Safe campaign. A campaign well worthy of our support. The lesson for us in this is, for statements that become public, to be clear, succinct and specific.  I am greatly appreciative of the new motion from our union branch that has clarified its position.

I have reviewed Academy reports, discussed with Student Services team and with the Leadership Team to gain the most complete picture I could of the situation at Bunbury Senior High School. I am happy to say and no doubt that you realise also, that we don’t have situation of a “….shocking amount of Sexual Harassment they endure on a daily basis”.  There have been a number of isolated sexual harassment incidents from students recorded through Academy, like many WA schools, and they were dealt with accordingly.  When asked about the number of reported incidents on Academy, the leadership team has provided information about the amount of sexualised comments made by students that teachers resolve themselves.

This is important information and it is important for us to respond to it.  We are yet to fully understand the reason why but there is room to apply emotional intelligence learning as a preventative strategy.  Already we have introduced a SEL program into Year 7 and Year 8.  Along with the opportunities in the Health program we have the capacity to focus this further. Currently, feedback points to the Year 9 and Year 10 group where this behaviour is most prevalent. This week the Leadership team is meeting.  It will be good to formulate a plan to understand these observations further and look for other preventative measures. 

I would re-iterate, staff should never have to accept sexual harassment in their workplace, as it is never OK. The school has processes for reporting any issues. For resolution of any issue, we have many avenues of support. I urge you all to firstly approach, your line manager, Deputy Principal, student services and if you are a union member, your union representative. I hold a fortnightly meeting with the Union representative for this purpose.

Have a great week.

En Avant

Mike Sinagra

Leadership Minutes

Please click the link below to access Leadership Minutes from last week.

Survey My Class

It's that time of year again, when we offer teaching staff the opportunity to survey their classes to get some feedback. We offer this twice during the year, in Term 2 and again in Term 4.

The process is simple. During the dates the survey is open (21 Nov – 2 Dec) you send the link to your students. They click on it and off they go. It is a good idea to actually give them some class time to complete it. They can use their iPads to do the survey.

The survey data for each individual teacher remains private to those teachers. The combined data of all staff is compiled into a report for the Executive Team, which is simply another piece of data used to inform our school improvement plans.

Participation is not compulsory, but it can be a useful process to do for your own professional development.

If you have any questions about the process, please contact Kelly on 78902.

Aboriginal Education and Wellbeing

The school Executive team, in consultation with the Follow the Dream Coordinator and our Aboriginal and Islander Education Officer, are pleased to announce that an Aboriginal student hub will be established in the current conference room in the Library. The space will be used as a safe place for students to go and speak to the AIEO, do their Follow the Dream tutoring, and participate in cultural workshops and activities. 

There are a few logistical things to sort out, so this won’t happen straight away.  Kristy will be seeking input from students over the next week or so. We hope that this will be a strategy that helps to build our Aboriginal students’ sense of belonging at Bunbury SHS.

Download SZapp

Download the SZapp to keep up to date with all our school communications.

It's a very easy-to-use app with links to all of our school platforms, including the school website, newsletters, Facebook, calendar plus more!

Watch the video below on how to download and some of the features.

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Is something interesting happening in or around your classroom? Having an incursion or excursion this term? Please let me know!

We love to share updates from the school with our community and would like representation from each area of our wonderful school; no matter how big or small.

Please submit stories for our Facebook page via the wufoo link below and include as much information as you can, plus a few images to accompany the article. If you are having trouble with the wufoo form, you can email the information to me directly.(ellie.mackay@education.wa.edu.au)

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