From the Principal
Bunbury Senior High School community has pulled together through a difficult term. The spectre of COVID shutdowns, winter illness, staff shortages and bitter disappointment of last-minute cancellation of Country Week has made Term 2 difficult. I have said it before and I continue to sing the praise of students, families and the staff of Bunbury Senior High School; their resilience and courage to keep going and to support each other are outstanding.
Never has it been more vital for us all to pull together and work as one. This theme is very relevant with NAIDOC day coming up through the school holidays. I encourage everyone to attend local NAIDOC day events. Sharing in our rich Noongar history, stories and culture bring us all together to support each other in moving forward as one nation.
The school will have our NAIDOC Day celebrations during week 4, Term 4. In 2022, our NAIDOC Week celebrations will be moved closer to NAIDOC Week and will occur in Term 3. For local NAIDOC Week events, visit the Yaka Dandjoo Events website.
Recently our Year 8 students did a cultural walking tour of Bunbury/Goomburrup. It was led by Mr Troy Bennell. The students were entertained and enlightened by Mr Bennell’s stories of the use and significance of the land they were standing on. It is no accident that caring for the environment, empathy for animals and the love of camping is part of the Australian psyche. That is because of the learning and appreciation for the ways of our First Nations people. It is very hard to work in a land without understanding the story lines and significance. As we stood on Boulter Heights Mr Bennell pointed out the significant distance natural landmarks and told stories of the recent past. Never has it been truer, the need for understanding and reconciliation. You can check out these cultural experiences here.
Last Saturday night was the culmination of three weeks of Eisteddfod events. The Gala Evening included the best performance of the three-week heats. The Bunbury Senior High School Senior Jazz Band featured and were a crowd favourite. Year 11 student Erin Lever also featured playing a very complex solo piano piece and was wonderful.
Across the winter, many of our students are involved in community sport. In the Bunbury Senior High School way, they have applied themselves to excel. Many have made state or representative teams. School Sport WA has notified me of the following students:
- Phaedrus Liddiard 12yrs and Under Boys Hockey
- Chase Martinson 15s AFL Boys
- Riley Fisher 15s AFL Girls
- Alira Fotu 15s AFL Girls
We are very proud of the students. This is a wonderful achievement for them.
Our students have also made their mark in the academic field this term. Emma Standish has secured a place doing fieldwork on the Ningaloo Reef with an organisation called Earth Watch. Emma will be conducting Shark and Ray surveys, plankton tows and will survey the oceans for macro and micro plastics.
Our staff also have been hard at work this term, in class and out. Often the planning, assessment and review work that teachers are involved in is often invisible to the school community. This term, and for the rest of the year, the staff have been preparing to make schooling a better place for our students. They have been reading research papers on the Future of Work and the educational changes needed to keep our students current. Preparing our students not just with the curriculum but with other researched skills, like Critical thinking, Team Work and STEM skills, will keep them best placed and competitive in the world market.
Recently the staff have been planning to repackage their curriculum to include a structured program to support the social and emotional development of our Year 7 and 8 students. Complimentary to the social and emotional learning, staff have been planning to have research and projects at the core of their curriculum; giving students more chance to connect their learning to real-life problems and solutions. Already we have seen many of these experiences being delivered to our students and we will see them grow with the addition of wonderful technology like the underwater drone the school recently purchased by receiving a grant from local company Tronox.
Some of our amazing staff will be leaving us at the end of this term. I cannot thank them enough for their contributions to Bunbury SHS: Teschna Taylor, Gale Gass, Charmain Slater and Kim Morrow.
After such an amazing effort this term, I encourage everyone, staff, students and parents to use the holiday break to rest and recharge.
En Avant
Mike Sinagra
Principal