Principal’s Report

WAYNE KENNEDY

Dear families,

I have proudly spoken of the strong sense of community within our Peregian Beach College culture, and of the resilience, flexibility and support provide by all stakeholders, when it is needed. I would like to express my sincerest appreciation to all our parents, guardians, and students for your incredible patience and flexibility in continuing to navigate COVID-19 protocols and directives, as well as the obstacles faced with the flooding of our Early Learning Centre, After Hours School Care facilities and four of our Junior School Classrooms. The College has had to make prompt modifications to classroom allocations, to best meet the academic needs of our students.

When faced with adversity, it is extremely reassuring when members of our community take the time to the make comment on the smile of a grounds staff directing traffic in the rain, or to acknowledge the beautiful presentation of teaching resources in classroom, that have been relocated in less than 24 hours.  I am positive that our parents feel this way also with how your child/children’s teacher has managed to support their class with the transition into different learning spaces.  It has been a pleasure to witness parents express their gratitude to our teaching team. The cupcakes presented to reception staff this morning went a long way to get them through their Friday.

As a Principal, I am very proud of the way our College community have succeeded with these challenges. The College Teaching Team have continued to priorities student educational outcomes and have ‘moved mountains’ to ensure that learning environments have not been compromised – working their weekend to achieve this goal.  I cannot praise the Teaching Team, Leadership Team and members of the College Board enough for their commitment to ensure that the education of our students is never compromised, even in extremely adverse circumstances.

This week has seen the restoration work on Buildings 2 & 3 commence, with considerable progress made.  The College is optimistic that Term 2 will see students returning to their classrooms.  I will endeavour to provide consistent progress updates via email and within the Emu Chronicle.

The inclement weather conditions have also had considerable impact on Sporting Academy programs and access to facilities.  The College Board has made arrangement for three demountable buildings (12m x 3m) to be fabricated and placed on the southern side of the College pool for change room facilities. Shower and toileting facilities will be installed.  It is anticipated that these demountable buildings will be operational and usable all within six weeks.

This edition of the Emu Chronicle only consists of the Principal Report, as the College goal has been for the Teaching Team to focus on the educational and wellbeing needs of our students. The next issue will see the return of classroom information and highlights.