trundle central school newsletter · ajax’s weekly woof woof woof awards: 500 happy barks to all...

Telephone: (02) 68921303 Fax: (02) 68921184 Email: [email protected] School webpage – https://trundle-c.schools.nsw.gov.au Facebook - www.facebook.com/TrundleCentralSchool

25th May 2020 Term 2 Week 5

Trundle Central School Newsletter A school that provides a

professional, stimulating and challenging learning

environment

Principal Mr John Southon

Head Teacher Secondary Mr Gerry Capell

Assistant Principal Mrs Fiona Sanderson

Reminders

P&C President

Vacant

Secretary Vacant

Treasurer Vacant

GUITARS—TERM 2

Guitars will resume

from tomorrow.

Due to the COVID-19

restrictions that are in

place, please ensure that

you bring your allocated

guitar.

If you forget your guitar,

you will remain in your

normal class instead of

attending the guitar

lesson.

Mr Chris Orr

Guitar Teacher

School’s back!

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.trundle-c.schools.nsw.edu.au/


Term 2 Week 5

Principal’s

Message

WE ARE BACK!! At times I thought this day would

not come this term which would have been a

disaster in my opinion. However, it has arrived with

considerable excitement for both staff and most

students. All students, except those ill, should have

returned to school today for face-to-face classes.

Normal school operations have re-commenced,

including the enforcement of attendance on

campus.

Now face-to-face learning has returned, parents can

have a little lie down, maybe a few crushed grapes,

or the fermented barley and hops that China does

not want because Australia asked for an enquiry

into a worldwide pandemic, how rude of us. Always

consume in moderation of course. Come on, you

deserve it and owe it to Australian farmers to try

and take up the shortfall in sales in these times of

crisis! Reflect on the past five weeks of

achievements and challenges and pray this hideous

virus does not affect schools again. I thank our

wonderful parents for their support and patience

over these unprecedented times. It is because of

your cooperation, schools can return earlier than

was first expected. If the second expected wave does come, schools are very well prepared.

There is always an extremely small, but real chance

that some schools will have to close for deep

cleaning if a case of COVID-19 is in the school

community. This is more problematic in country

schools because communication can be difficult to

some families, if closure needs to happen quickly. If

this school is affected, we will follow the

procedures and directions of the Department of

Education Safety and Security directorate. In a

school such as ours, it will be a closure for a day

for deep cleaning and contact tracing to determine

who the person has been in contact with. Wow, it

is almost worth faking a case of COVID-19 in some

teenager’s room, forcing deep cleaning. I am sure

tracing the origins of a few items thrown in the

corners or under beds would be a difficult task.

Imagine human contact tracing in Summer Bay with

all the drama in that place. It would not be a

problem in country towns, or would it???

The Department of Education has set guidelines for

the return to face-to-face teaching. They include

that students who are sick with flu like symptoms

are not to attend school. These include but are not

limited to a sore throat, cough, runny nose and

headache. If students present to school with or

develop these symptoms they will be isolated at

school and parents need to collect them and take

them home.

The drought and other factors have reduced our numbers from 70 two years ago in primary to 53 at

present. High School is slightly healthier but

numbers are lower than expected. Unless new

families come to Trundle there will be job loses

next year across the school. I have no idea why

some principals hide the truth on these matters

from the school community. If this school loses

staff, considerable money will leave the town

because my staff live locally and support the town.

This school is an economic and social hub for the

town and as a result when this school declines in

numbers, the town is on some form of life support.

Think about the street or agricultural area you live

in. Just do a count of how many vacant houses or

dwellings that have one or two people living in

them, without children, and you will understand

what I mean. We are blessed with two outstanding

schools in this town, but we are both competing

for students in a diminishing market. This is not

sustainable. History and culture and the desire for

choice is great but young families need to come to

town to sustain two schools. The drought has

eased, there are quality houses for sale and the

supermarket is re-opening. Now every person

needs to be an advertisement for living in this

community to attract new families.

Last week, yet again, I saw on Facebook people

posting country people are tough and resilient in a response to a story on Channel 10. This is true in

varied degrees across any country community.

However, I wonder if this resilience and how we

portray ourselves has reduced our ability to attract

and maintain services. If we accept second best or

systematic neglect of country areas because we are




Term 2 Week 5

used to adapting and making do, maybe

governments overlook our community in favour of

those that are more politically active and vocal. I

was pleased to see an officer at the station last

week for full shifts and I hope this continues. I am

writing to Phillip Donato, the State Member to try

and gain some answers about the lack of a

permanent officer at the station this year. I do not

believe reactionary policing is the most effective

method in country towns and as a citizen and

school Principal, I want answers to why our

policing model has changed from community

policing to reactionary.

Some people have expressed that my proactive stance on encouraging Trundle to be in the public

forum is at times portraying the community in a

negative light. I can understand this viewpoint and

again it is about different perspectives. I also

believe a small percentage of people want the town

to be quiet and slowly die because it reduces

expectations on themselves. However, what I

know is, when Whitlam was in government in 1973

Trundle had more retail outlets and population

than now but the Australian population has

doubled. This indicates to me we need to be more

vocal in asking / demanding support and services.

When walking on a wire across a pond of

crocodiles, balance is the answer. Thirty years in

education has also taught me that it is the same in

terms of fostering resilience in children. I want

emotionally strong, proactive, community focused

students to graduate from this school. The type of

young people that are willing to work hard to

overcome adversity, have the confidence to

innovate, adapt and accept failure as a challenge for

improvement rather than an excuse for giving up.

However, I also want students that are willing to

say they are struggling emotionally at times or

demand governments and people to listen to their

needs. The balance is that you do not want

students who try to overcome without support to

the stage that they eventually break, or students

who give up because they are not emotionally willing to accept a challenge. I once had a student

who demanded the other students slowdown in

touch football because he could not tip them and

he would be telling his mom. He was mortified

when I said you need to be quicker. He was used

to an environment where giving up was accepted

and justified rather than challenges offered.

Education is a hard game and parenting even

harder.

Some parents have expressed to me that their

children are finding transition back to school

difficult. This is because they are out of routine.

Teaching routine and responsibility to children is

important because in the workforce employers

expect you to turn up on time, regularly and work

hard. The mutual obligation is, you get paid. Mutual

obligation is a concept that I believe is fundamental

to developing young people who contribute to this

great country. Some parents may think it is overkill

to instil this concept in the early years of school but I passionately believe young people need to

understand that they have a responsibility to

contribute and their effort is rewarded.

Miss Aleisha Ward left us last week to take up a

full time contract at Parkes High School. I would

have loved to be in a position to offer Miss Ward

five days per week but our present numbers do

not justify a full time position. I wish her the best

of luck and believe she is on a journey to become

an excellent teacher. Mr Mitchell Flavel will be

replacing Miss Ward.

Visiting teachers and Home School Liaison Officers

will start to visit the school from today. I

passionately believe, it is time we returned to as

close to normal as possible. This is rare for me

because one thing I have fought against my whole

career, is the normal.

Get well soon to Annabelle Cotter who broke her

wrist at school last week. Annabelle is a pleasure

to have at school and I hope she is feeling better

soon. Active kids sometimes have accidents. We

do not like it but it is a risk we have to accept

because I want students to be active in the

playground.

John Southon

Principal




Term 2 Week 5




Term 2 Week 5

Ajax’s

Weekly Woof

Woof Woof Awards: 500 happy barks to all the smiling faces that

returned today. I am bred as a retriever so I will be

going out to round up those who did not return by the end of the week.

5000 happy barks to the students who spoke on

Channel 9’s the Today Show with very short notice.

The reporter got the names wrong in a few places

but that is a minor issue in the big picture.

5000 happy barks to the Trundle Progress

Committee for continuing to raise money for the

skate park. Many people talk a good game but you

people are actually having a go.

500 happy barks to Parkes Police for having an

officer on duty at the station last week. Trundle is a

very safe community but we are entitled to a police

officer so we should have one.

500 happy barks to Miss Aleisha Ward. Thank you

for your service to our school and we wish you

well.

500 happy barks to the company constructing the

solar farm. They have offered to conduct school

excursions of the facility and talk to students about

solar energy. Cattle dog Southo hit them up to

employ local youth but the facility will be handed

over to another company for maintenance and

operation. Never miss an opportunity.

500 angry barks to Channel 9 for calling me a comfort dog. I am a highly trained ‘Pets as Therapy

dog’ and a member of staff. Cats are for comfort

and nice on toast. Highly trained animals such as

myself provide therapy.

5000 angry barks to the poor internet and mobile

phone coverage that country people are expected

to put up with. Some former communist countries

in Eastern Europe have better internet coverage

than rural Australia. I was streaming a movie about

my idol Lassie on the weekend and all I got was the

wheel of death. Our students deserve more.

Coming back to school is not easy for all students,

but school is the safest and happiest place to be

during the day except the family home for most

students. I am a highly trained professional NOT a

comfort animal. Can you see any feathers, I am not

a budgie? I also realise school is much more than a

place of learning, you get to see your friends and

this is vitally important.

Until next week, Ajax

Bark with laughter

with Ajax:

What do you call a fake noodler? Impasta!




Primary

Term 2 Week 5

It is great to be back full time although

there will be restrictions to our usual

Term 2 events.

Please return all work packs to school as soon as

possible even if they haven’t been finished. Please

be reassured that over the next few weeks all

concepts will be revisited.

When returning to school students will be

encouraged to:

• Follow social distancing guidelines and wash

and sanitize their hands regularly throughout the day.

• Technology used in the classrooms

will be cleaned before and after use.

• Students will be given labelled

stationary packs and these will stay at

school.

• Students must bring their own water

bottles as the bubblers are still not in

use.

• Fruit will not be able to be cut during

fruit break so if your child prefers cut

fruit, please do this when packing

their lunch box.




Term 2 Week 5

Secondary

And finally, a real WELCOME BACK!!

We have re-commenced our normal timetable for

all students. This is Week A.

Today the students were issued with individual

wipes. These will be used to wipe down the area

they are using at the end of each lesson. The used

wipes will then be deposited into the rubbish on

the way out of the classroom and the students will

then wash their hands before their next class. If

they are using practical equipment, computers etc

during a class they will also wipe them down at the

end of use. Hopefully this will minimise any cross contamination occurring at school.

Next week we will publish how we will be

reporting on our Year 7-10 students for the first

semester. Our advice at present is that this should

occur in Term 3. They will be less formal due to

the disruption of the assessments schedule which

has occurred. We are extremely lucky here with

our class sizes and strong school community that

our teachers are very aware of our students’

capabilities and attributes and this will contribute

to the validity of our reports during this time.

Assessments which were taken to be done at

home need to be returned to school. Most

students have returned these and those who

haven’t will be supported in the usual fashion to

complete them.

Guitar lessons resume as normal this week.

Students must bring their own instruments or they

will not be participating in the lessons.

Our Stage 6 students have moved learning

platforms from Zoom back to our usual video

conferencing. All of our students should be

congratulated on the application they have shown

during this disruption.

As always if there are any questions in regards to

secondary matters please contact me at school.

Have a great week

Gerry Capell

Head Teacher Secondary Studies

GUITARS—TERM 2

Guitars will resume from tomorrow.

Due to the COVID-19 restrictions

that are in place, please ensure that

you bring your allocated guitar.

If you forget your

guitar, you will

remain in your

normal class

instead of attending

the guitar lesson.

Mr Chris Orr

Guitar Teacher




Term 2 Week 5




Community

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trundle central school newsletter · ajax’s weekly woof woof woof awards: 500 happy barks to all...

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