Education in our town has a proud history of breaking new ground. Going in to the unknown requires you to have a well-considered plan for a future that is aspirational, as well as a growth mindset, courage to have the conviction for what you are doing is the right thing, and a bit of resilience to work through those moments when the going is tough. Recently I was told about how Penguin was the first school in the state to have the courage to offer textiles and typing classes to all students. Hard to believe that our teachers were challenged on why they’d take a risk on having both girls and boys touchtyping and sewing! But they worked through their plan, celebrated the successes and it soon became the norm in all schools statewide.  41 years on, the next piece of ‘new ground’ that we will be breaking, will be establishing the foundations for our major redevelopment in term 3 of next year. Whilst it is of a different nature, it still requires those same values and a focus of how we will ensure that we are creating the best possible opportunities for our students.

Whilst we are on the cusp of a building project that will have a tremendous impact on our community, it is critical that this doesn’t provide a distraction to the immediate responsibilities for teaching and learning. The Project Working Group have worked through some initial challenges to now have a school design that we believe will be a great model that many other communities will aspire for. I’d like to thank the working group and everyone in our school community that has engaged in the consultation process to this point.

Thank you to the hard working and committed teaching and support staff that we have at Penguin. Our teaching teams with leadership from Mr Matt Perry and Mr Geoff Davis, have been willing to step out of their comfort zone, trial new strategies, teach across other schools, and work collaboratively; with our schools growth highlighted with some of our teachers invited to share their learning with colleagues around the state.

2019 has been a year of firsts on many fronts. We have commenced our 11/12 program, opened up our school to exchange students from Taiwan, partnered with a number of sporting organisations for Athlete Development, held colour run fundraisers, pop-up playgroups and outreach programs, contemporary dancing and a record number of students on work placements.  Inquiry is now a key feature of how we teach in the early years and we’ve had our older students serving the first coffees to the public from our Railway Café.

We must all work together as a community and I ask that families accept the invitation to communicate openly and freely with our school, and take any invitation to work towards your children having a successful year of learning and achieving. Our responsibility as a school is to ensure that our environment is welcoming and engaging to all families and that we are providing the opportunities to strengthen partnerships with our community. I am determined that our school will be considered the centre of the community and that the concept of community, will always be central to how we operate as a school.

Our students have all achieved something special throughout the year that they can be proud of. Whether it is learning about the changes in the seasons with the Kinder tree, getting on stage for the first time in an Eisteddfod, making someone new to our school feel welcome, braving the mountain bike trails in PE, approaching your first pre-tertiary exams in Maths Methods, finding the courage to nominate for a student leadership position or just feeling more confident to speak your mind. Please join me in congratulating all of our students.

The end of the school year brings with it mixed emotions as we need to say some farewells.

Starting the 2020 school year will feel quite different for our school as we farewell 5 dedicated and committed teachers that have been a constant with us for so many years.

Mrs Sharine Johnstone’s passions for sustainability and maintaining a special place for students to enjoy our Sensory Garden will be lasting legacies from her time with us at Penguin. Mrs Johnstone always held high expectations around literacy and numeracy, mixed with authentic learning in the garden and visual arts to provide balanced and engaging programs to the children in her care.

Mrs Deb Lutwyche started at Penguin in 2007. The students that started Kinder in Mrs Lutwyche’s first year had just finished grade ten last year. Her exceptionally warm and kind personality and welcoming classroom for parents and their children, has provided hundreds of Penguin students with the perfect start to their education.

Mrs Janeen Lillas’ commitment to education in our town goes beyond her time as a teacher. Janeen is also one of a small number of life members of our school parent group from her time when her two daughters went through Penguin Primary. This passion for the community extended to Janeen’s teaching with a desire to have her students have a strong understanding of where they are from, and how they can contribute to their town.

Mr Damien Pursell has been an integral member of our health and PE team for 12 years. Extracurricular opportunities can only happen with committed staff, and many students have Mr Pursell to thank for being able to hit the slopes at Mt Hotham or in trying to land a trout at the school fishing titles, amongst other memorable moments.

Mr Jason Faulkner will be leaving us after 11 years to teach on King Island. Jason’s commitment to keeping parents connected is always appreciated, as are the exciting literacy and technology based opportunities he provides his class, from animation to student poetry readings. Jason is always generous in his time for students and looking to build on their passions.   

Please join us celebrating and acknowledging these long standing staff members.

Mr Duncan Murfet has led the successful implementation of our year 11/12 program. His genuine care, interest and connection with students is unparalleled and Havenview Primary will benefit from him leading their community as principal from 2020.

Thank you to Narelle Maher, Mischa Frankcombe, Alex French, Melinda Dykman, Jasmine Biere, Steven Jones and Ian Forbes for your work since joining our school in recent times. We value the contributions you have made to our school and wish you well in to next year.

I would like to publicly thank the parents of all of our children. Thank you for preparing your children for every day, remaining connected with your child’s teachers and for making every day count by valuing your child’s time at school. Our school is considered to have a very high level of attendance, and that can be directly attributed to your connectedness. We were reminded of this recently when one of our house groups had 98% attendance at the athletics carnival last month. I’d like to acknowledge the students and their families across our school that have made a priority of getting to school on time, each and every day and as a result have 100% attendance.

I appreciate the time that parent volunteers have invested in our school by volunteered in a variety of ways across either campus. It’s wonderful to have more people putting their hand up to add value to our school. Thank you to our School Association, led by our outgoing Chairperson Tim Powell. The School Association have had a busy year with a focus on increasing the engagement with the broader school community. Thank you to the representatives of this group for your strong advocacy of our school.

Finally I’d like to acknowledge the most important people, and that is the children that we spend each and every school day with. We are inspired by the respect, kindness, care and consideration you show for each other. I would like to end my address by telling you how proud I am to be a part of your school. Congratulations on a successful year and thank you for your support.