This week, I’ve been to the dentist … too often. I’ve discovered that there’s a word for the phobia associated with dentists and it’s odontophobia. I identify as somebody with mild odontophobia. It stemmed from an accident when I was eleven years old. Running around the backyard with a golf club in hand, I slipped on…
Alannah was always so supportive – a School Council Member, an enthusiastic volunteer and an advocate in the community. And yet, here she was banging my desk and almost frothing at the mouth whilst shouting at me about the “treatment” her son had received after involving himself in a playground stoush. I remember it well…
Tonight, the AFL Finals Series begins – but before we descend into the grip on ‘finals fever’ I’d like to take a quick look at the last match of the home and away season between Port Adelaide and Collingwood for an important lesson about schooling. As a fervent Richmond supporter, I’m genetically predisposed to disliking…
I’ve created a rather cruel personal quandary for myself this year. I want to be simultaneously kind to myself, brave with my choices, creative and grateful. Sometimes, those ambitions contradict. This is one of those sometimes, but I’m doing it anyway. The above is a poem I’ve written for parents about our teachers’ collective experience…
Here’s what I know about most of the student conflicts that I’ve injected myself into: They took way too long. Students are great at telling stories (their own painted versions, of course) and anchoring conversations in the past. I’ve even listened to sordid tales of generational conflict … because there was a spat at recess…
School Leaders are busy. We do a lot of … well … stuff. But this I know to be true. Of all the stuff that I did, one single act was more important than the mountain of others. It was making the decision that mine would become a restorative school. And the proof for the return on that decision…
Hasn’t 2020 proven to be a rather big year? But it will end and the next one will commence. That’s just how things go. And, as daunting as the thought of 2021 might be, you can do this. Yes, you can. I came across this 2016 clip from the UK that served as a reminder that…
The announcement by NSW DoE of their new Student Behaviour Strategy has caused some ripples of anxiety amongst the teaching fraternity. That’s fair enough too. With 2209 NSW Government schools to be impacted by the changes that are now on the cards, specifically when it comes to the clear intention to reduce student suspensions, that adds up…
Yep, aren’t we sick to death of seeing the word “Cancelled” next to everything we wanted to do this year? I was going to see my favourite band from my nightclub days of the early 1990s “Boom Crash Opera”. They rocked! But alas …. Coronavirus. I’ve also watched event after event for Principals, APs and…
When I reflect on my years as a School Principal, I try to do it without any bent for judgement or shame. The truth is, I was pretty much always doing the best I could with what I had at the time. There are many things I’ve discovered in the eight years since I founded…