Dear Parents and Carers of Good Samaritan,

Over the past couple of weeks the staff have been discerning how the remote learning experience has influenced and, indeed, changed their teaching whilst  also trying to capture what it is that we know about the Good Samaritan learners we work with each day.

As a school we are looking at the experience of the pandemic as an opportunity to reflect on our own learning as educators and capture the positive elements of teaching and learning that have emerged.  This process will be ongoing but one that  I feel is essential in order for us to ‘grow back better’ rather than just ‘recover’.

I always find it intriguing that a reading, experience or reflection will come along just when you need it. Last week we celebrated the feast day of Mary Magdalene. I have always looked at Mary Magdalene as the best friend of Jesus. This recent reflection I read, written by Richard Rohr, says:

One of the lessons we might learn from the Gospel stories of Mary Magdalene is that, in the great economy of grace, all is used and transformed. Nothing is wasted. God uses our egoic desires and identities and leads us beyond them. Jesus’ clear message to his beloved Mary Magdalene in their first post-resurrection encounter is not that she squelch, deny, or destroy her human love for him. He is much more subtle than that. He just says to her “Do not cling to me” (John 20:17). He is saying “Don’t hold on to the past, what you think you need or deserve. We are all heading for something much bigger and much better, Mary.”

Rohr’s interpretation of not clinging onto the past but moving forward to things that are much bigger and greater spoke to me about how important it is for our children that we don’t just snap back into what was but we take time to think about what has been good in the period of COVID lockdown and now the restrictions.

In order to build the future improvement plans for Good Samaritan I invite our parent community to give their perspective. This invitation isn’t so much for feedback but rather what you learnt from the remote experience, what positive observations you have about your child/ren’s learning and how  you  better understand him or her as a learner. I would also like to explore our parents’ thoughts on what impact this experience has made on your understanding  of the partnership parents have with the school. A similar process will be done with our students. We have so much to learn about ourselves and how we operate even when times are testing and challenging. We have certainly all been thrown out of our comfort zone.

To be able to submit your perspective, I invite you to complete this form. It will take some reflection and also some time to complete however it will be valuable to our ongoing improvement strategies.

As Mark Twain wrote: Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection. To improve in a school environment we need to consider the perspectives of all stakeholders in order to fulfil our responsibility of faith development, learning and wellbeing of all our students.

Enjoy the week ahead, as we continue to journey with Jesus,

Toni Sillis

Principal