Over the past few weeks, the staff have begun an inquiry into a whole school approach to Growth. Together, we learnt about the 'Learning Pit' and what can happen when we are faced with a challenge. Currently, the biggest challenge for us at SPS is developing clarity in our response to poor behaviour choices and creating and embedding a positive school culture.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m feeling empowered after a full day of professional learning led by educational coach and ex principal Kathy Davis, who taught us about the power of connecting our values and vision to our response when dealing with both positive and negative behaviour.  I am particularly proud of the way we unpacked the DoE values and how staff worked together to create draft vision and mission statements.  They include succinct powerful words promote, nurture, develop and show - clever as they alone, they provide direction, action and clarification. They further specify what’s important, the work we have to do, and what outcomes we’re seeking. Through professional conversations and working on the ‘right’ work, which has been a huge part of the PLC process introduced this year, we have helped to forge the pathway of the future success of SPS.  

We would love your feedback and contribution to this work.  Here is our draft 1: 

Swansea Primary School

Vision (who we are/want to be) –
Working together to grow through quality teaching and learning.

Mission/Commitment (how will we achieve our vision?) - related to our values.

At SPS we will:
 
Promote aspiration by setting high expectations and encouraging life- long learning. (ASPIRATION)

Nurture growth by reflecting on the progress of our learning and planning for improvement. (GROWTH)

Develop courage by building resilience and embracing a growth mindset. (COURAGE)

Show respect by fostering positive relationships and valuing differences. (RESPECT)

This work could serve the school for the next 50 years, so I hope you feel valued and know how important you have been in shaping history and developing a shared language.  Our future work has been prioritised and elevated ideas/foci and, who we are and what we value at SPS through the pillas of “working together” to grow through “quality teaching and learning”.