A family and beyond “All I need is change, all I need is a chance” (Encanto, 2021) A big welcome to the new and returning families of the Primary School for 2022. I hope you had a wonderful and relaxing holiday break. In this issue of the Comet, I want to explore the importance of community in the Primary School to foster change in our students. Over the Christmas break, I spent many hours with my three daughters watching the new Disney movie Encanto. I now know every word to every song. The movie has a deeper meaning; in summary, the story follows a young girl named Mirabel whose family has magical gifts such as strength, healing, and shapeshifting. Unfortunately, she does not possess any of these powers, which alienates her from her family and community. The movie then follows Mirabel’s journey of discovering her gifts, which come in the form of kindness, motivation and spirit to influence her community to become better. Mirabel’s gifts turn out to be the most valuable of all within her community and family. The movie Encanto reflects students in a primary school. At FCAC we have students who have many talents and strengths. At times, students see talents and strengths as only academic or on the sporting field; however, at FCAC, we endeavour to identify and develop every student’s individual and unique gifts to form a wonderful community. In today’s educational setting, it is important to adapt teaching programs, wellbeing frameworks, and school environments so students can highlight their strengths and talents. At FCAC, we focus on ‘Body, Mind and Spirit”. Over the past few years, teachers have been developing the opportunities to build ‘Spirit’ within the Primary School by fostering an inclusive community through opportunities to enhance students’ acceptance of each other. This shift in mindset for staff and students is seen through the range of opportunities such as numerous extracurricular activities (Drama club, JAM groups, Mindfulness groups and public speaking groups), meaningful classroom experiences, and the importance of building a community at school which puts others first.
These are the qualities we want Primary students at FCAC to display by serving others and their community. Year 3-6 teachers this year are looking at how they will give students the opportunity to serve their school and the wider community to shape the student’s identity. Primary staff at FCAC endeavour to inspire students to not be the best in the world but the best for the world. With this in mind, students need to value the importance of their own strengths and how they can impact their community. This is an important step in their learning journey to make fundamental changes to their outlook towards each other and the world.
By David Brown Acting Head of Primary School
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