In her address to Frensham on the first Friday of the year, Head Girl, Phoebe Gilder, urged our students to embrace all the school has to offer:
“I would like to challenge you to get involved and remind you that Frensham is a place of creativity and opportunity to find and utilise your kindness, honesty, energy, dreams and, of course, your spirit.”
In my opening address to staff during the Professional Learning days before the start of the year, we also set a challenge. We asked them to consider the importance of striving in an educational context, noting that human beings feel most alive when they are courageously striving to overcome challenge and struggle. Both staff and students gain their sense of self-esteem and self-worth from being in the trenches, exhibiting courage, and evolving as they overcome struggles.
Linking the two challenges—you cannot strive for something unless you are involved—one of our goals this year is to ensure that our students and staff are actively engaged in the life of the school. This involvement should be meaningful and appropriate for each person.
We also recognise that highly functioning schools have highly invested communities, and this is one of the strengths of Frensham and Frensham Junior School. With this in mind, I would also like to challenge our parents to be involved as much as possible. Take the opportunity to be on campus when you can, connect with your fellow parents, get to know your children’s friends and their families, and engage with your children’s teachers.
Collaborations between family and school require parents and teachers to recognise the critical importance of each other’s participation in the life of the child through the School.
I trust that everyone has had an exciting start to the year. We look forward to working with you throughout 2024.