I feel privileged to be named as the first Principal of Thornhill Park Primary School. This is my second Principal role after spending over 5 years at Rockbank Primary School. I am very excited to be able to build a culture from the ground up and ensure that we set a clear standard and tone for how we intend to proceed as a school. I am in awe of the buildings that have been presented to our community and can’t wait to see what the future holds for our students, our teachers and the Thornhill Park community.
I aim to build a school that is connected with the local community and wider world to enable our students to be exemplary global citizens. Our focus is to ensure our students have the necessary capabilities in literacy and numeracy and provide them with a range of experiences to build their ability to be problem solvers and divergent thinkers.
Our school values of Respect, Integrity, Persistence and Wellbeing enable us to define what we believe are necessary traits for our students to aspire to.
We need to show Respect to all and the environment through our words and actions. We show respect towards our Indigenous Community by acknowledging them and the lands on which our school is built.
We show integrity by always being the better person and ensuring that we have a high moral standard. We hope that our students recognize the importance of this trait and will provide an example to the community through our actions as a staff.
Being persistent is not something you would usually find in a list of values that pertain to a school, but the last couple of years have proven difficult for all as we have suffered through COVID, natural disasters and a disconnected society. Persistence is the ability to ‘find a way’ to get things done and to understand that making mistakes and getting things wrong is part of the process and in some ways the most important part of that process. We want our students to be able to ‘bounce back’ and be resilient when things go wrong, but to also persist and follow things through to completion using their best efforts.
Our students will feel safe and supported by ensuring their Wellbeing needs are met. In my over 20 years of experience in education it is fairly clear that students can only be at their best when they are the best versions of themselves. For this reason I have ensured that we have carefully staffed our Wellbeing to ensure that students know exactly what is expected of them and who they need to go to if they need to reset and refocus.
I aim to ensure that this school is striving to achieve excellence in every aspect, from academic and social achievements for our students, to community connections and building a sense of pride for the people of this new community in Thornhill Park.
Foundation Principal
Thornhill Park Primary School