Deputy Principal | Mr Damien Fall
On Monday this week, Terrace swelled from a student population of around 500, back to its full capacity of 1700 students. Staff, students, and no doubt, parents were all delighted by the full re-opening of the College. This week has been as close to normal as we have seen in quite some time, as we welcomed back the busyness and bustle that is part of every day at Terrace. For all of us, this week has been about re-connecting, checking in, measuring our progress over the past five weeks, and looking to identify and fill any learning gaps.
From a strategic perspective, we are keen to identify our learnings as a school from the online teaching experience. For many teachers, myself included, the coronavirus silver lining has been the speed with which we have been able to grow our skills in delivering a different style of learning. As we now move forward, we want to keep the best of what we have and streamline where possible to value-add to our teaching practice, and to ensure we are well prepared in the (hopefully unlikely) event of future school closures. The starting point will be to survey staff to hear what worked well and, perhaps, not so well. We want to know what the recent months have taught us before we decide how they might inform and improve our future practice.
This week has also seen the College investigating the potential of holding Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews via an online format such as Teams. We are growing in confidence about our capacity to run this style of interview, but we need to be confident that we can offer all parties a worthwhile experience. Given the current social climate, it seems a wise option if we can do so. Once planning is complete, the College will provide families with all the required information about how these meetings will be conducted.
A major project for 2020 will be the development of a new College Strategic Plan. Our current plan expires at the end of this year, and with the return of relative normality to the College, we can shift our focus to this important aspect of planning for the College’s next few years.
My best wishes to all in the Terrace Family.