14 February 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principal's Welcome

Welcome back to the new school year and a very warm welcome to our new families and new staff. Although it is only the second week of school, this year has already been busy.

I am so incredibly proud of all the students at Butler Primary School and their commitment to both academics and good citizenship. The more time we have together, the more we learn to appreciate and value our strengths and individual perspectives which ultimately make our school the wonderful place it is to learn and grow.

Our staff are the heartbeat of our wonderful school. They love being educators, and they love the challenge of helping all students learn. Their passion is contagious, and they infect their students with a love of learning. Passion is what drives our staff to put so much energy into our teaching and learning programs.

Our staff expect all students to work hard and to learn. They acknowledge that students are at different stages and have varying levels of ability. However, they believe all students can learn and that all students should achieve real, measurable progress every year.

Our staff know the content that they need to teach, and they know the most effective ways of teaching it. They help students move from surface knowledge to deeper levels of understanding. They connect new knowledge to students’ prior knowledge, including knowledge from other curriculum areas, and they offer individualised suggestions to help each of their students improve.

Our staff are great teachers and great teachers work hard. Teaching is not always easy, and it certainly isn’t a 9 to 3 job. Our staff are driven to do well, and they understand the link between effort and success.

Our staff genuinely care about our students as people in much the same way that a loving parent would care about their child. Our staff are approachable, respectful and empathetic. Our staff believe in our students and challenge them to excel while simultaneously supporting them to do so. This caring attitude lays the foundation for classrooms where students:

• Believe in their own capacity to learn
• Are not afraid of having a go or making mistakes
• Are receptive to feedback that will help them learn.

At Butler Primary School we have a clear focus on high quality teaching. It represents an awesome responsibility, a responsibility mirrored in our vision statement that guides us to give each student the best education and equip them with skills to adapt and flourish within a constantly changing world. It is a responsibility that transcends time, and clearly one that Butler Primary School has been and still is committed to; yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Dwight D. Eisenhower noted, “Accomplishment will prove to be a journey, not a destination.” Well then, let the journey for 2019 begin and a huge thank you for taking this journey with us.

Mrs Julie Woodhouse
Principal

Notices for all Parents