Assistant Principal Notes For Baringa
There are a number of factors that make Timboon P-12 School a unique school, and here are but a few of these. We are the largest P-12 School outside the metropolitan area. We draw students from a feeder area of over 1000 square kilometres. Over ninety percent of students travel to and from school each day by school bus. We are classified as a remote school, even though there are places that are much further from Melbourne that don’t have the same classification. We are one of the small handful of schools in regional Victoria that has been given the title of “LeadingSchool’ as a result of our innovative curriculum in years five to eight. Other schools in the area lay claims to have a wide range of practical and vocational programs, but in fact we have the broadest range of vocational offerings in this area and some of the widest choices for students in the senior years of the school for a school of our size. These are just the more noticeable things that set us apart in terms of location and curriculum.
However, more importantly, there are many aspects of the school culture and traditions that make Timboon P-12 School such a standout school. Even though we have limited access to cultural activities as a result of our location, the richness and diversity of our performing arts culture is the envy of many schools. You can see this every time that the school arranges for performers to visit, the musicals and Rock Eisteddfods that we stage each year, the student bands, artwork displayed in regional galleries and the list goes on. We don’t wait for the chances to be exposed to a rich diversity of cultural experiences, as in Covey’s Habits of Highly Effective People, we are proactive and make things happen for ourselves.
There are very few sports that students from this school are not willing to “have a go” at. In larger schools, the competition for places in sporting teams is necessarily limited and most students only get to represent their school in one or two in their whole school career. When compiling student references for students leaving at the end of year twelve it is quite common to see that students have competed in seven, eight, nine or even ten different sports in their time at the school. Associated with this is the strong team spirit that we see all over the school in so many different contexts, which is a fine example of the synergy that Covey refers to.
This school also takes a radically different approach to student curriculum choices. Other schools make up their timetables of what they want to offer and students have to fit in with the timetable that is offered. At this school, we “begin with the end in mind” and ask students where they are headed to in terms of careers and further study and we use this as the basis for the planning of what subjects will be offered. This also shows another Covey Habit in action, “putting first things first”, where the focus is on the most important aspects of what students need to make their career and educational aspirations into realities.
As a result of our remote location, a great many students complete all of their primary and secondary schooling in the same place with the same classmates. There are huge advantages that accrue as a result of this as there is a very strong sense of school community developed, which is further enhanced in the way that we try to forge and maintain links to a wide range of community groups. While other schools employ security companies to patrol their premises after school hours, this school welcomes all manner of community groups in to use the facilities when they are not being used by students. On any day of the year there will be community members using the sports facilities, the computer facilities or meeting rooms and this is a real win-win arrangement: the school supports the community and the community supports us.
We are very fortunate indeed to be a part of such a vibrant and supportive environment. We may not have the same fancy buildings across the whole campus as many other schools have got, but we work very effectively with what we do have and if we need resources to develop our programs we actively seek these out and we don’t wait until they are handed to us on a plate. As a school community we have learned to become very self sufficient, resilient and flexible and all of these are highly desirable life skills that we equip students with on their journeys through life. We have every right to be very proud of who we are and what we have achieved, let’s make 2007 the year in which we celebrate this.