CEO Ange is Principal for a Day

Kitchen Garden Foundation CEO Ange Barry got first-hand experience of the challenges faced by staff at primary schools when she became Principal for a Day at Thomastown West Primary recently.

Ange shadowed Thomastown West’s dedicated Principal Leon Bell on 7 September as part of the event, which is run by the Australian Council for Educational Research to increase understanding and awareness between schools, business and the wider community.

Ange and Leon’s day started with a visit to the school’s Breakfast Club, supported by Foodbank, which feeds many students who would otherwise start school with an empty stomach.

“We noticed student behaviour improved for students who had breakfast,” Leon said when explaining the importance of the breakfast club.

Before the school bell rings Leon and Ange carry out yard duty, with Leon welcoming students and families and checking on those he knows are going through tough times.

The school community represents 40 different nationalities, with many families arriving to the area as refugees and asylum seekers.

With English as a second language and the effects of trauma very recent for many children at the school, Thomastown West PS has set up programs to help staff, students and families deal with these challenges. The school has a full-time welfare officer and runs support initiatives, such as a New Arrivals Program.

On the morning Ange visits the school Leon greets a new Iranian family with two children, and accompanies the students to their new classrooms and teachers. After settling them in it’s time to visit the rest of the school’s classes to say hello to staff and teachers, and check how some of the students with challenges are settling into the school week.

In the art room the students are busy creating suitcases and felt pictures, which depict their experiences of travelling to Australia as refugees. Some tell heart-wrenching stories of having to leave beloved pets at home, to travel to Australia by boat with nothing but a backpack of belongings.

Ange is also shown the school’s vegetable garden and a community garden that contains plants from the different countries the school’s students have migrated from.

After the tour it’s time for a meeting at the Community Hub, which is situated at the school and a run through a partnership with Whittlesea Community Connections.

The Hub, a former display village office donated to the school, is becoming a great support to Thomastown West and the broader community, running initiatives such as playgroups, homework clubs and English as an Additional Language (EAL) classes.

After a quick, late lunch in the office and meetings with staff about student matters, the day finishes off in a meeting with a Melbourne University researcher interested in conducting a problem-solving assessment at the school.

Ange found being Principal for a Day a challenging and stimulating experience, and especially enjoyed watching Leon’s great rapport with his students.

“The school is not only educating its students, the provision of care for the children is fantastic,” Ange said.

She said the Community Hub was a terrific initiative that would have many benefits in community cohesion.

“The school is looking after the whole child, plus the child’s family, and not only that, but thinking about that child down the track – which is so admirable and so wise. Leon has a great team and a great school.”

Thank you to Leon and all the staff at Thomastown West PS for providing Ange with such a warm welcome.

For more information on Principal for a Day go to acer.edu.au/pfad