Looking Forward
Dear Parents
As I reflect on Term 1, I want to begin by thanking you for your support and active engagement as we have all navigated the joys and challenges of the term together.
The beginning of 2020 was a new chapter and freshly turned page for us at Danebank. We were excited about the new decade. Staff returned in late January with enthusiasm, and the joy of student laughter filled our corridors, grounds and rooms. I began as the seventh Principal of Danebank and was treated to the warmest of welcomes by all in our community.
2020: A New Era
2020 held promise that, as a new era and decade began, we would maintain the positive aspects of Danebank and make changes for the better. Together we planned to build on our strengths, improve and innovate in order to continue to provide our girls with the very best in learning and care.
We recognised that Danebank has established itself as a leader in girls’ education in the region, fulfilling the mission established by our Founder, Miss Edith Roseby Ball. This mission was “to establish a fine Christian girls’ school that would prepare young women for life, a life of service”.
From the first days of term, with our guiding tools before us, we began to steer towards our future. The focus has been to build relationships, continue the exceptional teaching, learning and care for our girls, and to begin to chart a path forward as we reimagine the next decade together.
Despite the backdrop of the ever-changing and unpredictable COVID-19 situation, we have actively and enthusiastically worked towards this aim. Our community has remained hopeful, optimistic and excited about our outlook.
As a Christian school, we continue to frame our planning and actions for each girl within the context of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our aim is to ensure that our young women are ready and prepared for the rapidly changing world beyond Danebank so they would flourish, serve and shape the world in years to come. Our hope is that each graduate optimistically engages with future challenges and that she will be creative, resilient, well educated, confident, faith filled and compassionate.
COVID-19 Response
Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic has constantly been well-considered, calm and responsive to the ever-changing requirements from authorities. We have looked ahead, planned and then provided certainty in our communications, initially through our COVID-19 portal and then our Distance Learning Plan and FAQs, and actions.
On Thursday 26 March 2020 we began the Danebank Distance Learning Pilot. Feedback from staff, students and parents has overwhelmingly indicated that, under the circumstances, the Distance Learning Pilot has been a great success. If you haven’t already, I invite you to offer your feedback. We are now using this advice to refine and improve our practice as we anticipate that learning will continue to be offered through a remote model for Term 2.
Our commitment to the continuation of learning and the wellbeing of our Danebank girls is unswerving. As a school we remain dedicated to our students and are particularly mindful of upholding our Class of 2020 in the context of COVID-19.
We have been assured by NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority) that in NSW there will be an HSC in 2020, and that the certificate will facilitate access to university, further education and employment. I have been heartened by NESA’s delegation of authority to Principals which will allow school-based decisions about the number, type and weighting of HSC formal assessment tasks in 2020. This will enable Danebank the flexibility we need to support our Year 11 and 12 girls in the months ahead.
Staff have been exceptional in their response to COVID-19 and the demands placed upon them, and have worked tirelessly for our students. Our community has been deeply supportive and we are so grateful to you for every kindness shown. Girls have continued their active engagement in learning and have demonstrated courage, resilience, grit, determination, good humour and flexibility. Danebank Prefects have launched a new initiative to boost morale and grow closer together during this time.
Collectively, we have stayed connected, learnt and become closer as a Danebank community. I am so proud.
Financial Hardship
The School continues to be committed to working in partnership with families experiencing financial hardship. The following arrangements are in place:
- Families will not be charged for optional/extra curricular activities that would normally occur in Term 2.
- Danebank will refund charges collected in advance for optional/extra curricular activities that were cancelled in Term 1.
- The invoice and due date for Term 2 fees has been pushed back to allow families additional time to meet their financial commitments.
- The School Council has established a committee to consider applications for additional support for families experiencing financial hardship.
Please contact the Director of Finance and Operations, Mrs Beth Ellerman beth.ellerman@danebank.nsw.edu.au to request an Application Form should you require assistance. For those families who have already made contact with the School, we will contact you directly.
Whilst we understand that the full extent of the impact of COVID-19 on families is yet to be fully understood, we do hope that the above measures may provide a way forward in coming months.
Initiatives
In the midst of these changes, we have undertaken various initiatives to chart our path forward towards the next decade of Danebank’s history.
Learner Profile
The first has been the consideration and development of a futures-focused Danebank Student Learner Profile. In developing this, staff have begun to consider key questions:
- What will our girls be, what might they need to know and be capable of doing when they leave Danebank, and
- How can we ensure that our teaching and learning empowers and assists our girls for these possibilities?
Staff engaged in professional discussions, considering what attributes, character traits, dispositions, habits of mind, knowledge and understanding would be required to ensure that each Danebank woman thrives and contributes to the world with compassion and confidence.
Building and Property Committee
The second is the re-establishment of the Building and Property Committee by the Danebank Council in February. The committee has begun to progress the major renewal of facilities, to create dynamic, contemporary and innovative learning spaces for our learners.
Strategic Planning
Next, we have begun to review progress against Our Strategy (2016-2020), starting a major refresh towards the end of the year as we reimagine our future with hope.
I have begun extensive consultation with our community to learn about the School’s strengths and opportunities for growth and development. This has taken the form of one-on-one conversations with staff, meeting with the girls and key community groups across the School, and beginning Conversations with Dr Burgess for parents to share their thoughts and feedback. Unfortunately, these conversations were postponed due to COVID-19 and the requirement of reducing gatherings.
Now, I am pleased to share that Conversations with Dr Burgess has been reinstituted in a slightly different format. Those who have registered for the original series in Term 1, have been offered the opportunity to register for one of four Zoom meetings. Further opportunities to meet with me and provide your feedback will be offered in Term 2.
In addition, I intend to build on this consultation with more opportunities for our community to provide feedback and input on the future of Danebank through, among other things, various surveys and focus groups.
2020: Term 2
As we look towards Term 2, we remain optimistic and deeply committed to our girls, staff and community.
We anticipate that learning in Term 2 will continue to be through the distance-learning model.
Our campus will remain open for the families who need it, especially those working in essential services. Students who are able, will be encouraged to learn from home. We will endeavour to provide the best possible education under the circumstances and will always place the needs of our girls at the forefront of decisions made.
We will continue to be guided by the advice of the federal and state governments and health experts, and will keep you well informed of any changes. Term 2 will begin for our girls on Tuesday 28 April 2020.
Danebank From A Distance Portal
To connect and inspire one another, despite our distance, we have established a Danebank from a Distance Portal. Danebank From A Distance, is Danebank's community portal through which we will keep in touch and build our community while we teach and learn from a distance.
On the portal you will find video messages, pictures and videos of staff, students and families, and helpful information on topics such as wellbeing, teaching and learning. For the holiday break, there is a plethora of learning and fun ideas for students to enjoy. We invite you to send your pictures, stories and videos to us at community@danebank.nsw.edu.au.
Please save this link: https://news.danebank.nsw.edu.au/news/issue/danebank-from-a-distance/ in your favourites as we will continue to add new contributions as we receive them from our students, staff and families.
I have recorded a special video message for our parents, senior and junior students respectively. Please visit the portal to view them.
Final Reflections
Finally, as we approach Easter, I leave you with the enduring gospel message of hope and love. Easter brings hope to all of us. We are pointed beyond the Cross to the hope of the empty tomb; that Jesus came to redeem the world, to save us all from our sins and to provide assurance that God has triumphed over evil and death.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2: 8-10