Good evening Canberra Rudolf Steiner School Association members.
It is a great honour for me to present this report as Principal at Orana Steiner School. Whilst this report covers the period between the last AGM and this one, there will only be limited reference to the second half of 2023 and it will mainly cover the time since my arrival in January 2024. Thank you to Kelly Armstrong who was acting in the role of Principal in 2023 and managed the school well through a challenging time. Even with great challenges over the last 12 months, such as changes in governance and leadership and financial set-backs, many of Orana’s strengths remain; such as the rich educational program with caring, committed staff, a supportive Parents and Friends Association and a functional College of Teachers steadily gaining strength as well as strong early childhood enrolments.
In regard to the physical school environment, the completion of the Ironbark Music Building in January 2024, on time, on budget and including the provision of functional learning, storage and administrative spaces was a great achievement. Thank you to all those who contributed to enabling this building to be completed. There has also been work done in beautifying the grounds, placing value in the school site as a nature sanctuary and a beautiful space for children. The site committee will be starting the
process of developing a master plan towards the end of this term.
In 2024, there has been a concerted effort to rebuild connections between the bodies of the school, the Board, the College (and staff body), the parents, friends and students. After the disruption to community engagement during the peak of the Covid pandemic and its after effects, our school community has been slowly and carefully re-establishing and, in some cases, re-imagining how we work in our community. We have been reaching out to our community to encourage healthy conversation, communication, engagement and contribution. We have re-established and/or re-imagined class parent representatives, the site committee, weekly College meetings, in-house Business Manager and finance team, working bees, the foreign language program, inclusive education, school tours as our key connection for prospective enrolments and seeing all events in the school as community building opportunities.
More work needs to be done in improving systems and structures and more work needs to be done in creating a healthy culture of trust, collaboration and energy to take on new initiatives and respond to what comes to us. The challenges of declining K-12 enrolment numbers from 600 to 450 in the last few years (although this has now slowed to a trickle), staff shortages and broader economic downturn continue. We need to respond in a calm and strategic way to these challenges. We need to envisage and plan for multiple possible futures and take appropriate measures as the reality unfolds.
The balance between form and spirit is always the challenge in community groups. At Orana, as with many other schools, the pendulum has swung over the years between these extremes. I see my role as leading the creation of an environment where these, sometimes competing priorities, are in balance; where all the bodies of the school are working together to achieve this balance. We are well on the way to establishing this balance of form and spirit – thank you to the many members of this association for your contribution.
Special thanks to my senior leadership team: Sharaine Talip, Deputy overseeing Primary and Early Childhood; Jacinta Lai, who stood in for Sharaine in Term 1; Kelly Armstrong, Deputy overseeing High School and Senior College – it has been very helpful to have Kelly’s support with her experience in my role as well as her long-standing commitment as teacher and deputy at Orana; Kaitlynn Jones, Business Manager, whose technical expertise and leadership capability has been much appreciated, even with her working offsite for much the time; Michael Janssen-Gibson and Michael Thompson for co-chairing College with such intellectual rigour, thoughtfulness, warmth and humour.
These leaders represent a skilled, committed staff who create this wonder-filled learning environment for our children and young
people – thank you staff team.
Special thanks to the Board who have provided a steady, safe and collaborative environment to work in; where all board members are encouraged to speak frankly. A special mention to Gemma Rose, as the P&F representative on the Board, for your tenacity, sense of responsibility and grace. We say goodbye to Jack Percy, a very steady, astute leader as Chair and Chris Chenoweth, whose legal and governance contributions have been well-received. Thank you to those board members continuing in the role and those joining us, Tracey and Amy; providing a good balance of continuity and renewal for the upcoming year. Sound, ethical governance is essential for us all as an association.
Thank you all for your attendance here tonight – I hope it has enlightened and reassured you and provided you with some substance to work with as co-creators in building a healthy learning community for young people. If we continue to work together, the future is looking bright for Orana.
James Goodlet
