20 degrees and cold!

Sat: Howard (who had shown myself and Gerry around in 2007)and Di invited me to dinner and we chatted for about six hours. Never felt the time pass. Great company and we caught up on a lot of the VPA news.
It was only 20 degrees today and I felt cold! My blood must be thinning out.

Taizé

Friday: I found a Taizé prayer group in my local church. Can you believe it? They meet monthly with a practice two weeks in advance. I have signed up.

Work and Walk.

Thurs: Had to work late because I will not be at school tomorrow due to another Principals' meeting. So far this week I have worked 15, 10, 10 and 12 hour days. But I feel that I am making progress. The teaching I am finding the most difficult and I relax more after I have completed that part of my day. Really tired. Have started walking again as I was piling on the weight, so that should give me more energy. It took me a while to get into a routine especially if I was home late, but now I just walk around in the dark, listening to Mikah or Lady Gaga, good walking music both.

More meetings.

Wed: Another principals' meeting today. Just the local six schools and only for a half day. Another one on Friday for the full day. I have already been out of school for two days last week and one the week before. All for principals' meetings. Too much this early in the new job. It makes for a lot of release time that I have to cover and yard duty that I miss I also have to make up. Put a sub in today which eased that a little. The builders are causing grief in the building project. bust pipes today and no staff toilet. Trucks driving through the yard despite being stopped again and again. Fencing wide open at times. Let fly at site meeting this morning: some things never change. On the whole what I have seen is very lax in terms of health and safety. Staff meeting after school, had to rush back from the principals' meeting. Did I ever tell you about all the meetings?!

My shirt

Tue: On yard duty this morning some of the girls remarked that I was wearing a 't-shirt'. I was wearing a short slieved shirt. They informed me that that is what they call them. ...and a t-shirt and polo shirt?: they are also called 't-shirts'. At recess another girl asked me if my shirt was pink or a white shirt that had run in the wash!

Spoke to Mark on the phone yesterday and he told me that the new tarmac has been laid in St Mary's. Being thinking of that a lot today.

Teaching Trials and Tribulations 2

Monday: I teach Library and here are some of my learning curves: I spend all that time preparing my lesson content and then forget to get the room ready. I get caught up in the admin and forget what day of the week it is and what time of the day it is and then someone reminds me that I have a class. I walk in and the computer is not turned on and I forget the password and have to leave the room and find someone who knows the password. I have to ask someone to give out the boxes with pencils, scissors, glue etc. and at least one falls every time. I then ask the one kid in the class who is not a great reader to give out the library cards or the workbooks. I am worse than a trainee out on teaching practice. I have chosen books to read and work on that they have already read before and then panicked to come up with something on the hop. I am just out of the habit and have only survived up to now on the great understanding and support of the staff. I told them at the first staff meeting that a staff would make a good principal if s/he let them and I was delighted to let them. I never thought that I would need them to help so much with my teaching. I thought that this idea of sitting on the floor and listening to a story was a great idea until the Preps started moving under tables and behind boxes, now I have them in their seats until I get my act together. Sitting on the floor listening to a story is only aspirational, at the moment. But I am gradually getting a handle on things.

Mary MacKillop

Sun: All the talk here is of Mary MacKillop's cannonization. She is the first ever Australian saint and they are rightly proud. In 2007 when Gerry and I visited the Australian Catholic University-ACU ( a kind of Maynooth without the clerics, but I suppose that's what Maynooth now is!) there were murals of Mary MacKillop in very strategic places, and she was only 'blessed' then. I predict a massive surge in interest and related activities for all Catholic schools and colleges leading up to the ceremony in Rome, later this year.
Speaking of ceremonies, at mass today all the teachers in the local Catholic P.S. were comissioned. They all went up around the altar after the sermon and took part in a special ceremony which was like a committment ceremony to teach in a Catholic school. It finished with the principal giving a talk on their school ethos. No automatic pilot, go with the flow, stuff here-you make a choice that comes with a committment.

No Sharks

33 degrees and I just had to do it. I am no longer a sea virgin, I took the plunge without wetsuit and instructor. The sharks did not get me and neither did the jellyfish. It was cold, surprisingly cold. Must be some kind of Great Southern Ocean Drift.

That was quick!

Sat: I was in the middle of hanging up the clothes when a neighbour called. We went inside for a chat for about twenty minutes. When I went back out to finish hanging up the clothes the ones on the line were dry!

Teaching Trials and Tribulations 1

Friday: The chat with Paul O Connell worked so at last I can talk about my renewed teaching career. I am still not well enough to write a long article so it will be a series, and a long one at that, of snippets.

Today I took the Prep/One class for about fifteen minutes at the end of the school day. Teacher had an appointment but all I had to do was get them ready for home. They were all sitting nicely when teacher left and I was feeling strong. I forgot that I was taking the class and did not have anything prepared but I would think of something. I was just about to think of that something when a woman I had never seen before walked into the room. When I enquired she said that she was Josh's mom. I thought that she was going to take him home and was pleased to have one less, but no she told me that she would like to sit down and observe! (Nobody told me that at the induction!) At that stage I was not thinking of the niceties of curriculum objectives or pupil progress, just get through ten minutes. Why didn't I prepare something? So she sat down, while I was still trying to think of something to do with them. Eureka: 'head, shoulders, knees and toes' should last a few minutes. They already knew it but when I asked them to sing it was a different version. One which I did not know! So I taught them my version, said a big long prayer (very slowly to get the full meaning and feeling) and brought them to the door with their bags. Then the fun really started. I had parents that I had never seen before collecting children that I did not know and it seemed that they were crawling all over me. I felt like King Canute and he could not hold back the tide either. The parents kept distracting me asking me silly questions like how was I settling in and did I like it here! Each time another little ant disappeared out of the corner of my eye. Yet everyone was smiling and happy, so I gave in and was also smiling and happy. I walked out of the class and stood between the road and the playground. I was sure that no one went out on the road and was able to gather three 'leftovers' from the playground afterwards.

No matter, it was Friday and we all went to Mickey Bourkes after school. I am really enjoying that little routine, followed by the drive home in the sunshine and the visit to Kermond's for the 'eight best burger in the world.' Life is good.

P.S. She never said that it was a brilliant lesson!

Long Day

Thursday 18th: Fourteen hours to catch up on all the paperwork, want to be able to go to Mickey Bourkes tomorrow 'night' (they call it noyyght here once it is after school). The induction earlier this week was great but the catch-up is a pain in the number twelve.
I haven't forgotten about Paul O Connell-next week.

Avalanche.

Wednesday 17th: Back to school and had a hundred and one things backed up. Also had to take two classes and do the prep for that as well as make up for duties missed while I was away. Everyone seemed happy to see me, they really have made me feel very welcome. New principal and new teacher all at once. Got to school at 7.50 and there were already two there before me. Left at six and there were four there behind me. They work hard here.

She knows Aine

Tuesday 16th: More induction. I had forgotten what it felt like to be a new principal. T M I. All necessary though. As I was leaving I discovered that one of my bosses worked with Aine Beggy in Essendon many years ago. Aine now works with us in Trim. Is it a small world or is it a small world?
Rick and Evan, husband and son of 'fellow' Karin stayed for the night and it was nice to have a bit of company.

Induction Day One

Monday 15th: What a day. Visited two schools in the morning with Di Westbrook the consultant/adviser for the Southern Zone. One was Emmaus which is a newly established school where they have open areas and co-operative/shared teaching. The principal, Brendan Maher was appointed in 2007 and spent the first year planning the school and forming his vision. He was now getting to put it into practice and it was inspiring to see the way the staff and children took to the concept of the 'Learning Street' with areas off it where the pupils were all gainfully and interchangeably employed. Then we visited St. Alyphonsus School where there were 180 pupils in a low socio-econimic area. Here there was more emphasis on literacy and numeracy and the principal Maree Roche had the place running in tip top shape. She finally explained to me what EMU was (Maths Recovery) and I hope to learn more about this in St Patricks where I work. Never knew that that was what it was! Both schools had new buildings and the second one had a total refurbishment, under the BER scheme, whereby the Australian Gov. has invested 40 billion dollars in school buildings to revive the economy. It is working. Everywhere I go I see buildings and extensions. Some schools have the luxury of knocking doen structures that were built in the Seventies just to replace them with more modern structures.
Our induction took place in CEO Ballarat. The diocese caters for around sixty schools including both Primary and Secondary and employs over sixty people. That is on average one person employed per school! The support that Catholic Schools get is nothing short of phonominal. I must phone Eileen Flynn. The induction has helped me understand the system even more and I was amused to hear that 'one day Professional development' (P.D.) does not work and how they are moving to three and four day and also coaching coaches from within the schools to go back and coach their peers. I am in awe.

Snorkelling

Sunday 14: Finally got into the sea in Inverlough but only with an instructor and three others from our group. It had been years since I snorkelled but it came back to me fairly quickly. Enjoyed it but in about an hour only saw seven fish. The Red Sea it ain't. There they were in their hundreds and every colour you could imagine. When the rest had finished their surfing lesson, we all went for a meal together before heading back to Melbourne.
In Melbourne I had arranged to meet up with Deborah Patterson, Principal of Mill Park Heights P.S. a school of 1,100 pupils. Gerry and I had visited her school in '07and she had addressed the Meath IPPN on performance management in '08. It was great catching up and she was amazed that I was back.
As I had two principal induction days in Ballarat, the headquarters of our Diocese, I stayed there instead of going all the way back to Warrnambool. The CEO had booked me into a lovely four star motel, so it still feel like I am on holidays.

South Gippsland.

Saturday 13th: Exhausted but had a great day. Our hosts were wonderful. Visited Inverloch Environment Centre, followed by a drive along Bunurong Coast where we had a scavenger hunt at Eagles' Nest Beach, then on to the Koala Park Conservation Centre on Phillip Island. Here we got a guided tour and saw Koala bears in their natural habitat (we also got to see many other animals including the Kookaburra and Wallaby). Lunch in San Remo where we saw not one but two stingrays in the shallow waters near the jetty. After lunch it was the Bass Coastal Walking Tour. This was very similar to the walk from Bray to Greystones except you swop the rain for the sunshine and the green grass for yellow. Oh and you add a few snakes for good measure. We ended up in the Kilcunda Pub-now that must be Irish. Back to Inverlough for a barbie and home to bed. In my case home belongs to Peter Mc Laughan and his son Patrick. Peter was our guide for the day but there were about another ten ex-fellows there who had gone on exchanges in the past.

Principals' Meeting.

Friday 12th: Meeting all day of the Southern Zone Principals' Group in Warrnambool CEO office. Set agenda and some speakers addressed us on 'Coaching', 'Religion' and 'Critical Incidents'. Officers elected for next year. Much ground covered and great debate and banter. All funded and supported by the CEO. The support that schools and principals get from the CEO is phenomenal. In St. Mary's Trim we have prioritized numeracy among other areas this year. We had a facilitator for one day's planning but we had other areas to plan for also on that day. Then we try to use a portion of every staff meeting to continue with these priorities. In St Patrick's Koroit, we have a numeracy facilitator coming in on Wednesdays from 8.30 to 5.00. She will do model lessons and mentor the teaching of numeracy in the school as well as holding a meeting after school. Not bad but the amazing thing is that she will come to us every two weeks, all day for the whole year! At the meeting today they were trying to organise training for teachers in the schools to become coaches so that they could coach the teachers in numeracy (or literacy) in their own schools because once every two weeks was not enough!! The coaching is a brilliant idea but it is difficult to see it working because of time and financial limitations. Two sub teachers would need to be employed to cover the coach and the teacher and it would need to be done at least once a week. Teachers are already doing an amount of Professional Development (PD) and each time a sub (E.T.)is employed to cover their class.
Set out at three thirty for South Gipsland where the International Teachers' Association have organised a weekend for us 'fellows'. About nine of the fourteen have turned up and we all stay with ITA members in the area. It took me over five hours to drive from Warranbool but it was like a reunion when I arrived. We had not seen each other since the orientation and it was great to swap war stories. Great fun day planned for tomorrow.

Three Candles and a Parchment

Thursday 11th: Met with Larry Byrne Director of the Diocessan CEO for an hour this morning. He is very interested in and committed to the exchange and was keen to learn about ideas from the Irish system, in particular our system of governance. He was encouraging me to go to educational conferences and as one will be in Sydney I guess that I will have to force myself!
I am now the proud owner of three candles and a parchment containing the Vision and Mission Statements of the Southern Zone Catholic Primary Principals' Association. All the Catholic Principals in our zone, which is about the size of Ireland, were invited to a Mass followed by a meal for all the principals and their spouses. All organized and paid for by the CEO. Those of you who have been following the blog will know that two weeks ago there was a mass for all the teachers where the new teachers were comissioned and given a candle. Tonight's mass was for all principals and leaders of the CEO and we were all given another candle and then the two new principals were again 'candelled'. Nice touch and you really have to profess your commitment to the Catholic Schools ethos. The CEO is a magnificent support system for the Catholic schools and principals. I will have to come back to this again, as i do not have the time and space to go into it more here.
At the lovely meal afterwards it was so much like being with principals at home. Everybody was slagging everyone else and winding people up about tomorrow's meeting.

Paul O Connell

Wednesday 10th: You have probably noticed that I have gone very quiet, my first week of teaching. I need to talk to Paul O Connell.

An Lár

Tuesday 9th: An Lár is referred to as the CBD or Central Business District, even in a town the size of Warrnambool which has about 32,000 souls.

Some Teaching

Monday 8th: This is where I write a funny account of taking Prep/One for Library: It wasn't funny!

Black Saturday Anniversary.

Sunday 7h: Great choir was back. It was Fr John Fitzgerald's birthday Mass (70). Great energy in a full church, and the recessional hymn:
"Happy Birthday To You!"
I love it.

All the media are covering the first anniversary of the bushfires in Victoria on Feb 7th last year, which was a Saturday, thus 'Black Saturday'. A minutes silence was observed nationwide. A lot of very harrowing stories and interviews on the telly.

Festival on by Lake Pertobe, took a wander down. Weather fab in early twenties with an offshore breeze. Live bands, sunshine, food and drink.

Chores

Saturday 6th: There is a pattern developing here. I had a choice between changing the sheets or sleeping on the other side of the bed, and I chose the former! Also did other chores as I was at it. Did some prep for next week, as I have classes including Prep/One for P.E. and Library.
Staff barbie in Vicki's house. Great system whereby you bring your own meat and drink so a large crwod can be catered for without too much responsibility falling on the hosts.

T G I F

Friday 5th: There must be no nicer feeling on earth than driving down the sunny road on a Friday, heading home from school, having had a short sojourn in Mickey Bourkes.
There was a funeral in the church today and a reception in our school hall afterwards. The Parents' and Friends' Association did the catering voluntarily and the proceeds went to the school. They will do the same in a few weeks at the Port Fairy Folk Festival, where they will have a food stand for the whole weekend and the proceeds go to the school. As the funeral was for the mother (RIP) of a priest, quite a few priests, principals and CEO employees paid me a courtesy visit. The welcome that I have received to date has been overwhelming.

Timetables

Thursday 4th: I am almost two weeks at timetables and still not quite finished. There are six teachers and they do their own timetables-that's good! But they all get two and a half hours release time (for preparation)per week-that's bad! But you can employ other teachers to cover this release time-that's good! But you have to pay these teachers-that's bad! But you can employ specialist teachers to do the release-that's good! But the principal does it too-that's bad! You can also use the LOTE teacher-that's good! But sometimes he releases a class teacher in order that she releases another class teacher so if you go looking for this teacher she is in another teacher's room-that's bad! You can timetable the P.E. teacher for the hall-that's good! But the P.A. teacher also wants the hall-that's bad! You have specialist teachers for reading recovery, literacy support and numeracy support-that's good! But they don't work every day nor not always the same day and you can go looking for them all over the place to find out that they are not in today-that's bad! You get lovely long breaks of 30 mins and 60 mins-that's good! But that means eight different blocks of yard duty have to be timetabled each day-that's bad! You do a lovely yard duty roster ensuring that everybody does the same duty-that's good! But you have sixteen different people some of whom work one day, some two, some three, some four and some five except that out of the forty blocks there is one who was not pro-rata the same-that bad! You somehow solve the problem without using the log book-that's good! Then the heavens open and it rains and rains and rains...

Financial Minestrone.

Tue Feb 3rd: temperature in the mid-thirties and again uncomfortable outside. Did not have yard duty so only went out for a few spot checks. Spotted a truck at lunch break about to drive across the playground (we have an extension project starting) and had to run to stop it. Needed a shower but tried to stand downwind of people until going home time!
One of the major differences between the two systems is the fact that here, all salaries, deductions and superannuation are paid directly by the school. The paperwork associated with it is immense and complicated. There are many different sources of funding ranging from regular wages to special ed to initiatives to drought relief to EMU ( I keep forgetting what that is:some form of funding for numeracy) to POL (i.e. POR) Column A, Column S, Column N and on and on and on... Some salaries are made up of a combination of two or three funding sources. All has to be done to keep within budget amounts and also other percentages and hours of work. This is a defacto seven teacher school but with others providing Reading Recovery, literacy support, numeracy support (EMU) specials (P.E., LOTE-Language Other Than English, P.A.-Performing Arts, Library) Teacher Aides and Integration Aides (SNAs). Some work one day, others two, others three and often wearing different caps-you get the picture. A draft budget has to submitted before the end of the school year and then a final budget at the beginning of the school year. When this budget is finalised it has to be entered into O.S.R (O.C.L.S.)with a breakdown of the hours that are got from each source of funding. You get the idea. The secretary Margaret (a gem) and I spent over two hours entering the data today. Queries will bounce back in the next few days and then we will finalise the input. Margaret has to write the checks for about sixteen people each week. This year we have two applications for Long Service Leave which adds even further to the financial minestrone. I have a headache even writing about it!

Literacy Interviews

Feb 2 Tuesday: It was in the high thirties and oppressive heat today. Yard duty was tough, even with the straw hat. At lunchtime I rounded the building to see that the yard was empty. On closer inspection I discovered that all the kids were in the shade, wherever they could find it-smart kids.
Last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we had literacy interviews. The teachers from all grades did various literacy test interviews with individual children. For example, in Infants there was a sheet for the sounds/alphabet, then words (like Schonell) proceeding to questions on books and reading. Finally it finished with writing. The children start at an older age here and only have seven years in Primary: that is Prep to Grade Six. So Prep compares with Senior Infants. Similar age appropriate interviews took place for all the other grades. They took 20 to 30 minutes for each child and teachers got through eight or nine a day. Similar tests took place before Christmas in Numeracy. Children get an appointment and do not come in for those three days unless they are being tested and only then at the time of their appointment. Thus at the start of each year teachers have a very complete picture where each individual child is at.

First Day With Kids Back.

Monday, St Brigid’s Day: The kids came back today. I met many of the parents before and after school. The whole community, parents, kids and staff have been most welcoming to me and I really feel that it is a home away from home. There is a whole Irish element to this that goes way beyond any exchange. I am in the area of Australia, excluding the cities, where there is the largest concentration of people of Irish descent. Murphies, O Briens, Lanes, Dalys, Lenihans… There is a confirmation photo on the wall from, it looks like, the Sixties, and of the twenty kids ALL have Irish names. Anyway that is for another day.

In school I felt like a Newly Appointed Principal. I was giving out to myself about having yard duty on my first day when I realised that it was I who did the roster! It was the first time that I had ever done yard duty in a straw hat-‘no hat no play’ applies to the teachers also. Strange going around wondering where the children were allowed to play and what were the procedures. After school, I went to the front to do bus duty only to find that the bus comes to the side of the school. Some sixth grade girls approached me in the morning and said that they had an important question for me. I was expecting something meaningful about Irish schools when they piped up:

“Were you at Vanessa Amorosa on Friday Night?”

Well, as everyone speaks like Nadia, more like:

“Weere yoou at Vanessa Amorosa on Friiiyyydaayy Nooyght?”

Well honestly, a fella can go nowhere.

At lunch break one of the second graders kicked another boy. I walked up and asked him what did he do. He replied:

“I kicked him in the nuts.”

I kept my cool and did not show my shock at the directness. I asked him how the other boy felt and he replied:

“Sad”

…and quick as a flash a fourth grader walking by added:

“I bet his nuts felt sad too!”

School starts at nine (noyne) but at half eight two of the lads had the school garden half weeded. They returned to it during the breaks and it was in good shape by three thirty, when we finished. The recess is from 11.00 to 11.30 and lunch is from 1.00 to 2.00. At 2.15 Teresa came and showed us all how to make St. Brigid’s Crosses; I filled them the kids in on some stories and finished with a prayer ‘A Bhríd a Mhuire na nGael’ which I said in Irish and translated for them. We then had the weekly planned assembly which finished with a Q & A from the kids. The questioning was very direct and if I ever go on Facebook, I can no longer hide my age or other central details to my life.

During the day I keep using Irish terms, like asking for a ‘bualadh bos’ for Teresa, ‘súilígí’, ‘tar isteach’, ‘déanaigí líne’ srl.

As it was the first day there was a lot of crying and gnashing of teeth but I only succumbed to the latter. I still get a lot of questions and if I don’t know the answer:

“Sure, how would I know I am only the principal!”

That works with both parents and teachers. Rule Number Six never came in so handy. All and all the experience was somewhat uncomfortable but overall most enjoyable. I think that I will give it a go again tomorrow.

Saint Brigid's Family Fun Day Out, Crossley

Sunday Jan 31: Turns out that Crossley is beside Koroit so I took a stroll out in the afternoon (sometimes called ‘night’ here!) It is a rural area with a huge number of people of Irish descent. Their ancestors came in the mid-nineteenth century and settled in the surrounding area where they mainly picked spuds. Apparently they were not convicts but other Irish, practically all from an area of less than fifty miles radius of Killaloe/Ballina. The ships used to stop at Port Fairy, nearby, on the way to Melbourne and the local landlord enticed many of the Irish to ‘jump ship’. The clay in the area was perfectly suitable for growing spuds. Loads of O Briens, Lanes and Linnanes and all very proud of their heritage. The current generation, a famous musician called Shane Howard among them, were even interested in getting Irish language lessons for their kids. When I get settled I might consider getting involved. Their ancestors built a beautiful red-bricked church which held around 400 parishioners in its heyday. Alas no more and the church was closed a few years ago. The locals purchased it from the parish along with the old hall and hope to eventually develop a genealogy centre. As the patroness of the church was St Brigid this was their big fundraising day. It was just like an old ‘Bring and Buy Sale’ at home. There was a fancy dress where the kids dressed up as their ancestors, fun sports and even a pony and trap for the kids. Teresa made crosses and showed young and old alike how it is done, while recounting all the relevant stories and customs. She accepted an invitation to St Patrick’s for tomorrow which was St Brigid’s Day. These were so Irish they not only knew about The Saw Doctors, they could even sing some of their songs! I was impressed but also moved by their story and the strength of their heritage.

Croc tries to steal shark from fishermen.

Saturday Jan 30: 23 degrees and clear at 5.00 pm so went to the beach for an hour and a half. Usually it gets cooler as the evening falls but today as I was leaving it was 31 degrees. Have to watch that and put on the old sunscreen. I still have not gone in for a dip but if you watch this clip you might realise why.