Oliver Driver is a bit of a TV and Theatre star in New Zealand. He has a great tip for us, where he says, "We are the stars of our own life's movie." We have the lead role, and our life and what happens to us is terribly important - to us.
What we have to realise is this is true of everyone we meet. We may think we are important and people will be impressed when they meet us...
BUT in that person's life we are not the star, not the lead actor. They are.
Oliver says we must treat everyone we meet as a movie star - the movie star in their own life.

Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, “Make me feel I’m important". So how do we go about this?
The key to making people feel important is simple: just listen.
The thing about listening is, it's active. 

When you are listening, it’s true that you shouldn’t be talking - that's called interrupting (and we learned that in Kindergarten).
One of the things we often do as we are listening, is is prepare how we re going to respond, while the the other person is talking. You don't want to seem like you can't hold up your end of the conversation. 
Wrong! In Dale Carnegie’s iconic book “How to Win Friends and Influence People," we learn that people fail to make  a favourable impression because they don't listen attentively. They have been so much concerned with what they are going to say next that they do not keep their ears open.

A bonus that comes with listening well - it makes you seem more interesting. Dale Carnegie says, “To be interesting, be interested." Give people an opportunity to talk about themselves and their ideas, seem genuinely interested, and they will, consequently, like you. So, hand-in-hand with being a good listener is encouragement. 

Some Tips For Active Listening:

Be honest:
If you don’t have time to truly listen, arrange to talk later.
Pay attention:
Give the person your FULL attention. If you’re on the telephone, don’t multi task by reading or typing on your computer. People will hear you striking the keyboard. This will not help build a good relationship. If you get a business call on your mobile phone while you’re driving, pull over or arrange to talk later.
Acknowledge active listening:
Give the speaker a response that says “YES I’m listening to you. I hear you”. Just demonstrate you are engaged.
Show active listening:
Use your body language to acknowledge you hear the other person. Nod, smile, lean forward, maintain eye contact, have an open body posture, be relaxed.
Reflect on what you heard:
Do this through your words, tone of voice, body position and gestures – so the other person knows he’s understood. You can paraphrase what speaker said. “My understanding of what you said is….” or  “let me see if I understand what you’ve been saying…”
Reflect feelings:
When a  speaker is feeling strongly about something, their emotions are engaged. In order to really listen to the person (as opposed to just hearing their words) you need to be in touch with the feelings. Let the speaker work through the emotion before you respond. Then paraphrase the feelings and the facts to let the speaker know you’ve heard.
Don’t judge:
Everyone has the right to express their opinions. You may not agree – but you should respect the other person’s right to their feeling. So don’t judge verbally, or non verbally with your body language.
Respond:
Always say something, even if it’s just “I’ll get back to you.” Say what’s appropriate to the situation. Be honest, respectful. Treat the other person the way you would like to be treated.
​

"The Big Picture" by Dennis Littky is one of the most influential texts I have read as a principal. 
This book, perhaps more than any other text, helped clarify my vision, values and philosophy.
Education innovator Dennis Littky — co-founder of The Met school in Rhode Island, Big Picture Learning and College Unbound — knows that we can’t afford to fail our future. His ten steps to smarter schools:

1) Create individual learning plans.
The basics of reading, writing, math and scientific thinking apply to any discipline, so let’s build lessons around each student’s interests and goals. When students are motivated and engaged, they stick with school.

2) Involve families.
Parents are a child’s first teacher and know their student best. Schools need to do all they can to get parents involved — and not just when something is wrong. Parents will make it a priority. They just haven’t been asked.

3) Focus on real-world learning.
Memorising facts is the lowest level of learning, yet it’s what we ask our students to do most. Working on purposeful projects and internships under the guidance of advisers, parents and mentors allows students to develop knowledge and skills in an integrated way.

4) Foster questions, not answers.
Curiosity is a powerful motivator. Instead of giving students the questions, we need to teach them to frame important questions and seek out answers for themselves.

5) Evaluate skills.
Answering a, b, c, d, or e on a standardised multiple-choice test doesn’t reflect a student’s ability to put knowledge into action. We need a broad spectrum of assessments: oral presentations, portfolios of written work and projects, and detailed written evaluations by teachers.

6) Use technology wisely.
Students are mostly using computers in schools as word processors and online encyclopaedias. They need to learn to use computers for collecting and analysing data, networking and solving problems. 

7) Support great teachers.
We must work hard to have only the very best teachers in our schools. Teacher training colleges need to get future teachers thinking innovatively about what school should be, not preparing teachers for the schools of yesterday.

8) Focus on college completion.
For the first time in U.S. history, today’s college-age generation will be less educated than their parents because they’re just not finishing their degrees. We can’t keep encouraging students to go to college while forgetting to help them make it through once they’re there. We talk about students being college-ready, but colleges need to be student-ready as well. Colleges have to move beyond text books and lectures to prepare students for work and life in the twenty-first century.

9) Make schools, not districts, accountable.
Teachers, principals, parents and students know their school the best. They should have enough control to design some of the measures to show how their students are succeeding on the broad district, state and federal goals.

10) Do everything at once.
Tweaking around the edges hasn’t created noticeable change or narrowed the achievement gap in our country. We must reinvent.
​

In this world of increasingly rapid technological change, it is important we do not forget some of the core skills, habits and values that have stood the test of time.
Chief among these in my book - excuse the pun - is a love of reading. 
If there is one skill we teach our children that carries more weight than anything else, it would probably have to be the ability to read with deep comprehension.
So, tonight a few ideas to help you support your child become a great reader...
We want our beginning readers to be able to lose themsclvei n a book. We want them to be transported to a different place. We especially want them to realise the world they live in is much bigger than the street they live on. 
When you take a trip to the library or the book store, try these strategies to find books that are worth your time and investment. Many of the strategies go hand in hand.
1. The Five Finger Test. 
If you are not sure of your child's reading level or if they have picked a book by its cover, this is a strategy you can use to see if the book is something they can really read. Pick a page from the middle of the book. Ask your child to hold up five fingers and begin reading the page aloud. Each time they encounter a word they don't know, they put a finger down. At the end of the page (or a reasonable passage length] they should still have one or two fingers up. If all their fingers are down, you may determine you still want to get the book as a read-aloud-to-them title. If all their fingers are up, the text is easy for him. This isn't a bad thing.
2. Nonaction Captions. 
Let's say your daughter has a thing about horses and has chosen a book about them. You can do the Five Finger Test on the captions. This is often a strategy to enter into non-fiction. If the captions are within her reading ability, she may use them as a way into the regular text as she looks for more information about the concept shown in the photo.
3. Multilevel Texts. 
Many books, both beginning fiction and non-fiction have text written on two levels. 
These books have simple beginning text for your child to read and more difficult text for you or an older child to read. Frequently these have more information and richer storylines than simple beginning readers. This is a great way to help support their reading.
4. Tried and True. 
If your child wants to read a title they have read before, don't worry. Although you know it's too easy for them, let them reread them.
Familiarity with text builds fluency, a skill that supports reading prowess. In addition, there is nothing wrong with having a character or storyline you love.
5. Magazines. 
Magazines are a great way to encourage reading for readers of all levels. There is a wide range of reading abilities. Articles tend to be short enough for beginning or struggling readers. The captions are often at an easier level than the text.
6. Talk to the Staff. 
Both librarians and book store staff know their stuff. Ask for suggestions based on reading ability, interests, and your child's favourite authors. They know what is new and what is popular. They also know the old stand-bys that may have fallen out of vogue but are reading gems. They can help you find books at the right level of ability and interest.
7. Determine the Purpose. 
We read for enjoyment and to gain knowledge. When your child picks a book, ask why it interests them. This isn't meant to be a quiz. Keep it simple. If it is because their friends are reading it, use the five finger test to see if they can read it. 
There is anything wrong with carrying around a book you wish you could read. It shows a curiosity of what is in the text. Just be sure to have material that they can read available.
8. Don't forget to pick up a book or two for yourself.
​It doesn't have to be a novel. It can be a travel magazine or a book on gardening. The best way to get your child to want to read is by seeing their parents read. You are the most influential role model they have.

Stephen Hawking’s life is remarkable in many ways. Firstly, because he is a brilliant physicist and has made groundbreaking discoveries regarding the cosmos, black holes and other unexplored aspects of the universe we live in. Secondly, he has survived motor neurone disease (ALS) which was diagnosed when he was 21 years old. He was told he had a few years to live and now, at the age of 73, he is still alive and as mentally active as ever. He has been immobilised since his twenties and then lost the power of speech which means that he now speaks via a computerised synthesiser.

Stephen Hawking  was born on Jan 8th in 1942 which was the 300th anniversary of the death of Galileo. At school, he only managed to get average grades. He was curious about how clocks worked and regularly took them to pieces but was not very good at reassembling them.
His studies at Oxford were disturbed by his rowing practice which occupied six afternoons a week. He was the coxswain who steered the boat and kept the rowers safe. The only problem was that his studies suffered and he admitted that he had to cut some corners to pass his exams.

His studies and research brought him countless prizes and recognition. He held the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge for 30 years. Isaac Newton held the same position in 1669.
Hawking’s relationship with his wife Jane is movingly portrayed in the film The Theory of Everything.   When asked what he thought of the film, Hawking replied that there was not enough science in it while his ex wife thought that there was not enough emotion.

Stephen Hawking’s life is an astonishing story of a man who faced enormous odds and went on to become one of the world’s most famous scientists. Here are some of his most famous quotes.
“I have noticed that even people who claim everything is predetermined and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.”

“The downside of my celebrity is that I cannot go anywhere in the world without being recognised. It is not enough for me to wear dark sunglasses and a wig. The wheelchair gives me away.”
“Mankind’s greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn’t have to be like this. Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future. With the technology at our disposal, the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.”
“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”
“My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn’t prevent you doing well, and don’t regret the things it interferes with. Don’t be disabled in spirit, as well as physically.”

“One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose, and life is empty without it. Three, if you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don’t throw it away.”
“It is no good getting furious if you get stuck. What I do is keep thinking about the problem but work on something else. Sometimes it is years before I see the way forward. In the case of information loss and black holes, it was 29 years.”

“So next time someone complains that you have made a mistake, tell him that may be a good thing. Because without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist.”
“We are all different, but we share the same human spirit. Perhaps it’s human nature that we adapt and survive.”
“If I had to choose a superhero to be, I would pick Superman. He’s everything that I’m not.”
“I am just a child who has never grown up. I still keep asking these ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions. Occasionally, I find an answer.”
“I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first.”

“Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious, and however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.”
“It is a waste of time to be angry about my disability. One has to get on with life and I haven’t done badly. People won’t have time for you if you are always angry or complaining.”

“We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity. We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves on a small and increasingly polluted and overcrowded planet.”
“Keeping an active mind has been vital to my survival, as has been maintaining a sense of humour.”
“I have so much that I want to do. I hate wasting time.”

As a follow up to my blog on Quality Control and Kids, I would like to share with you a little from the life and work of Dr Demming.

Recognition:
In 1960, the Prime Minister of Japan (Nobusuke Kishi), acting on behalf of Emperor Hirohito, awarded Deming Japan's Order of the Sacred Treasure, Second Class. The citation on the medal recognises Deming's contributions to Japan's industrial rebirth and its worldwide success.
In 1980, he was featured prominently in an NBC TV documentary titled "If Japan can... Why can't we?" about the increasing industrial competition the United States was facing from Japan. As a result of the broadcast, demand for his services increased dramatically, and Deming continued consulting for industry throughout the world until his death at the age of 93.
Over the course of his career, Deming received dozens of academic awards, including another, honorary, PhD from Oregon State University. In 1987, he was awarded the National Medal of Technology by President Reagan: "For his forceful promotion of statistical methodology, for his contributions to sampling theory, and for his advocacy to corporations and nations of a general management philosophy that has resulted in improved product quality." In 1988, he received the Distinguished Career in Science award from the National Academy of Sciences.

Teachings:
"A manager of people needs to understand that all people are different. This is not ranking people. He needs to understand that the performance of anyone is governed largely by the system that he works in, the responsibility of management. A psychologist that possesses even a crude understanding of variation as will be learned in the experiment with the Red Beads could no longer participate in refinement of a plan for ranking people.”

"There is no substitute for knowledge." This statement emphasises the need to know more, about everything in the system. It replaces "There is no substitute for hard work" by Thomas Alva Edison with, a small amount of knowledge could save many hours of hard work.

"Experience by itself teaches nothing." To Deming, knowledge is best taught by a master who explains the overall system through which experience is judged; experience, without understanding the underlying system, is just raw data that can be misinterpreted against a flawed theory of reality. Deming's view of experience is related to Shewhart's concept, "Data has no meaning apart from its context”.

Deming used an illustration of washing a table to teach a lesson about the relationship between purpose and method. If you tell someone to wash a table, but not the reason for washing it, they cannot do the job properly (will the table be used for chopping food or potting plants?). That does not mean just giving the explanation without an operational definition. The information about why the table needs to be washed, and what is to be done with it, makes it possible to do the job intelligently.

"You can expect what you inspect." Deming emphasised the importance of measuring and testing to predict typical results. If a phase consists of inputs + process + outputs, all 3 are inspected to some extent. Problems with inputs are a major source of trouble, but the process using those inputs can also have problems. By inspecting the inputs and the process more, the outputs can be better predicted, and inspected less. Rather than use mass inspection of every output product, the output can be statistically sampled in a cause-effect relationship through the process.

The 4 steps in the Deming Cycle: 
Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA), also known as Plan-Do-Study-Act or PDSA. Deming called the cycle the Shewhart Cycle, after Walter A. Shewhart. The cycle can be used in various ways, such as running an experiment: 
350px-PDCA Cycle.svg

PLAN (design) the experiment; 
DO the experiment by performing the steps; 
CHECK the results by testing information; 
ACT on the decisions based on those results.

"A system must be managed. It will not manage itself. Left to themselves in the Western world, components become selfish, competitive, independent profit centres, and thus destroy the system. . . . The secret is cooperation between components toward the aim of the organization. We can not afford the destructive effect of competition.”

Taking action on the basis of results without theory of knowledge, without theory of variation, without knowledge about a system - has the effect of making things worse. With the best of intentions and best efforts, managing by results is, in effect, exactly the same as driving your automobile by keeping your eye on the rear view mirror. And that's what management by results is, keeping your eye on results.”

Deming realised that many important things that must be managed couldn’t be measured. Deming is often incorrectly quoted as saying, "You can't manage what you can't measure." In fact, he stated that one of the seven deadly diseases of management is running a company on visible figures alone.

​Here’s the problem as I see it with today’s education policies. Businesses and governments are accountable - to stock holders and to voters. In the business world you can usually find a correlation between what you put into a business and what you get out of it.
In a business model, you ensure quality raw materials, resources and components go in as inputs. In doing so, you can be reasonably sure the outputs will also be of good quality, fit for purpose, and able to show a return on investment.
Governments, particularly those supported by businesses, want to be able to show returns on investment. They want to be able to measure what went in, measure what comes out and then provide a “value for money return on investment” statement. 
Governments have turned their attention to education and are seeking to apply the same principles.

Dr W Edwards Demming was brought in by the Japanese government after WW2 to look at their management systems and processes. He looked at their system of performance pay and famously set up an example for Captains of Industry. Dr Demming put a smaller number of red balls into a box with a larger number of white balls. “Workers” were invited to step up and blindly choose a ball. If they picked a red one they got a performance bonus. If they chose a white one, no reward. 
His point was, the workers had no control over the outcome.
In simple terms, Dr Demming taught these Japanese Captains of Industry that: 
     they had to devolve responsibility to the workers for their performance
     they had to listen to the person doing the job rather than bring in analysts and time and   
      motion experts
     they needed to make everyone responsible for improvement 
     they needed to share the performance rewards with everyone involved
     teams working as teams would always outperform individuals competing for rewards
     invest in your teams and your individuals
     show loyalty

In specific terms, Deming’s 14 Points on Quality Management:
     Create constancy of purpose for improving products and services.
     Adopt the new philosophy.
     Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality.
     End the practice of awarding business on price alone; instead, minimise total cost by   
     working with a single supplier.
     Improve constantly and forever, every process for planning, production and service.
     Institute training on the job.
     Adopt and institute leadership.
     Drive out fear.
     Break down barriers between staff areas.
     Eliminate slogans, exhortations and targets for the workforce.
     Eliminate numerical quotas for the workforce and numerical goals for management.
     Remove barriers that rob people of pride of workmanship, and eliminate the annual rating or 
     merit system.
     Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement for everyone.
     Put everybody in the company to work accomplishing the transformation.

After WW1 the economies of Germany and Italy collapsed. The Deutsche Mark and the Lira were worth nothing. They blamed the rest of the world, got angry and went to back to war.
After WW2 Japan was demoralised and defeated. It also faced the aftermath of two nuclear bombs falling on two of its leading cities. They did not blame the rest of the world, get angry and go back to war. They sought advice, got thinking and got to work.
Japan’s economy did not collapse. In fact, Japan’s economy soon outpaced America’s. Japan soon led the world as an industrialised nation. 
Dr W Edwards Demming is revered by the Japanese nation, and the Japanese people. America did eventually realise they had missed the bus, but the practices at so many major corporations were the antithesis of Demming’s Total Qulaity Management, that America’s economy all but collapsed. General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Goldman Sachs - all these massive corporations ended up in impossible debt and disfunction because they ignored Demming’s TQM. 
Instead they followed a culture of paying obscenely massive benefits and bonuses to their CEOs and managers - even when their companies made massive losses. Now those same - Goldman Sachs for example - executives are working for the US government, employed by Bush, and pushing the same ideology that got America into such an horrific mess.

So back to the problem as I see it, with education. Ministry and government officials want to pay teachers for their performance. Think back to Demming’s example. You reach in blindly and if you get the red ball…
It’s the same principle here. 
What if teacher A gets three children with Attention Deficit Disorder, one with Hyperactivity, one Foetal Alcohol syndrome child, one spoilt child who has no boundaries at home, two freshly arrived refugee children with no English, 15 local children who have English as their second or third language, seven children who have not been to pre school and - well you get the picture.
There are many, many classrooms where this is a typical intake.

Teacher B meanwhile receives 18 children because their school can afford to lower class sizes due to financial support from their community. Those 18 children are predominantly New Zealand European. They have all been to pre-school, they all have books in their homes, they all have had language-rich experiences as they grew up, they all have learned their alphabet, colours and numbers to 20 before starting school. Their parents are educated, have good jobs and high expectations.
There are many, many classrooms where this is a typical intake.

So for the sake of society as well as the sake of the children, which children need the better teacher?
Would it be fair to say the children in Teacher B’s class are going to progress beautifully whether Teacher B is any good or not?
Would it be fair to say Teacher A could work her fingers to the bone and still have a number of children making limited progress?
Are the non problematical children in Teacher A’s class going to be able to focus and get the best Teacher A has to offer if she is constantly “managing” the challenging children?

Take this one step further. What if you are the parent od a special needs child? Is a teacher going to want to teach your child if it is going to put their performance bonus at risk by having your child in their class?

Each child we have the blessing to educate is unique. Each child, according to Sir Ken Robinson, “is a fountain of possibilities.” Children can’t be considered to be outputs. As teachers we must cultivate the right conditions for learning; we must find each child’s passion, talent, and creativity. As teachers we must capitalise on the great diversity in our schools and guide young people to find their talents with the goal of using these to positively contribute to society.
I am not opposed to accountability. Data informs planning and  instruction, but I think many have misinterpreted assessment and how it should be used. The word assess comes from the Latin verb assidire - to sit beside. Instead of doling out test papers, we need to be sitiing beside our learners, having personal conversations about what they know, what they want to know and how to scaffold between the two. 
Hattie’s research is unequivocal - relationships between learner and teacher; constructive, personalised feed back and feed forward; are what make the difference.
Drill and test achieves nothing lasting but may provide data to keep Ministers and voters happy if they do not know any better.
Demming proved that performance pay as the government is promoting, will not work because we must take individual differences, developmental differences, and life experiences into account.

There is no assessment that can accurately assess all children.
There is no one-size-fits-all test, fix, or easy way to measure student academic performance. It is difficult, challenging and messy work. We must abandon the idea that we can fix education with more money, a new program, or a piece of legislation. We can’t legislate learning any more than we can legislate love. Learning is organic, it happens when passion meets opportunity, when a great teacher creates an amazing experience for students to embrace.

Our children need the very best teachers we can provide. Our future rests in the hands of these children who will take over our world - the world we are leaving them is fraught with massive challenges such as we have not confronted before. To face those challenges our children need to be well taught - not just in reading, writing and math, but in thinking, caring, creating, contributing, collaborating, communicating, persisting, and in particular, discerning.

Right now we need discerning people to stand up and say performance pay for teachers is not the answer.
We need to apply Demming’s principles, and Sir Ken Robinson’s.

Sometimes we can worry about change. We think about the way things were and how they worked for us. The world our children live in and one day will work in, is very very different from the one we grew up in. The speed of change is exponential, and we need to be changing with our world and preparing our children for a world of change.  Change  requires  an  evolution  of  thinking  that  can  offer  new possibilities for continued greatness ahead. 
One change we must emphasise is ensuring the focus is more than just on academic achievement, but rather on Whole Child growth and development.
When we state “Whole Child,” we are specifically addressing the development of the social, emotional, physical and academic development of each student.
A  Whole  Child  approach,  which  ensures  that  each  student  is  healthy,  safe,  engaged, supported, and challenged, sets the standard for comprehensive, sustainable school improvement and provides for long-term student success.
Whole Child Education Expectations: 
• Each child enters school healthy and learns about and practices a healthy  lifestyle. 
• Each child learns in an environment that is physically and emotionally safe for all. 
• Each child owns their learning and contributes to a close personal connection with our school         and their community.
• Each child has access to personalised learning and is supported by caring, qualified adults. 
• Each child is challenged academically and nurtured individually to prepare them for success  in life.
Skills for the 21st Century: 
“The rigour that matters most for the 21st century is demonstrated mastery of the core competencies for work, citizenship, and life-long learning. Studying academic content is the means for developing competencies, instead of being the goal, as it has been traditionally. "In today’s world, it’s no longer how much you know that matters; it’s what you can do with what you know.” -- Tony Wagner, The Global Achievement Gap 
The success of our children is dependent upon our ability to teach them 21st century skills: 
    Collaborative Team Member
    Effective Communicator
    Globally Aware, Active, and Responsible Student/Citizen
    Information Literate Researcher
    Innovative and Practical Problem Solver
    Self‐Directed Learner. 
“As educators, school leaders, and policymakers, we exist in a world where too often assessment equals high-stakes tests. This is a very limited view of assessment. The fundamental purpose of assessment is the improvement of student achievement, teaching practice, and leadership decision-making.” Douglas Reeves, Ahead of the Curve: The Power of Assessment to Transform Teaching and Learning. 

We believe all students should participate in Music. This year we have implemented a school-wide music programme that has given every child a taste of how engaging and empowering participation in music can be. Mark McLay our Marvellous Music Maestro describes it as opening their eyes to a world of challenging fun. The value in their participation goes far beyond the act of playing any specific instrument. The value lies in the skills they learn in performance, practice, and participation in a group. Playing an instrument activates both sides of the brain. It teaches the value of effort and achievement. It teaches appreciation for the arts. I want to publicly thank Mark for the magnificent job he has done with this programme, it has added a wonderful new dimension to learning at WHS.

Our Vision is for our children to Love to Learn to Lead. This is a whole child vision. 
We want our children to Love themselves, to be strong in themselves, resilient and confident in what they can do and what they can learn.
We want our children to Love each other - to be a part of a caring and contributing family. Bucket-Fillers who make a difference in their world by Paying It Forward. One of the most important ways we show our love for our family is by listening - a skill for the ages.
We want our children to Love our world. It’s the only one we’ve got, there is certainly not another in the Universe that we are aware of or could reach, so we must look after it with love and care.
We want our children to Love to Learn. Learning gives us power over our world, our circumstances and our future. It offers us options and opportunities that we would not have without it. Learning is for life.
We want our children to Lead. 
With our WHS values, our children are well set to lead - in their own lives as they set goals, develop action plans, identify what success looks like and reflect on how they went and where they go next. 
In the lives of others as they set the standard for others to aspire to. In their world as they live leadership through what they do rather than what they say.

“As educators, our responsibilities are to support our children in pursuit of their learning, to support our children in pursuit of their dreams, and to support our children in pursuit of imagining successes not already conceived. 

We must do all we can to meet our responsibility to develop the “Whole Child, Every Child.” 
Therefore, we will continually reflect on all that we do to ensure we meet all the needs of these wonderful young people entrusted into our care, and support them to the best of our ability in order that they will Love to Learn to Lead.