Meeting Report 3127 August 29th
Apologies for the evening:
Lance Hatcher, Helen Rapp-Bourne, Julie Tekell, Bob Ahrens, Patsy Johnson, Tom Kelly, Anthea John, Wayne Murphy
Guests
Rosie Gilsenan-Reed - Guest Speaker
Michele Nys- Guest of Ian
PE John Lyons provided the toast for the evening, and PP Ian Sanders said grace. Chair for the evening was Angela Moore
Chairperson Angela opened meeting 3127 and welcomed members, guest speaker Rosie Gilsenan Reed and guests Margaret Leversedge – Guest of Beth Hudman; Julie Smeaton- Guest of PP Mark; Michele Nys- Guest of Ian
In a break in tradition Angela introduced guest speaker Rosie from Two Wells Primary School to deliver her presentation first as she had an additional commitment for the evening and needed to leave.
Rosie Gilsenan-Reed is the Principal of Two Wells Primary school and has been there since term 4, 2019
She was Born in Birmingham England; attended Uni in Liverpool; began career in Knowsley; Moved to Wirral as a full-time teaching DP 5 years gained a Master’s in Leadership at Keele uni. Married 1992. Made Stockport Principal in 1998 in a school causing concern made enough improvements to keep it open!
In 2002 Moved to NZ, taught for 10 years, DP at Glenbrook - 8 years.
Moved to SA 2012. DP and principal Stirling North port Augusta, Hincks Ave Whyalla one year return, moved school forward. Accepted position of Principal Consultant port Augusta and Far North - 2 years before winning position of Principal of Two Wells beginning term 4 2019
Rosie is Married to a fellow school principal, and they have twin daughters born in 1997.
Two wells primary has a long tradition in the town and was first established as a school in 1865 but has been on the present site since 1979. In recent times Two Wells and the surrounding areas have seen massive change and development. Which has brought new challenges to the community. It has gone from a mix of large ‘lifestyle’ and agricultural blocks to now having lots of smaller housing blocks in estates. The infrastructure of the town has not changed greatly and there are limited things for young people to access outside of sport. Even then the sporting clubs are in the town and unless parents drive their children there, they cannot access them. Our collective challenge in Two Wells is to make connections with the community that is already embedded with tradition and histories but also connect to the new people coming into the area. Many people see the future as unpredictable but that could be said of all times throughout history for example in the war years, the depression etc.
The commitment across the department is quality leadership and expert teaching but the third and most important commitment is the one that Rosie focused on and that is the conditions for optimal learning and school culture. What we do within our school culture ensures that our young people have the skills and competencies that they need to be well rounded people to engage in society. One of the fundamentals of the school is looking after the wellbeing and health of our young people. Rosie feels very strongly that if we are expecting our young people to be socially connected, we must teach them to talk! Talk politely and rationally and manage complete sentences, ask questions, and engage in critical thinking. The community hub would help parents understand how important oral language is for their children.
One of the focuses of society today is wellbeing and even with the likes of mobile phones, Facebook, and other social media platforms we have a society of people who are incredibly lonely. As a community we must be flexible and adaptable. In the Two Wells school community there are a growing number of young mums without support networks around them. So, one of the projects at the school is developing a Community Hub. The hub will provide a space initially for parents to come and have a coffee and a chat with each other to build networks. The hub would also be used to provide services to families such as book clubs where parents would be provided with a picture book and prompts such as puppets or a game to play after reading which connects to the story. This will embed a culture of “reading to” and “reading with” our children. Williamstown Primary school has a great model already up and running successfully where families engage in Kinder gym, playgroup, and activity mornings. The school has witnessed greater engagement particularly from Dad’s not just in these sessions but into the school as well.
One of the major projects currently happening at TWPS is the breakfast club. Since its inception 12 months ago the numbers have significantly increased. Kickstart for kids initially provided food for breakfast 2 days a week but the school now provides breakfast and the staff to run it 5 days a week. With the increase of need throughout all schools Kickstart for kids cannot provide food for 5 days per week and often do not have healthy things like fruit available so the school supply this. The school can use breakfast club as a springboard for healthy eating. We know that eating and sleeping has a significant impact on student learning and wellbeing, so this is important for us. We cannot do much about the sleeping but hopefully once the hub is up and running, we can work with parents around this. Currently breakfast club has around 50-60% uptake from the school community. Not all students need breakfast, but none are turned away. Although cost of food and other expenses have impacted on families other factors that might cause children to need breakfast is time- they are rushed in the mornings and don’t get food, they have to get up early because the parents are taking other children to schools out of town or other parents to work due to only having 1 car, children left to get themselves off to school because both parents have gone to work. The school is tracking the children’s access to breakfast club and tracking the wellbeing and academic data to monitor improvements and so far, it has been positive. This is great because of high levels of anxiety and mental health issues amongst our young people is high. This is across all socio-economic groups and affected by diet, engagement with technology and not engaging with each other through traditional games etc. We need to see growth in the whole child.
The Space for the community hub is there. It is the old canteen which closed twelve months ago. However, it needs upgrading. It does not have a sink so we cannot prepare food. When asbestos was removed, they did not replace the sink!
How can Rotary Help? Of course, money is wonderful but what we need are volunteers to run breakfast club, to assist students in the garden and use the food that is grown there to prep and cook it. To be a presence in the school and help with listening to reading etc.
If you would like to volunteer and willing to undergo the required checks Angela will collect the names and give them to Rosie.
Rosie was then presented with her certificate of appreciation and notification of donation to vaccinate forty-five children against Polio before leaving.
Chairperson Angela then asked Steve Barilla and Anthony Barilla to come forward for their spots.
PP Steve thanked everyone for their efforts over the weekend with Show parking. A special mention to Beth for providing hot snacks to members which she delivered on her trusty gopher on Saturday but had to call on Margaret to come to the rescue and help deliver because of a flat battery on Sunday. Also, a super thanks to Madison Williams who is our next participant on the One and All for her help on Saturday with Grandad Mike.
Steve also asked members to start thinking about the swap meet on the 18th of September and the times they can volunteer.
Anthony with the help of Joe entertained us with some funny stories and great photos from his recent Variety Bash trip. He told us that participants are given the GPS coordinates now and must follow them but importantly if they are lost
they can press a button on the GPS to notify organisers and they can be rescued. There were 350 participants and 100 support crew to feed and look after each stop. They handed out lots of gifts and supported the towns by purchasing things in the shops. One of the challenges was for each team to try and ‘steal’ things from each other’s cars along the way!
Due to time and the interest in the wonderful stories it was suggested that the boys come back as guest speakers.
Sergeant Barry held a shortened but still lively session, and the wheel spin winners were Beth, John Lyons, and Ian Nys.
Pres Kathy Thanked guests for coming
she thanked PP Steve for organising and the volunteers for the Gawler show parking.
Next week’s guest speaker will be Beth Hudman autobiography chaired by PP Brian.
Pres Kathy reminded Board members there will be a meeting following the closing of this evening’s meeting.
After the Four Way Test Pres Kathy closed meeting 3127
