Orientation to School
Principal Bradley Clark
00:00-01:40
For students at the start of the school year, I think it's really important that they feel happy and safe so the learning can happen. Every parent that walks in the door would agree with that.  Part of feeling happy is being comfortable with your surroundings; understanding the school, understanding the routines, understanding the language; the tuck shop [for example] - there [are] so many other new words to add to a student's vocabulary at the start of the year. It can be overwhelming, so absolutely we find that students who are settled and confident transition very smoothly into school. 
For us, orientation at our school is more than just the one visit to our school. Orientation also involves more than just the student; it involves orientation for the parent. Across the end of the school year, leading up to a student starting at our school, the orientation will involve a visit to our school. The orientation will also involve a parent visit to the school, and it will also involve the opportunity for every parent to meet with either the Principal or the Deputy Principal through an enrolment process. We call it an enrolment interview, but we've found that sometimes scares some parents, there's some misconception that it could be a pass, fail, or that we're going to be testing their [children] , [but] that's not what it's about at all. The orientation with parents is a great chance for us to get to know the parents. It also gives parents a really good opportunity to ask us questions that they don't want to ask at those parent information evenings, [they’re] very personal questions or very specific questions to their family.