What a terrific day we all had today, at the athletics carnival. The weather was superb, the kids terrific in every way, and the large contingent of parents friends and families made it a special day for us all. As I said at the end, it is days like this which build our school community's spirit and identity. Schools are important social institutions as well as educational ones, as they provide forums and opportunities to bring local people together for a common cause  - their children. Imagine if Geographe Primary School didn't exist - how many people in your neighbourhood would you know?
I think every one of us, students parents and staff, left the oval today feeling very proud and fortunate to be a part of  this school. For me personally, I have had opportunities to move away from schools into other roles in education or beyond, but something holds me back. Seeing and feeling the camaraderie and spirit of our school today while walking around talking to parents and kids, or helping run the carnival, reminded me why I'm still working as a principal in a government primary school, and there is not a better one than ours.
The carnival today had a nice blend of competition, participation and fun (the latter beautifully captured by the picture below of Miss Tew running down the track in her tutu (tew-tew?). A feature of Geographe is the Education Support Centre, and it was fantastic to see the way GPS students included, supported and encouraged their friends from GESC.
Have a wonderful holiday everyone!

"Parent Power" was in full force at our school over the weekend. A big number of parents came along to our playground busy-bee on Saturday to help with further works in the early years playground under the direction of Duncan and Anna Cutbush, install two new flagpoles and erect a "changeable sign" at the front of the school. Busselton Senior High School kindly donated their old sign to its little brother, Geographe Primary. Reid Grocock has made a fabulous new sign panel for it, and once the concrete is fully set around the posts, the rest of the sign can go on.
Kelvin May, Lindsay Williams and I spent some time cleaning out the back shed, and took two enormous trailer-loads of junk to the tip. The Young Mechanics program, which is based in the shed, now has more room to move. Unfortunately, someone took this as a signal to break in over the weekend, and most of their tools were stolen along with a green wagon/trolley to carry them in. If anyone sees the trolley, let us know so we can tell the police.
Speaking of "power", we are in need of a parent with welding skills and equipment. We have about ten student desks which are in good condition, but have a bung leg where the weld has broken. We had a dad who used to come in and weld these legs back up for us but he has left. If anyone can help, please call the school on 9754 0100.
Best Regards
Tim