Managing the unmanageable (and I don’t mean COVID!), and what do we really focus on when things get difficult?
I am submitting this writing on Tuesday 27 February, and in contrast to its content, I am intensely aware of the fire challenges of today, Wednesday 28 February, shaping as an extremely dangerous day for many of our more outlying families and lots of other Victorians. Our fingers are crossed for them and our thoughts and prayers with them all as together we navigate this day of anticipated extremely high temperatures and strong winds, sadly in the context of so many fires burning in our state already.
During my second last week of leave in February, I awoke very early on a Tuesday morning in Munich to a European media report of a day of wild weather in Melbourne, presented mostly as a continuation of the equally unusual weather further north that had been a regular item since the New Year. Moving on to Australian news sites it became clear that it was a very significant weather event indeed and when I looked at my work email, there was a flurry of messages over the course of that day (it was about 4 pm in Melbourne) from the Acting Principal and various Heads of Schools to staff about ensuring student and staff safety, indoor recess, wind warnings for Secondary students, changes to sport, and much more all indicating a much more significant storm than the European media had represented.
I then had a conference call with our Acting Principal, Mr McManus, and later also with our Assistant Principal, Ms Oriana Constable, both as a briefing and also to give me an opportunity to give input to judgement and decisions around the criteria for shutting the School for the following day (or not), for re-opening the School, and for managing the inevitable clean up. It was clear we had been very affected by the storm and this would continue for at least the next 24 hours. I struggle to think of a time I have felt so powerless to help, and so distanced from the knowledge and understanding of a situation. But I was also buoyed by my confidence in the team who convened to manage this crisis.
In a situation like this, key decisions revolve around what is adjudged to be profoundly important and how to prioritise those things. From my distance, it was clear that the philosophy we had adopted early in COVID was activated almost identically. A large group of staff was convened, led by Executive and Senior staff, with staff from every section of the School. This Emergency Management Group again came together at very short notice and collaborated on the judgement and decision-making that set our weather response, as they had in 2020 and through 2021.
In the lead up to the first COVID lockdowns, we made a particular point of deciding what was going to be our strategic focus, as it was clear we could not do everything as we would have wanted to. At that point we committed to prioritising the wellbeing of our community as number one, followed just behind by the best possible online delivery of education we could manage. In listening to Mr McManus and Ms Constable, it was clear that the focus again was about what was best and safest for our community, along with how to maximise the learning and growth of students.
When it was apparent we would not have power the following day, and so there would be no light or heat, and particularly no emergency communications, the decision to close the campus was not a difficult one. If we had conducted school and had any further power event, or safety issue on campus, we would not have been able to conduct an evacuation or a lockdown, nor contact all students to inform them. So, our priority was keeping people safe by keeping them away from the campus.
From there we looked to what meaningful learning and activity we could give students who did have email access, or whose parents did. It was an opportunity for enrichment activities and variation from Australian Curriculum. Again, like during the pandemic, our staff were amazing! There was the creation of interesting and cross-curricular activities, there was the delivery (using a number of delivery modes!) of worksheets and resources as best could be managed, to keep students older and younger learning and engaged.
Families without power, or without internet must have found the one to four days of restriction incredibly frustrating, and I know both that staff empathised with them and they were front of mind for the Executive staff too. Our youngest students, similarly, would have found the ‘no school’ day very frustrating, despite the best efforts of staff.
So, what do we take out of a day like that Wednesday, and the work that parents, students, staff and Executive do to support our students? Firstly, we have an amazing team (whether it includes the Principal or not), whether it is across the academic, wellbeing, facilities, administration or leadership domains and they both prioritise and are very well versed in, ensuring the safety and wellbeing of students and colleagues.
But what I would see as more important is that their priority is always our students and our community, the things that surely should be the ‘why’ of our existence. As shown by that week of weather (but hopefully not by the weather of Wednesday 28 February) they are the values that guide our thinking and our decision-making; our priorities are always our students, our staff, and our community.
factis non verbis
Bradley Fry | Principal
