Boutique is beautiful
Woodhill is an awesome school. You are sure to have seen the Mega Mitre Ten ads that say, “Big is Good”. When it comes to their buying power, they are probably right.
We are not in the business of selling bulk products. We are supporting children to grow up to be fine young men and women - over an eight year period.
Research tells us the most important key to learning is the relationship between the learner and the teacher. Developing quality, meaningful and impactful relationships requires time, nurture, intimate knowledge of the person as an individual, consistency, patience, love, challenge, encouragement and constancy.
It is much, much harder to find these things in a big school.
We love Woodhill School because we are in effect a “boutique” school - and to borrow a phrase, “Boutique is beautiful”.
And it is. Every one of our staff knows every one of our children. Knows them inside out and upside down. Knows their quirks, qualities and foibles. Knows what interests them, and what inspires them. Each one of our staff has a quality relationship with each one of our children. We know them, we love them, we respect them, and we are totally focused on supporting them to become the best they can possibly be.
You won’t find this level of knowledge of the individual in a big school - it’s just physically not possible. That is why primary schools are smaller than secondary schools, because everyone knows the importance of quality relationships, and the challenge of developing and maintaining them in a big school.
There are some challenges that come from being a small school, but we are aware of them and always looking for ways to positively address them.
We must reflect on where we have come from in the past two years.
- We have happy staff who work collegially and collaboratively together.
- We have an effective board who work on governance.
- We have eliminated the need for a Limited Statutory Manager.
- We have recovered from bad dept due to huge overdue parent bus payments and personal grievances.
- We have completed each financial year in credit.
- We have update our digital learning tools.
- We have installed ultra fast broadband.
- We have repaired our leaky building issues and installed heat pumps.
- We have cut back on unnecessary costs.
- We have broaden our children’s world view and sustainability awareness through our enviro-school program.
Board and staff are very aware of the issues that becoming too small can have.
Board and staff are working together to find ways of addressing these while being realistic of the immediate Woodhill surroundings.
Our first priority is to ensure our children are learning and achieving, and you can be assured that this is what we do best. We work with each child to support them to identify the qualities of a good learner with a growth mindset. Having done so, children are able to lead their own learning by using feedback and feedforward to plan their next learning steps.
I hope this will encourage you to see the positives and the possibilities that our awesome small school offers your children.