By Ewen McRae
Democracy was in action at Mackellar Primary School last week, as the school community came together to decide on their new core values.
Students and teachers narrowed their choices for the new values down to a top 10, with the community then able to vote to determine what their school valued most.
Sydenham MP Natalie Hutchins was on hand to cast her votes – for respect, resilience and creativity – and said it was a great initiative.
“I think to be able to vote for your school values is a really fantastic way of engaging the whole parent community in particular into saying what vision they want for the school,” Ms Hutchins said.
“I think, for me, if you have a lot of respect at your school then you will see the place running well, it’s a core fundamental value that I try to uphold. Resilience is also important because you want your kids to move up to high school with as much resilience as possible, and creativity, because I’ve seen some amazing programs come out of this place because of innovation, so I think that’s really important.
“The other great thing is these students learn the value of voting at an early age.”
Student wellbeing co-ordinator Tanya Lindsay-Clark said it was important the whole community had their say in such a prominent part of the school’s image.
“We work in partnership with the parents, so it’s important that we share values and all have an active say in what we use,” she said.
“Everything will come back to these values, we’ll have them up around the school, and it’s more meaningful if the students and community have their say.”
The top three values will be announced in the coming weeks.
