My sympathies lie with those students who have moved homes and are beginning a school year without having the familiar faces of their friends in the playground and classroom. I changed schools nine times as a student and it did not become easier on subsequent occasions. The established pecking orders make it hard at first to break into new friendship circles and it is daunting trying to work out where you fit in.

Fortunately, most students in most schools welcome new arrivals and after a few days, being in a new school becomes a new adventure with the chance to make even better friends. Teachers are also very much aware of the personal and social pressures that new students are under, and go out of their way to link up the new and the old.

Teachers who are new to a school face similar challenges, especially if they have moved towns to take up their new position. The first staff meeting can be a challenge, trying to put faces to names and trying to remember who does what in a school. Schools’ websites are a real benefit for new students and teachers, with lots of photos and stories that can help fill in the gaps. Newsletters from last year are worth reading to find out what was valued by teachers, students, parents and the community.

For both students and teachers, learning and teaching become easier when all people feel valued and appreciated. Students should realise how much they can learn from other students, and teachers learn a lot from each other as well as from their students. Establishing friendly relations in the classroom, the playground and the staffroom makes for a happy school and happy learners and teachers. 

This does not mean that questioning should be avoided. Students should learn from Day 1 that asking questions can help clarify their learning and they should not be embarrassed by not knowing everything immediately. Of course, there are good ways to ask questions that are polite and can result in extending knowledge and understanding.

Collaboration between teachers and between teachers, students, parents and caregivers is important in making a school function effectively for the benefit of all members of the school community. Parents who have any concerns about aspects of their child’s learning should not hesitate in contacting the school quickly. It is so much better to speak to the appropriate people in the school than to let concerns linger. Schools are much friendlier places than in years gone by and parents are welcomed as partners in the learning adventures of their children.

Finally, my advice is not to get hung up by NAPLAN testing. Too much important learning time is wasted in some schools by ‘preparing’ students for NAPLAN tests. These should only be a one-off snapshot of how a student is progressing with literacy and numeracy instead of a major focus. Teaching and learning energies should be expended on great lessons and adventures that in turn develop wide knowledge and skills in not only literacy and numeracy but in all domains. And it should be fun, even in Year 12.

So welcome to First Term again or for the first time. Make the most of all learning and teaching opportunities and enjoy the friendships that flourish in a positive school.