Rockhampton Grammar School new Head of Primary Mrs Kate Harris acknowledges it has certainly been a different start to the year, but welcomed the preparation from RGS staff.
Mrs Harris arrived at RGS this year from The Glennie School in Toowoomba, along with husband Roger who is teaching Mathematics in the Secondary School.
“The number one for me is always opportunities to connect with children,’’ Mrs Harris said.
“It’s important that families feel their children are safe and secure and connected to people.
“It’s been a bit of a different start, particularly for Prep children, and our staff are working hard to ensure we are visible and checking in with them, so they feel a strong sense of belonging.”
Mrs Harris has worked in education for the past 30 years after starting her teaching career in the Mt Isa and Cloncurry districts before moving to Brisbane and then Toowoomba. Early childhood teaching is Mrs Harris’ passion.
“Rockhampton feels very similar to the sense we had in Toowoomba (in a regional city), apart from the weather,’’ Mrs Harris said.
However, no matter where Mrs Harris has previously worked the reason is still the same – “I absolutely love children”.
“I feel that starting my career in early childhood has enabled me to keep growing in this field and helped when moving into leadership where I can understand what’s happening with children, in both their behaviour and ways of learning,’’ Mrs Harris said.
“It’s enabled me to understand the different pathways for children and how everyone can learn, and everyone can show growth.
“It’s our job (as educators) to make sure we get the best out of our little people and for this to happen we need to continually change and accommodate in response to the children we are teaching.
Mrs Harris, a mother of three grown children now pursuing their own life goals, is also a strong believer in “it takes a village”.
“We rely, as parents, on people around us to support us and help us,’’ Mrs Harris said.
“Children thrive in an environment where they have multiple people looking out for them.
“Great schools do that where they all come together, they all support, they all help.
"Collaborating and working together with parents is vitally important. Sharing what you know about your children and looking for opportunities to work together allows educators to get the best from your children as we all want the same thing – happy children who are thriving at school.
"As much as we all want things to be perfect, we know this is not always the case. There will be speed bumps along the way but there are many ways to problem solve, to make things right and we keep working together until we find the right outcome.”
Welcome to The Rockhampton Grammar School Mrs Harris.
“The number one for me is always opportunities to connect with children.”
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