From the Principal – 19 April 2017

As Term 2 starts, I welcome all students and their families back for what I hope is an exciting and fulfilling term.

I look forward to sharing the draft Values, Vision and Mission developed in Term 1 with the broader school community shortly. The thinking behind this work will inform the structure and details within our strategic plan and we anticipate that we will develop the plan over the next few months in consultation with our community.

In the workshops so far, we have spent some time clarifying what we mean by the different terms we are using. So often people may feel they are disagreeing when in fact they are actually speaking about the same thing. For the purposes of the 2017 – 2022 St Margaret’s and Berwick Grammar School Strategic Plan, we have defined the key terms as follow:

Values: These guide our intentions and give direction to our behaviour and actions. When personal or organisational values are clear and we are aware of them, they create a solid foundation for our lives.

Organisations summarize their goals and objectives in mission and vision statements. While a mission statement describes what a company wants to do now, a vision statement outlines what a company wants to be in the future.

The Mission Statement concentrates on the present; it defines the stakeholders, critical processes and it informs you about the desired level of performance.

The Vision Statement focuses on the future; it is a source of inspiration and motivation. Often it describes not just the future of the organisation but also the future of the society in which the organisation hopes to effect change.

I would invite the school community to continue their contact with us as we move towards developing the actions associated with the strategic plan. We are still very open to new ideas to add to the growing pool of thoughtful and responsive thoughts already shared, so please do contact me on email to either make a time, or send through ideas: romea@stmargarets.vic.edu.au

Ms Annette Rome
Principal