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Good Shepherd Lutheran College Darwin Motto: Identity, Service, Respect It was David Spike the Pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran congregation in Palmerston and Pastor Dr Joe Strelan who was filling a temporary appointment, who injected the idea of a School out in the rapidly growing Palmerston area into both the congregations of St Andrew’s in Nightcliff and Good Shepherd in Palmerston.

With the first term break occurring at the end of this week there is the danger to hard working Principals that they see it as irrelevant to them. As a result, some Principals feel they are obliged to keep working regardless. Sure, there is “stuff” that has to be done but into this holiday time I think it is important for Principals to set aside some genuine “R and R” time for themselves and to not feel guilty about it.

There are so many thought-provoking ideas that emerge from our wonderful group of AISNT Schools, all of which have their own individual character. Understanding these schools can lead to a Principal developing new ideas for their own school. The school I’m profiling this week is Sattler Christian College whose motto is: “Growing in Wisdom- Learning to love”.

AISNT would like to welcome Ian Smith to the team as the Director of Independent Indigenous Schools, bringing a range of experience and skills. His teaching stretches across from South Australia, Mildura and the Surfcoast of Victoria, before heading to Bathurst Island, part of the Tiwi Islands, NT. Ian and his family returned to Mildura, before heading north once more, this time to Tiwi College on Melville Island, and finally to Haileybury Rendall School in Darwin. This broad experience underpins a fine understanding of the complexities of education in Australia covering a variety of schools: encompassing small and large, from Government, Independent and Catholic, to Aboriginal and boarding schools.

As Principal it is so valuable to have a clear, known definition of these three factors and not simple to look this up just before a board meeting. A shallow understanding is not helpful - it is essential for a principal to really engage with this and to encourage their board to as well. It is also important that staff are encouraged to be able to recognise issues and for students to be observant. It is of no value for the Principal to understand it and keep it hidden.

This excellent program was presented last week, February 27 and 28 in Darwin for both AISNT and Catholic School Leaders. The presenters were our well known Dr Stephen Brown, Managing Director of the Brown Collective and three lawyers who are partners of the noted Law Firm Colin Biggers and Paisley - Megan Kavanagh, Morgan Lane, Mathisha Panagoda. The Principal I had in 1980 had just returned from running a school in Brunei for five years. He had a global view of life and I can see him now, as he addressed the staff in a meeting, noting that we were following the United States trend into the Age of Litigation. And he was certainly right! As a new Principal it was easy to be intimidated when someone said: “Well I’m going to see a lawyer”. I quickly learnt to say: “Fine if you have to.” I knew that I would do likewise immediately.

Cheryl Salter, Executive Director of AISNT

AISNT Board Director & Business Manager of Tiwi College

During the weekend I came across some papers given to me ages ago by an old psychologist friend of mine. They were about Work - Related Stress, a condition faced by many in the teaching profession including Principals. I’ve added to these some considerations from my own experience. I well remember my mentor saying “Of course Chris we don’t get stressed”.