Principal's Foreword

Principal’s Foreword

Dear Parents,

Welcome to Queenstown Primary School.

The year 2025 has been one of deep listening and collaborative visioning. Through extensive engagement with our staff, students, parents, and community partners, we have grappled with important questions: How do we better prepare Queenstown Primary for the future? What kind of learning community do we want to be? These conversations have been both challenging and enriching, pushing us to think deeply about our purpose.

From these honest exchanges emerged a renewed sense of direction – one that honours our proud 70-year heritage whilst embracing the uncertainties of the future. Our theme for 2025 to 2026, "Weaving Our Heritage to Shape Tomorrow's Tapestry," reflects this journey. Like a tapestry, our school is woven from many threads – the experiences of generations of students, the dedication of teachers past and present, the support of families, and the values that have anchored us through changing times. Each thread matters. Some threads represent our traditions and what has worked well; others represent new approaches we are learning to embrace. As we approach our 70th anniversary in 2026, we recognise that weaving these threads together requires patience, skill, and the willingness to sometimes unpick and reweave when needed.

Our refreshed vision expresses our aspirations for every Queenstowner: Confident Leaders and Caring Citizens who are Change Makers. Being a change maker begins in small, meaningful ways – through acts of leadership like standing up for a classmate or proposing solutions, and through acts of care like protecting their environment or bringing joy to others. From these foundations, students will grow to tackle bigger challenges and create greater impact as they progress through their years with us and beyond.

To realise this vision, we have articulated our mission as a caring learning community that nurtures hearts and empowers all. We see ourselves as a community where care is at the centre of everything we do – where teachers care deeply about each child's growth and for one another as fellow learners, where students learn to care for each other and their environment, and where deep, meaningful learning can take place. When we nurture hearts, we attend to the whole person – their character, sense of purpose, and emotional well-being. When we empower all, we unlock potential in everyone, recognising that each child and each staff member brings unique strengths and possibilities to our community.

At the heart of this mission are our GRACE values – Gratitude, Resilience, Accountability, Care, and Empathy, as well as our IMPACT dispositions – Inventive, Mindful, Proactive, Adaptable, Collaborative, and Tenacious. We believe deeply that strong character is the foundation upon which all meaningful learning is built. Our GRACE values guide how we interact with the world, whilst our IMPACT dispositions are the habits of mind that enable us to apply our knowledge and values in real situations. Together, they equip our students with the character and competencies to become confident leaders and caring citizens who are change makers, embodied in our school motto: Onward to Success: Live with GRACE, reach with IMPACT. Education transcends preparing students for examinations – the true measure of success lies in how they navigate life's challenges and opportunities, and embrace the responsibility of making a positive impact on the world.

With this refreshed vision and mission, we have greater clarity in shaping our curriculum to meet the evolving needs of our learners and in creating meaningful learning that prepares every child for the future. Our signature programmes – Environment Project-Based Learning (E-PBL) and Connecting Hearts with the Arts – will continue to provide rich opportunities for students to develop these values and dispositions through deep learning experiences. This commitment to continuous renewal takes on special significance as we celebrate our 70th anniversary in 2026, a milestone that invites us to honour our past whilst giving back to the community that has supported us throughout the decades.

Thank you for your strong support and partnership. We cannot do this without you as we journey onwards together, weaving our heritage to shape tomorrow's tapestry.

Onward to Success!

Mrs Olivia Cheong
Principal