The end of the academic year provides opportunities for celebration and sadness and this year is no exception.

We celebrate the exceptional displays of resilience and agility by our students, our staff and our families. We commend effort and tenacity in student outcomes, which have been exceptional and we celebrate the coming summer holidays and the opportunity to take a break from the busyness of School and a particularly challenging year.

We celebrate when students progress to the Senior School or graduate for their next phase of life and learning in Year 12. As our senior year completes their high school journey and leaves us for work, apprenticeships or university, we are happy for them, proud of their achievements yet sad to see them go.

The same can be said when the time comes to farewell staff. This year we have had some staff decide to retire, others move on to new and exciting career opportunities and some changes due to the restructuring of some of our leadership roles and the decision to discontinue the Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Diploma Programme (DP) at TIGS. Parents will remember that this difficult but necessary decision was communicated in Term II.

As we near the end of our year, it is important and necessary to acknowledge and thank those who will not be with us in 2021. Like everything else this year, we will not be able to do this in our usual face to face, social way and we are feeling the loss. However, I know that every family and every student joins me in thanking all of the staff at TIGS and particularly those staff members who are moving on to other adventures at the end of 2020. We are so thankful for the impact each has had on our students, our community and our history and we wish each one blessings as they leave us.

I look forward to sharing with our families the plans for 2021 at TIGS as we focus on our student outcomes. As a leadership team, we are busily identifying our next steps in continual improvement and growth. The first round of an independent academic review has recently been conducted and the interim report is now on my desk. The insights this process provides is invaluable and will be used by the learning leaders at TIGS and the teams they lead in 2021.

There is so much that is excellent about the learning and teaching that happens each day in our School by our dedicated staff. At the same time, there are always opportunities for further improvement and we are excited to respond to this data and insight in ensuring a quality programme and outcome for our students now and into the future.