Duncan McKellar
Assistant Director-General
Human Resources
Department of Education and Training and Employment
PO Box 15033
City East Qld 4002
Phone: 3513 6576
Email:
Cathy Heffernan
Assistant Director-General
Human Resources
Department of Education and Training and Employment
PO Box 15033
City East Qld 4002
Email:
Date
Hi Cathy. Hi Duncan.
RE: continued absence of Nathan Sutherland from our school
I understand that Nathan came to Kuranda with his wife and young family, bought a block of land with a faraway tree to build their dream home and raise their kids. He landed a great job at our local school teaching grade 6. In the time that the Sutherland family have been in Kuranda we have found them to be a most suitable family that fits well in our community. They are our friends and share the same values. Their children will be raised in the same community as our own.
I understand that during the 2013 school year politics, people and personalities were involved in events that led to Nathan removing himself from school due to stress. During this time he attended the Kuranda Medical Centre and a Psychologist regarding his depression and inability to return to work on matters of principle; that he wanted transparency on what had occurred at school by way of disclosure of emails and information that was relevant to his grievance case. Appropriate leave based on these documents wasn’t granted to Nathan. I understand he remains unpaid for all of the time he has been away from school bar his sick leave allowance. A return to work coordinator was assigned to him from within our school and the then,administration. As his grievance from the first instance hasn’t been acknowledged, this has resulted in EQ not assigning an external back to work coordinator as he would be otherwise entitled. An external back to work coordinator would ensure that Nathan and the rest of the staff body can find solutions to the issues that remain unresolved to this day. I can’t blame Nathan for wanting an independent person for this task being that the politics remain with our school 10 months later. I understand that our current college principal shouldn’t be burdened with this onerous task. While he is fresh eyes on Nathan’s case he is otherwise busy with holding everything together for the sake of our students.
I understand that our community has been waiting patiently for due process from the Education Department regarding Nathan Sutherland’s past, present and future situations. Our community understands that Nathan is both worthy of our support and that his part in this sequence of events has been maximised to reduce blame on others. I know that this has resulted in a personally precarious position for Nathan and his family. Thankfully, his amazing wife has gone back to work nursing and Nathan has picked up the ball at home, so to speak. He’s continued with his community work with children outside of school via free tennis coaching every Friday and cricket on Saturday mornings for community kids, cooking curries for the Steiner school market day and taking Kuranda tourists under his wing to give them wonderful Kuranda experiences like platypus watching and kayaking on the Barron River. I understand that Nathan is instead hoping to gain his place back in Public Education where his true passion lies.
I understand that sometimes the wrong thing happens for the right reasons; that sometimes with the best intentions it can end up that something turned out to be a bad idea – in hindsight. That being the case – I understand that while the past cannot be changed we can affect what happens in the future; that is a choice we make when we right the wrong with our actions and the choices we make.
I understand when this happens the pressure for everyone is alleviated and that plans can be made for the future – for everyone involved – and that all involved will be thankful to the nameless few whose decisions have/ will affect our school. I understand these are the people who work in the Public Service (in Cairns Regional Office EQ and Brisbane EQ) for our country to deliver education services for our community. They may or may not have ever visited our Kuranda community P-12 College :-) And they may or may not have ever met Nathan.
I understand that Nathan’s teaching style is perfectly suited to early childhood P-6. I understand Ted Robinson’s explanation of creative education via this TED talk - I understand that Nathan’s strength is to deliver the curriculum according to the whole child learning environment he creates in his classrooms. I have seen Nathan interacting with young people with great respect, care, kindness, fairness and consideration. I too, as an adult, have felt Nathan treats me with the same human values as those who know him will attest. I think his teaching style enables rapid uptake of ideas for children.
I understand that Nathan was fulfilling all required aspects of the curriculum and supplementing with extra activities – as listed below. I also understand that some teachers may have felt threatened by Nathan’s very long list of achievements during his tenure – see below. I understand that Nathan’s methods were not always received well by all staff. That aside, as a parent I would sooner have one Nathan than no Nathan - regardless. As a parent, I don’t expect all teachers to have the same teaching style and I appreciate that each and every teacher has their own unique gift for our children as they go through their schooling years. I understand there was real excitement around school and Nathan and the programs he was doing – real excitement from the children. Excitement about going to school. Excitement about learning. He really believes in physical movement to get the blood moving for learning and, of course, kids like to be physical and move about and wriggle and stuff at that age. That’s early childhood education. I understand we also embraced him inviting us into his class on Wednesday mornings to play thinking games, cook, work in the garden, explore ideas with the children and guide them as they learn skills other than RRR. I understand teaching staff come from all walks of life to work with our children. I understand that different kids will excel with different teaching styles – there is no one-size-fits-all teacher. I understand that, in fact, it’s the diversity of fully supported teaching styles that our kids will benefit from the most. I understand that interaction with teachers is often some of the very first grown-ups our children will get to know and are important nurturing relationships in all our lives.
These are the programs coordinated/ implemented during Nathan’s tenure:
School Leadership – lunchtime meetings with school captains, leadership camp, following up matters from meetings
Bully Bustas – anti-bullying program designed and implemented by students.
Run Around Australia–fitness opportunity for students before school. Children would run around the oval and Nathan put a dot on their hands each lap. At the end they would tally the laps and add the distance to a poster size map of Australia. We got from Cairns to Broome before Nathan left! We plan to re-implement this program at school.
Lunchtime Activities – boards games, cards and lateral and logic thinking puzzles in his classroom for students
Waste Management – primary campus students learning the value of recycling/reducing/reusing food and general classroom waste.
The K-Mag – Student Council magazine published 12 editions in 2 years.
Family Tuition – 8 after school tuition sessions pre 2013 NAPLAN for students and families to practise writing techniques, reading comprehension and numeracy.
School Assemblies–set up undercover area for school assembly including PA system, stage and seating.
Family Fun Night – a night designed and implemented for families to participate in fun and challenging numeracy based games.
Playground Line Marking–Christmas holidays and school holidays Nathan spent painting up 10 handball courts and a large chess board.
Art Competition – whole College art competition including promotion, judging, prizes, etc
The Mad Minute – program to enhance student’s recall of number facts. This program concludes each year with a whole school competition
Chess Competition – annual competition tied with lunchtime activities, advance through to the finals for the Chess Champion
School Discos – coordinated 5 school discos raising approximately $5,000 for Student Council.
Wednesday Parent Activities – open classroom inviting parents and grandparents working with children 1-2 hours gardening, cooking and solving logic and lateral puzzles.
I understand the bearing down of the new National Curriculum and the flaws in the structure idea of three schools (P-3, 4-9,10-12) put a lot of pressure on our teaching and administration staff. I understand that “the system” is responsible in part for what happened at our school. I understand that if I, as a Kuranda Community member don’t push back when there is clearly a wrong, then I or my family may be next. I understand it is in the strength of our community that we will succeed. I understand that sending this letter to the addresses above will make my voice heard.
Thanks for your attention on this matter. I would appreciate a timely written reply to this letter unlike community members who have received no reply to their carefully written question list regarding this issue sent to Cairns Regional Office EQ months ago.
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