He we go again.
hope you all had a great break and are all refreshed.
We had our first day back yesterday ( well it was for staff ) .We had the Anglican church service followed by principals address .Lunch and barefoot bowls at the local Bowling club .
Today it's mandatory training
Then I can attend to the overdue compliance emails I've been getting while still on holiday ....Like seriously , are we expected to come in on our holiday break and check that the SDS's are up to date .
Hi Bigmack! I was back on 20th as well. Students are back on Wednesday next week. We've got a mix of full staff meetings (child protection, plans for the year, meet the new staff type things) but mostly as a non-teaching person I can get on with what needs doing.... today that is chemical stocktake and updating the register which is why I've signed in today. I'll be making a separate post with my question!
Our first day back is tomorrow. We get 2 days before teachers are back in for the 2 development days.
For public school labbies, we get our own PD day on Thursday which I'm glad of as that means we get to skip the annual talk our Principal gives where we get a play by play of what happened on her farm for the last 6 weeks.
I'm expecting Friday to be the most hectic day when everyone starts deciding what they want to do for week 1
Pm706Narrogin wrote: 26 Jan 2026, 18:58
.... which I'm glad of as that means we get to skip the annual talk our Principal gives where we get a play by play of what happened on her farm for the last 6 weeks.
You sad individual Pm706, Staff all around Australia look forward to listening to this every year
Welcome back everyone! Hope everyone has had a good break and is ready for the year!
Quick question, I have a lot of e-waste and textbooks that I need to dispose of. Does anyone know of any companies in NSW that takes books for recycling/repurposing, or of any companies that take old microscopes, balances, ammeters, etc?
Pm706Narrogin wrote: 26 Jan 2026, 18:58
.... which I'm glad of as that means we get to skip the annual talk our Principal gives where we get a play by play of what happened on her farm for the last 6 weeks.
You sad individual Pm706, Staff all around Australia look forward to listening to this every year
To follow up on this, the PD day last week was very good.
It started with a keynote talk from the University of Western Australia's Pro Vice Chancellor for Enterprise Education on generative AI, how it's affecting society and the existential questions facing education. He forecasts the uni will be moving to largely in-person assessments with the remaining assessments including a requirement to use AI competently to improve certain aspects of the assessment. Essentially trying to ensure students can still do stuff while recognising that employers also want people who can use AI competently.
Then did a pair of sessions where I got to play with some cool toys including a mini ripple tank and a bunch of Vernier stuff connected to their app.
Unfortunately it did come at the cost of that farm knowledge. How terrible
They were the Lascells Ripple Tank Mark III. Annoyingly I forgot to ask on the day what the RLTG paid for them. In WA, public schools are lucky that the Department has a pool of equipment that can be booked for loan. So with enough notice I could get one for loan but that would definitely be an item I'd put on my wish list for the budget if I could.
You basically fill the clear tank up to the level of the triangular dipper, close the lid and have at it. The left knob on the front controls the wave frequency, the right knob controls the strobe frequency. And you can use the switch on the right to sync the strobe to the waves.
The lid has a viewing screen to shield the worst of the strobe but obviously if you or others are affected by strobe lights I'd give it a miss. But I found it fun to play with
....Like seriously , are we expected to come in on our holiday break and check that the SDS's are up to date . 
