1. Setting the scene
We are finally here. Over a year of thinking about it, a year within which I went from conversations with Stagecoach Head Office, to business plans, territory mapping and contracts, to a week of principal training in the UK, to moving my family overseas, to finding the right venue and teaching staff, navigating employment laws, developing and executing a three-month marketing campaign, meeting families at live events, speaking with them via email, text, and phone, registering over 60 students, attending the national conference in Halifax, running a community discovery day — and now it is here: the first day of our Fall 2025 term.
I am so happy to see this day. This is the most familiar part of the journey, albeit from a different perspective. I have been a teacher at hundreds of Stagecoach Saturdays, and now, as a new principal, I have a completely different day to run. It’s exciting, and my heart is full (and beating quite loudly)!
2. Behind the scenes of launch week
The week leading up to opening had some help from getting ready to welcome families to discovery day, but there was still a lot to get done. Communicating with the registered families, giving them the information and guidance so the students felt good about coming into the space.
Things like pictures of the door they will enter, little welcome messages from their teachers, what to bring, what the day will look like, how to drop off and pick up your child, who can pick up your child. The logistics are essential for a successful day where everyone is safe and feels good — children and adults alike.
I used Mailchimp to send out these newsletter emails as it was very useful to make them attractive for families and to know who has a) received the email successfully and b) opened it.
Going through the class lists and allocating the students to the right age groups (especially when they are potentially straddling between two classes) is incredibly important to the students’ experience. Making sure the teachers have the resources they need and I have provided enough guidance regarding lesson plans, expectations, and any additional needs students may have.
More signage designed and printed for good communication, what to pack in the car and what to leave at the venue from week to week in the storage locker. Triple-checking I had everything I am required to have on hand and wanted to have on hand for a great day.
3. The magic of the first day: a day in the life
I woke up before the sun and got to work. It was a family affair again, with my mother (a retired high school teacher) on hand to help out. We got our coffees, went to the venue, and started arranging the classrooms. Our Early Stages (class for 4–6-year-olds) teaching staff arrived, ready to go and full of smiles for our students.
9:20 am – doors open!
Our Early Stages families started arriving and we saw lots of faces — some excited, some nervous, some go-with-the-flow, some familiar and some new. Just before 9:30 am, their teacher led them to their room to begin their Stagecoach adventure. I stayed at the door a few minutes to answer questions from parents and welcome the last few students in before bringing them to the class and taking attendance. Tick.
Main Stages teachers started arriving and preparing their spaces, checking out class lists and their resources, chatting about what they had planned with each other.
9:50 am – doors open (again)!
Main Stages students (6–15 years) started coming in, again with lots of excitement and nerves. Teachers arranged themselves to give them a clear, welcoming path to the hall/gym for our new students and started a game inside to begin the getting-to-know-each-other process.
I greeted at the door and answered more questions, putting faces to names I have looked at for weeks or even months! Everyone was fantastically punctual, so we got started right on time. I officially welcomed students and started allocating them to their classes (“Stages” as we refer to them).
I made a few announcements about what to expect for the day, introduced them to their teachers, and sent them to their first class — either dance, singing, or acting. Tick.
Time to check in on Early Stages, who were almost halfway through their session now. Lots of giggles and expressive movement going on in here — right on track! I did another walk through the school, and now it was time for Early Stages to be picked up. We gave them each a balloon to take with them, and they returned to their families with big smiles. Some of them were holding hands with their new friends already. Amazing.
Throughout the morning, as principal, I visited the classes repeatedly to do headcounts and be in the space so I could also get to know the students as they moved through their day. Teachers were leading the classes they had beautifully prepared, and I was there to provide support, structure, and safety (and sometimes snacks!).
Main Stages students rotated through their classes, and then it was time for their snack break. This was an important opportunity for students to power up with some food and have time to socialise with their new peers and form bonds.
I circulated the room to get my own chance to talk to the students about how they were finding it, while also acting as a social catalyst to facilitate conversations and get students sitting together if they weren’t already. In a few weeks, they will do it mostly for themselves, but for now, I am the “hostess with the mostest”!
Modelling healthy, welcoming social behaviours is an important part of building students’ own skills in this area as well as creating powerful stage work — and we take it seriously.
4. Singing as one
We closed the day with all the Main Stages together learning a piece they will perform as a whole at the end of term — “A Million Dreams” from the film The Greatest Showman.
I’m not crying, you’re crying.
But the day isn’t done! Now we needed to pack up and return the venue to the state we found it in. I came back to the hall and congratulated students on a great first day and talked about next week.
Staff then worked as a team as I returned students to their families waiting patiently outside (also a critical moment in our safety plan). I talked to some families and then came back in to check in with my teachers on their impressions of the day.
We did the final bits of closing down and locked up. What a day (well, it’s actually only 1:15 pm)! It felt like the culmination of over a year of planning, learning, thinking, moving, waiting — but it is actually just the launch of the next chapter.
Consistently delivering on the promise.
Is it cheesy to reflect on the song my students were singing?
I think of what the world could be
A vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it’s gonna take
Oh, a million dreams for the world we’re gonna make
See you next Saturday.
