CHALK ONE UP FOR PRINCIPAL OF PIMPAMA SCHOOL
PIMPAMA State School might just be the happiest school in Queensland where teachers have a massage chair in the staffroom and children are complimented each day at the front gate.
Weekly yoga and personal training sessions for staff are also on offer under the lead of principal Marius Marx, who has a focus on positivity.
Mr Marx thought of the massage chair as a way to show teachers they were valued and since being installed it has been booked out.
Staff also play netball together and have a Monday afternoon running squad.
“At this school it is about the whole team and wellbeing is just as important as academics and sport and the arts,” Mr Marx said.
“The massage chair was just something special for the staff, to say thankyou and they can use it whenever they want – in the mornings, at break times or after school.
“If you have happy teachers, you have happy students. If you have happy students you have happy parents and in turn you have happy staff and then you have a happy school,” he said.
Mr Marx said the positive outlook extended to children and parents who were greeted at the gate most days with a compliment by himself or the deputy principals.
“But I think it’s important for our kids coming in to see us and I compliment them on their uniform or compliment the parents.”
The happiness factor is also a serious part of the school’s success – it has won four regional awards for excellence over the past six years and Mr Marx is a finalist in this year’s Queensland College of Teachers Excellence in Teaching Awards.