Technology 

These holidays the boys will no doubt enjoy the opportunity to rest and re-energize after a busy term. It also provides a valuable opportunity for the boys to connect with one another beyond the school gate. Families are encouraged to talk to their sons about the importance of ensuring that their choices and behaviour, including online behaviour, are a true reflection of their values and are both safe and supportive of others. As young people often spend more time on social media during the holidays. It is important for parents to keep up to date with social media platforms and online trends, you will find here a link to the parent section of the eSafety commissioners website to assist you. 

Uniform 

The holidays are also a time when young people will push the boundaries regarding their appearance, for boys this is often reflected in their hair styles/cuts and new piercings. Families are reminded that our expectations in relation to uniform, behaviour and attendance will remain high throughout Term 3.  All boys are expected to return to school wearing their uniform with pride. Students are not permitted to wear any piercings to school and therefore advised against using these holidays to get new piercings, undercuts or other extreme haircuts. Families are reminded that when the boys return to school they must be clean shaven, College expectations around grooming and the wearing of the College uniform can be located on page 17 of the student diary. I take this opportunity to thank all of those families who have supported our efforts to improve attendance and uniform standards this term. We have introduced an incentive for each year group to recognise those students who have 100% attendance and consistently wear their uniform with pride. These boys will go in the draw for a $10 canteen voucher. Congratulations to the winners of $10 vouchers for Week 8 are ..

• Year 7 – Liam Hall
• Year 8 –  Callum Hill 
• Year 9 – Patrick Carolan
• Year 10 – Josh Hayes
• Year 11- Jed Chandler
• Year 12 – Aaron Hamilton

Encouraging responsibility 

When the boys return to school in Term 3 I encourage you to help them to work on developing their sense of responsibility, accountability and organisational skills. When talking to young people many of them seek greater independence and responsibility, yet when they have forgotten important items for school like their sports gear, their computers, their lunches etc they look for a quick fix. Helping your son to learn from the consequences his forgetfulness or lack of organisation are important life lessons so rather than drop up their forgotten items please allow them to manage without that item for the day, it will help them to learn the importance of packing his bag the night before or making a list of things that he needs for the following day. If there is an emergency and he cannot manage without the item for the day. Please communicate with your son that the item will be available for collection at Lunch 1, Lunch 2 or after school. The office staff are unfortunately not able to personally deliver items to the boys in their classrooms.

Men’s Mental Health Week 

June 14-20 is Men’s Health week in Australia, the theme for this year is Engaging Men and Boys. We are pleased to be hosting a Walk and Talkathon for our Yr 7 & 11 students to connect with one another in conversation, whilst going for a walk around the school. This event will take place on Thursday afternoon in periods 4 & 5 and will conclude with a sausage sizzle for lunch. 

Parenting Ideas 

I take this opportunity to remind families to create an account with Parenting Ideas a link to which can be found here, this is free of charge to all parents in our community. There is a fabulous Webinar available about communicating with your teenage son ( available until June 24)  and Taming digital distractions (available until September, 2021) each of these webinars is valued at $39, they can be accessed via the Parenting Ideas online shop and are free of charge using the passwords contained on the coupons that can be found HERE and HERE.

This week’s Parenting ideas article, written by parenting expert Michael Grose reminds us of the need to be understanding when supporting young people experiencing anxiety. 

Mrs Hughes 
Director of Pastoral Care