The student voice and uniform changes

Once a History teacher always a History teacher! Today I had the opportunity to talk with our secondary students about the democratic processes on which our wonderful country is built. Many of the conditions that we take for granted are the product of democratically lobbying for change. For example, women’s right to vote, equal pay for equal work and even whether our country can make people go to war, these were all hard fought by people agitating democratically for change. Our students have followed all the correct procedures to inform those in decision making positions, namely School leadership, the P & F and the School Board, of their position on some changes they would like to see to the Uniform Policy. In the interests of following democratic processes and in listening to the overwhelming student voice the Board has tweaked the uniform policy in line with their requests. They are as follows:

• To be gender inclusive all students across the school are now allowed to wear up to two small and discrete earrings in each ear. There are to be no large, colourful and dangly earrings for safety and aesthetic reasons. This will be reviewed at the end of the year.
• Students from K-10 are allowed to wear black socks with the sports uniform ONLY. In the interests of those parents who have dutifully followed the current policy and bought white socks, these can continue to be worn for the remainder of the year. White socks with the girls summer uniform is still the mandatory expectation. The black socks must be logo free. Those socks with large logos will breach the new policy.
• The winter uniform will stay as it is currently outlined in the policy and ties are still expected to be worn in the correct manner.

We were very impressed and appreciative of the manner with which the student body approached the request for changes. It was handled in a mature and respectful manner.

Word Mania

Our students have been performing brilliantly in this year’s Word Mania and achieved one of the top rankings on the leader board of the Competition Round One (which ran until 16th August). What an impressive accomplishment!

YEAR 9 & 10 2020 ELECTIVE CHOICES

Last night there was an Information Evening for all 2020 Year 9 and 10 students. Students and Parents were presented with the different options for the elective subject choices for their Stage 5 studies. Elective subject teachers were there to answer questions and to promote their subject. Students received a booklet detailing all of the expectations and outlines for the different subjects including projected units and costs. Students now need to talk with their parents about their preferences and submit their choices to Ms Marsay so that she can configure the lines to best cater for the group preferences. After they have been determined students will complete a second selection choosing from the two lines. We always endeavour to give students their first preference but this is not always possible. Ms Marsay will consult with all students if there are issues with their subject selection in the coming weeks.  If you did not receive a subject booklet please contact the school.

Work of the Week

This week’s award is very well deserved by one of our secondary students. Laura Ward of Year 9 so eloquently and succinctly expressed her understanding in her Religious Education written response.

2019 SCIENCE FAIR

The Science Fair last Friday definitely lived up to its claim of being a highlight on the school calendar. There was a flurry of experiments and a lot of sugar involved in demonstrating complex scientific principles. Congratulations to all our budding scientists and to Mr Winsor for all his organisation. Please see the photo collage below.

Australian Biathlon Championships

Last week one of our Year 7 students Brock Holder was placed third and the Australian Biathlon Championships Sprint for Under 15s he had to 5 x 1kms and shoot on four separate occasions to take out the bronze medal. Whilst he has been away at Dinner Plain over the past weeks he has been training with Olympic coaches and future Olympians. Congratulations to Brock on his dedication and hard work!!!!

Fr Joshy’s Farewell

Save the Date: We will gather as a Parish and School community to farewell Fr Joshy on the 8 September after 11am Mass. There is a BBQ lunch after the Lass and we hope as many families as possible will share this farewell lunch with Fr Joshy. As a school community we will conduct a prayer service on 13 September at 2.45 in the church and also hope that many families will attend as a sign of respect for all that Fr Joshy has done for our school community. In his 6 years as parish priest Fr Joshy has conferred sacraments on so many of his children and celebrated so many masses and liturgies with our students. See you there!

REMINDER: SPORT UNIFORM DAYS for secondary students

Go gently and if you can be anything…be kind!

God Bless

Mrs Nicky Trinder