Head of Students News

Student Forum

Last week, Rush House trialled a Student Forum where our incoming Year 11 seniors ran forum sessions to allow our younger students to have a voice. The trial was very successful, and we will look to run this College-wide next year.

SMASHED program

Next Wednesday, Gibber Educational will be coming out to talk to our Year 9 students regarding alcohol misuse and abuse. This will provide the perfect opportunity to have a follow-up conversation in regards to this, given the problems our young men may be faced within the not-too-distant future.

Day for Daniel

From the Thursday parent meeting to the day on Friday, our College was fortunate last week to be immersed in topics of safety and protection. Day for Daniel was a huge success, thanks to the tireless efforts of Scott Minogue and Rush House alongside many contributions across the school community. The fundraising for the Daniel Morcombe Foundation went extraordinarily well, as we eclipsed 2020’s amount. A big thank you to our visitors Paul Bagnall from the QPS, Kirra Pendergast from Safe on Social and Rob Dupont from Martial Arts Queensland. The boys and the community have certainly benefitted from your input, and we look forward to D4D in 2022.

Group Chat

On the theme of safety online, Safe on Social, who contributed to our educational sessions on Friday, have provided the following tips for boys on Group Chats:

Things to remember:

• Keep group chats positive, helpful and supportive. These are not the places we have a whinge about someone else, reveal our intimate secrets or create drama, gossip or spread rumours or share images of others without consent.
• Make sure they know not to feel compelled to respond straight away or be a part of every single interaction in the group chat.
• Remember, there are plenty of ways these chats can become very public if someone takes a screenshot, so they need to be kind, respectful, and responsible at all times.
• Avoid using late at night and keep devices out of the bedroom.
• Turn off notifications, so they are less anxious about response times.

Please contact me or your son’s relevant Head of House if you would like more information on any of the Social Media topics covered on the parent night or the student presentations from Friday.

Uniform checks

Last week, all Houses and Pastoral Groups began a check of each student’s uniform, which will be repeated later in the term. Could I ask please that you support our Pastoral Teachers and Heads of House in making sure the uniform and grooming of our boys are of the highest standard – particularly with sock-length, hair-cuts and shaving (masks do not cover everything, boys!)

Mobile phones

A reminder that students bring their mobile phones to school at their own risk. If brought to school, phones are to be placed in the student’s locker between 8:30am and 3:10pm. Any phone accessed or visible during this time will result in confiscation. Repeat confiscations will result in a 1-day internal suspension.