STUDENT SERVICES

Welcome to 2023. 

I hope everyone had a great summer and a well-earned break. The year has started off with great excitement and optimism for what lies ahead. We hope everybody is looking forward to a successful and enjoyable 2023. Please feel free to contact myself at the College at any stage should you have any concerns. 

Let Us Know What Is Going On 

If there are issues with your child that are likely to affect their living or schooling, please let us know so that we can make allowances. Often parents will hear of these issues before us, so it is important this does not impede your child’s progress.

Maximise Attendance

Young people won’t progress if they are not at school. Please limit absences for all but essential reasons. Family holidays to Bali, shopping trips for ball gowns and absences for birthdays are examples of absences that are not really setting up young people to cope in the real world and are not seen as legitimate reasons to not be at school. If your child is away on the day of an assessment a medical certificate is required. All students should be aiming for 100% attendance.

Parents of students whose attendance is less than 90% will be contacted to seek support in minimising future absences. This will be done at the end of week 5.

Students whose unauthorised absences exceed 10% will shift to Conditional status and will not be eligible for Country Week, College Ball and other extra-curricular activities. 

Students will return to Good status once their unauthorised absentee rate is less than 10%.  This will be determined as from the first day of that student’s enrolment.

Student Services 

The student services team at the College this year consists of:

• School Psychologist – Tinna Gibbs Mondays and Wednesday during normal school hours.
• School Nurse   – Trish Welsh.
• School Chaplain – Jono Prosser  9am-4pm is available Mondays and Thursday 12pm - 8pm.

Students can access these services by making requests through myself or seeing the staff during breaks. Parents may also contact the student services team members.

Swimming Carnival   

The swimming carnival will be on Wednesday 1st March. Students will be in class for half the day then travel to the local pool for a carnival with activities in and out of the pool. Parents are welcome to attend. Results will be published on our Facebook page and in the next newsletter. 

Sea Trek

This excursion will take place from Friday 26th May to Friday 2nd June 2023.   The excursion will be based in Shark Bay. The camp is approx. 1000kms from Harvey and the students will be sailing and motoring in dinghy boats for 5 of the 7 days. Students will be required to attend and participate in a boat practice session in Fremantle on Saturday 1st April.

The purpose of the expedition is to provide the students with different outdoor experiences and to meet and overcome certain challenges they could be faced with. Students will also be exposed to situations and will need to develop team building skills in an outdoor environment. 

Everyone will have the opportunity to experience, sailing, fishing, motoring boats, viewing marine life in the natural environment, camping and cooking. On the way to Shark Bay, we will be stopping in and visit Geraldton. 

The approx. cost of the camp is $500.

Application are available and need to be handed to the front office by 15th February   

Open Day  

This year's Open Day is set for Term 2 on the 27th May.  All students are required to remain at the College for the day and are then given a day off school in the following week.

Country Week  Term 2  

The dates for this year's Country Week are the 25th June to 30th June.  70 students from the College will attend for a week in Perth playing sport against other high school from around the state. Information about this will occur within the next three weeks and a deposit is due by the end of the term. The approx. cost is $600.

Drink Bottles

One way for students to reduce dehydration is to bring a water bottle for drinking from throughout the day. 

Once again, I hope everyone has had a great start to 2023. I am hugely optimistic and excited about the opportunities that the school gives to its students and I look forward to the continued growth, success and initiatives that make our school a wonderful place.