Illness at the College

You may have heard that we are currently managing a large number of students with gastro symptoms. This started last night and has continued this morning, and I would predict numbers growing. There doesn’t appear to be any pattern with dorm, year group or gender.

Parents of students with symptoms have been contacted and their support sought in getting their child off site. We understand that in some cases this will be difficult to do in a timely manner and in the meantime symptomatic students are remaining in their rooms with staff ensuring their wellbeing. Given that many students would have travel arrangements for weekend leave, it would seem reasonable to leave these arrangements in place. Students who are symptomatic and had planned on staying in residence over the weekend are asked to see what arrangements can be made to return home.

All students have been spoken to about the importance of personal hygiene and we will reinforce this over the next days and weeks. We have made contact with the Health Department and are seeking advice as to any actions that are required.

Coincidentally, we have two COVID positive students who are home but we don’t believe this is related given no further positive cases of the other students.

As information becomes available or the situation changes, I will communicate with the College community but in the meantime we remain in normal routine.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Student Dinner

Last week students were given their invitations to the Annual Student Dinner which will take place on the last Wednesday of this term the 5th April 2023. The intent of the dinner is to provide an enjoyable experience and to educate students about the social niceties of a more formal experience and responding to invitations.

It is a lovely evening and the office ladies and kitchen staff put a lot of effort in to making it memorable for students. All Day and Boarding students are invited and the theme is Aussie Icon which should be fun. Students are encouraged to dress up to the theme or wear smart casual clothes.

Wagin Woolorama

Best wishes to those students who are competing at Wagin Woolorama tomorrow. Competing in this industry competition is a great way to gain confidence and refine skills, and I commend those students who have stepped up. I will be taking a group of students to Wagin and I look forward to seeing the competitors in action.

College Board

I would like to congratulate Nicole Smith for being elected as the Year 10 parents representative on the College Board.

Student Absentees

Recently I have had a number of families asking about the impact of their holiday plans on attendance records and I thank them for asking the question and in most cases altering their plans. We cannot approve absences for reasons other than essential and unavoidable purposes.

There are circumstances such as a student representing the state or their local area in a competition that we would make allowances for. The impact of unapproved absences is that assessment tasks will not be altered and that unapproved absences greater than 10% will lead to a shift in a student's status and they will be ineligible for events such as Country Week, College Ball etc.

We take attendance seriously and I thank all families for their support in maintaining our high attendance. You may be interested in the following table which tracks our overall attendance over several years. Whilst we compared well to state and like schools, in 2022 there was a drop in attendance due to COVID.

Overall attendance percentage	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017
WACoA Harvey	89.0	92.6	95.7	93.8	94.3	94.6
Like schools	85.9	89.7	93.6	92.2	88.7	89.2
State	80.4	84.4	87.3	86.8	87.6	87.8

CORPORATE SERVICES MANAGER

TERESA HICKMAN Teresa.Hickman@education.wa.edu.au

TERESA HICKMAN

Teresa.Hickman@education.wa.edu.au