Principal's Address

Introducing the Boorowa Central Secondary School Captain for 2024

Mollie McKinley is the Secondary School Captain for 2023/2024. Mollie is the only school captain as the current Year 11 cohort has only 5 students and no other students put themselves forward to be considered. Mollie still applied, was interviewed, and delivered a speech to the student body upon acceptance of the role.

Mollie will be supported in her role by the leaders of the secondary Student Representative Council (SRC) Year 10 students Emma Craig and Taylen Bolt. Both Year 10 SRC leaders will be called upon to attend formal occasions, represent the school at events and will be provided leadership development alongside Mollie.

In her interview, and in following conversations, Mollie expressed her desire to work with the school leadership team to help to make the school environment a safe and happy one for all students K-12. Mollie absolutely detests bullying and strongly believes that ‘everyone is unique in their own way’ and that this should be celebrated. When asked about who her hero is, Mollie replied ‘I don’t have a hero, I have multiple. My heroes are the teachers. They are my heroes because they show up to work everyday, regardless of what’s happening in their lives, just to help, teach and support the students when needed the most. 

Mollie’s favourite app on her phone is her calendar because she loves being organised. She also loves dancing, spending time with her friends and family, sleeping and more sleeping.

Mollie aims to be a primary school teacher when she graduates from Year 12 in 2024. What a fantastic young person and leader of our school.

I look forward to working with Mollie this year and wish her the best of luck for the achievement of her career goal.

Online safety - how much is too much screen time?

Children spending too much time online is a top online safety concern for parents according to the latest research by the e-safety commissioner. 52% of parents with kids and 68% of parents with teens think their children spend too much time online.

For kids, the predominant use is for gaming whilst for teens, the leading use becomes social media just slightly ahead of gaming. Both age groups also use the internet for streaming services.

With large amounts of unsupervised screen time comes the increased risk of unhealthy interactions online such as cyber bullying, child grooming and unwanted contact, sexting, access to pornography and more. Large amounts of screen time can also lead to poor sleep patterns, social withdrawal and mental health issues.

For most parents, it is also difficult to manage their children’s use of the internet as it has become such an integrated aspect of modern parenting. However, there are some tips that can be followed to help parents create healthy boundaries for their children regarding screen time . 

The 7 tips are:

1. Be involved.
2. Work with your child to set boundaries for screen use.
3. Be clear about the consequences of not switching off.
4. Set device-free zones and times at home.
5. Ask your child to explain their screen use.
6. Use tech tools to help manage access.
7. Lead by example.

Further information about these tips and screen time management can be found by clicking on the link below

Screen time for your child – 7 tips article linked here