PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

Welcome to our latest newsletter! As we reflect on the past fortnight, I am filled with gratitude and pride for our school community. From celebrating our faith to showcasing our creative and academic talents, these two weeks have truly highlighted the rich spirit that makes our K–11 Catholic community so special.

• Book Parade Success: Our recent Book Week Parade was a joyful celebration of literature and imagination! The creativity, effort, and enthusiasm on display across all year levels were outstanding. A heartfelt thank you to all our families for your massive support in preparing costumes and helping make the day such a wonderful success.
• Secondary Public Speaking Finalists: Congratulations to our Secondary public speaking finalists, who delivered an extraordinarily impressive display of confidence, eloquence, and critical thinking last Monday. Your articulateness and poise set a high standard for us all.
• Dream Cricket & Student Leadership: Our students recently had a fantastic time at the Dream Cricket day organized by Rotary. A huge commendation goes to our Year 10 House Captains, who assisted on the day with exemplary leadership, care, and encouragement for all participants.
• First Holy Communion: We hold in our prayers the children who recently received the Sacrament of First Holy Communion at Sacred Heart Church. May this sacred milestone strengthen their personal connection with Christ and remain a cherished memory for their families.
• Father’s Day Breakfast: It was wonderful to see so many fathers, grandfathers, and father figures join us for our Father’s Day Breakfast. Thank you to everyone who helped prepare and host this gathering to honor the men who guide and support our young people.
• Years 8 & 9 Christian Living Days: Our Year 8 and Year 9 students engaged in powerful Christian Living Days facilitated by Lydia from Lasallian Youth Ministry alongside our dedicated Religious Education teachers. These sessions provided our students with valuable time to explore their faith, personal values, and connection to one another.
• Primary Social: Our Primary students had a brilliant time letting their hair down and building friendships at the recent Primary Social. Thank you to the staff who volunteered their time to supervise and create a safe, energetic environment for everyone.

Looking Beyond Our Walls: Faith in Action

Yesterday, our entire K–12 community paused to mark the anniversary of St. Carlo Acutis. In the middle of our busy school routines, we united in a moment of silent reflection and prayer, drawing inspiration from Carlo’s quiet devotion, modern witness, and call to keep Christ at the center of our lives.

Following this moment of reflection, we are actively turning our faith into action by looking beyond our own walls to support those affected by the recent natural disaster in Nepal. I am proud to share that the funds raised from both our Secondary Movie Night and our Primary Social will be directly donated to the Caritas Nepal Appeal. Thank you to all the students who attended these events—your participation is directly assisting families in desperate need of emergency relief and recovery.

Changes to our Social Media and Use of Digital Images

You will see changes on our school social media including Facebook and Instagram and the posting of student photos and names. This is in direct response to the rise of generative AI and our commitment to the safety of our young people.

The rapid growth of accessible generative AI tools has introduced new risks in regards to how photos and videos may be harvested, stored and altered online. AI enabled photo and video manipulation is increasingly realistic and more accessible. Using photos posted by schools to public locations such as social media this technology is being used to create nonconsensual and sexualised images of students and staff. 

We must consider these risks in the context of our duty of care for all our people - our students, our staff and our families. These changes serve to ensure our people are ‘safe, valued, respected and cared for’.

Following the recent advice from the e-Safety Commissioner about increasing AI risks and the misuse of images, our school and the wider Armidale Catholic Schools system are following guidelines to move to a safer digital environment.  We will regularly review our practices as the landscape changes to ensure processes are up to date.

To adapt to these emerging risks while continuing to celebrate student success, we are making the following updates to our digital communications:

• Focusing on Group & Contextual Photos: We will use wider-angle shots, group activities, and photos that showcase student learning, work, and participation from behind or at angles where faces are not fully identifiable.
• Reducing High-Resolution Photos: We will avoid posting close-up, high-definition photos of individual students on public platforms.
• Removing First & Last Name Combinations: Student names will not be published alongside their images on public social media.
• Using Internal Channels: High-resolution photos, individual achievements, and identifiable images will be reserved for secure, password-protected internal platforms (such as Compass) rather than public social channels.

We know how much our community values seeing the daily life of our school, and we remain committed to sharing the wonderful achievements of our students. However, protecting their privacy and long-term digital footprint must come first.

Thank you for your ongoing partnership, understanding, and support as we take these proactive steps to keep our students safe in an evolving digital landscape.

Thank you once again for your ongoing partnership, prayers, and active support of our school mission.