Pastoral Focus

Mid-year milestones

My first thought as I type this article is how did we get to the end of Term Two so soon? My first six months at St George’s have gone by so fast. I know I will need time over the holidays to reflect on all we have achieved as a School Community.

Work experience

Even now our Year 10 cohort are all out of school experiencing life in the “real” world. They have only recently completed their examinations and are now completing a week of work experience in a vast array of different environments. A huge thank you to Ms Sharan Tagore for her co-ordination of this week. It is no small undertaking and I hope that the Year 10s have learnt much from their week in the world of work.

Cyber Safety

Also this week, cyber safety expert Susan McLean (above) addressed the Year 9s on some of the challenges they are facing every day online. Susan is a highly knowledgeable and forthright speaker - and explains in simple terms the risks and consequences that some online behaviours can have. She suggested to our students that the holiday period is a perfect time to clean up social media content and replace profile pictures with a generic image such as a sunset. The holidays will be a good time for discussions at the dinner table in regards to her messages to keep students safe online.

Thank you, Mr Sloan

This week also marks the end of Mr Conrad Sloan’s time as Head of Year 9 and 10. While remaining at St George’s as teacher, I would like to thank Mr Sloan for all his many fine contributions to the Pastoral Care Team. Mr Bradley Cotterell will take over as Head of Year 9 and 10 from the beginning of Term Three and I would like to welcome Bradley to the team.

SchoolTV

I will update our SchoolTV menu before the start of the next term, so please don’t hesitate to log in and see what support is available on a wide range of topics. There is a new offering on smokeless tobacco products. Have you heard of Snus or SLT’s? What about Nicotine Pouches or Lip Pillows? We have, rightly, become focussed on the issues around vaping. However, there are many other tobacco free alternatives to ingest nicotine. The new article on this phenomenon is now available on our SchoolTV site. 

I am a confirmed believer in arming ourselves with as much knowledge as possible when it comes to these concerning trends in youth culture. Please access the article and watch the video clip featuring Michael Carr-Gregg.

Finally for Semester One can I thank all of you for your continued support of the school and for making me feel so welcome. Please take the time to rest, recharge and spend some time together over the three week July School Holiday break. 

Mr Ian Thompson

Head of Pastoral - Student Wellbeing