From the Dean of College

93.3% - School Attendance Rate

Recently the College underwent the Sydney Catholic Schools inquiry and review process. The College received wonderful feedback from the panel which included three external principals, administrators and educators from the system and members of our local parish clergy. One particular area of praise was the huge improvement in the College attendance rate which is currently 93.3% - this was the highest attendance rate in secondary schools across the system.

I would like to thank everyone - students, parents and families! This is an amazing improvement on the past few years. I know sometimes emails, texts and newsletter articles from school can be annoying but the ultimate goal is the improved educational outcomes for our students that come with strong school attendance. Thank you for your support and the strong focus on improving school attendance.

Mobile Phones - Off and away all day!

This year the Premier Chris Minns enacted educational legislation forcing all schools in NSW to ensure that mobile phones were banned in schools during learning hours. At St Aloysius we already had a ban in place but the legislation was welcomed by staff and parents who know all too well the distraction mobile phones create for our young people. Overwhelmingly the College Mobile Phone Policy has been adopted by the student body maturely and diligently with very little difficulty, however, I would like to raise two areas of continued concern.

 1. The canteen - Students have been informed numerous times that phones will no longer be allowed to be used at the canteen. Students will need to use their own debit card or use cash. Parents can also set up a Flexischools account which allows parents to pay securely online for canteen items. Rhonda, our wonderful canteen staff member should not be placed in the position of refusing purchases or being asked for IOUs because students have not organised a card or alternate method of payment. 

2. Parents contacting their child via their phone - If parents need to contact their child during school hours please contact the office and any message can reliably be passed on to the student. By contacting students via their phone (which often comes up through their computer) during school hours parents can inadvertently distract students from their learning and at times disrupt an entire class. While we appreciate the ease of sending a quick text message we would appreciate if these could be out of school hours or please contact our friendly office staff who can pass on a message to your child. 

A reminder that students who refuse to hand in their phone when instructed to by a teacher (because of a breach of the policy) will be subject to disciplinary consequences including in-school suspension.