Dunhelen

    Mrs Francis Scuderi

Welcome to another school year. 2018 promises to be as busy as usual and we look forward to another productive and enjoyable year.

The Year 7 students  have started off well. Despite some nerves and anxiety, they seem to be settling well and are preparing themselves for their camp to Phillip Island on Monday 12 February.

First Week Of High School

The Dunhelen team for 2018 consists of myself and three Assistant Heads of School, Mr Ben Prentice (Year 7), Mrs Elpis Vlahopoulos (Year 8) and Mr Michael Patchell (Year 9).  We are also very fortunate to have a wonderful group of teachers on the team; Miss Charlotte Beales (7B), Ms Graziella Carta (7C), Mr Tassie Eleftheriou (7E), Ms Christalla Koukoullides (7K), Mrs Jenny Shipp (7J), Mrs Linda Camilleri (8C), Miss Sarah Howells (8H), Mr Titus Lal (8L), Mr Gordon Oreo (8O), Ms Sherry Sadler (8S), Mr Luciano Bernes (9B), Mrs Caron Flynn (9F), Mr Linden Koodravsev (9K), Mr Alistair Shaw (9S) and Mrs Elsa Tsalapatris (9T).  Feel free to contact your child’s Homeroom teacher for any concerns you may have.

Student Responsibilities

This week at Assembly, I spoke to the students about their responsibilities. I have listed these here for you to read and discuss with your child if you wish:

• Ensure you are punctual to school every day
• Check My Aitken often for tasks that you may need to complete
• Be prepared for all your classes every day – this means checking your diary every night in preparation for the following day
• Ensure your iPad is fully charged every day
• Read the Bulletin every day – on My Aitken
• Complete all work required of you and seek assistance if facing difficulties etc.
• Be kind and respectful of all students and staff and report anything that you think is disrespectful or offensive
• Use the bins provided – Keep YOUR school clean
• Ensure your uniform is always clean and ready for the next day
• Follow all school rules
• Be kind
• Do the best that you can do. Try your hardest always.

Obviously, some of these pertain to life even outside school and it is important that students know that they too have responsibilities. Working together can also make an enormous difference to your child’s education and school life. It is important that they see us as a team, working for their best interests always. Please do maintain contact with their teachers. Often, it is hard for teachers to get to the phone and an email might be better. The teacher will get back to you via email or phone for discussion or an appointment time.

Middle Years

The middle years are ‘trying’ years that require a lot of patience, understanding and communication. Children at this age are trying to assert their independence, but they still need adult guidance and boundaries. Take the time to ‘try’ and have conversations with them, understand that friends are very important to them, help them to organise routines for homework and for leisure time and assist them in trying to manage school and out of school activities. It can be a difficult time for some parents, however, listening and empathising with your child, acknowledging their feelings and keeping all lines of communication open is a start to what can also be an amazing time in their lives. As tricky as it can be, you will get through it. You might even smile about it later.

Uniform

Students should be in correct uniform every day. Please take the time to read the Aitken College uniform policy, which is on the College website. Students out of uniform will receive demerits so please ensure that you and your child are familiar with the policy.

Once again, a very warm welcome to all the Dunhelen community and I look forward to another great year.