Deputy Head of College News

Important College Information

Supervision of Students Before School

The College’s formal yard supervision of students commences at 8:15am every school day.

Those boys who are attending sports training or other planned activities will be supervised by the adult(s) in charge.  From 7:30am, boys are welcome at either of the libraries or the Centre for Learning Enrichment for tutoring and other assistance.

While there are always adults around the school from 7:00am in a coaching or tutoring capacity, Marist College Ashgrove does not provide formal supervision of students not attending sport training, music rehearsal or tutoring prior to 8:15am.  Parents are responsible for their sons prior to this time.

Day Long Absences

If your son is going to be absent for a day due to illness or any other unexpected reason, please notify the College in writing via the Parent Lounge on the College App or Parent Portal. 

Under Queensland Health guidelines, we are now required to provide increased data on student absences. The use of the parent lounge will allow you to provide more detail of your son’s absence. Many families whose children attended BCE primary schools will already be familiar with a similar system.

As students return to the College and with the increased prevalence of COVID-19 in the general community, the College has the responsibility to keep families regularly updated on COVID-19 being managed within the school community. This communication will occur through the College newsletter.

The current student absentee phone line will still be supported in the short term but will be phased out as we move to the online platform.

Parent Lounge - Add Attendance Notification

An SMS alert will be sent to parents/guardians of students recorded as an unexplained absence.

Please ensure you contact your son’s Head of House regarding any daily absences or longer that you are aware of ahead of time.

Early Departures

Year 5-6: If a student needs to leave the school during the day, they must sign out at the Primary School Reception - a parent/guardian is required to accompany them.

Year 7-12: If a student needs to leave the school during the day, he must have a note in his diary from a parent/guardian requesting permission to leave at a certain time. This note is to be signed by their Head of House before school or during morning administration (and presented to Student Administration before signing out to leave the College grounds.)

Day students are not permitted to go home for lunch.

Students Arriving Late - Years 7-12

Students must sign in at the Tower Reception BEFORE going to their scheduled classroom. 

An automated text message will be sent throughout the day to parents/guardians advising of their son’s late arrival to school.

Students Arriving Late - Years 5-6

Students must sign in at the Primary Reception with their parent/guardian BEFORE going to their classroom.

An automated text message will be sent throughout the day to parents/guardians advising of their son’s late arrival to school.

Drop-off and Pick-up

Please remember when dropping off or picking up students that road rules exist for the protection of everyone including your boys. Police and other authorities will be enforcing traffic regulations.

Please remind boys that if for any reason, they are not picked up after school, they should go to the Health Centre and wait for a parent to arrive. The staff there are able to look after the boys and make every effort to contact parents.

Child Protection Officers

As part of our faith basis, duty of care obligations and legislative requirements, Marist College Ashgrove is committed to providing a safe environment to all students and to uphold their best interests and wellbeing.

With this in mind, the College has five Child Protection Officers whom staff, parents and students can report any instances of considered inappropriate behaviour by staff, parents or other students.  Should you or your son want to report any kind of inappropriate behaviour, you may do so either in person or via one of the email addresses below.

• Bruce McPhee - Deputy Head of College - mcpheeb@marash.qld.edu.au
• Peter Serone - Head of Students - seronep@marash.qld.edu.au
• Liam Beatty - Head of Primary - beattyl@marash.qld.edu.au
• Jennifer Smeed - Head of Senior School Curriculum - smeedj@marash.qld.edu.au
• Ty Casey - Assistant Head of Boarding - caseyt@marash.qld.edu.au

If you or your son would like to speak to a counsellor about any kind of concerning behaviour or general personal safety or mental health matters, we also have the Reach Out Portal Tile on both the Parent and Student Portals. This will take you to a form you may complete that is received by the College Counsellors who will follow up accordingly.

Have Your Family Circumstances Changed?

To ensure you are receiving communications from the College, please log into Parent Lounge to check and update your Address Details.  These details can be found under the Parent Address menu.

As part of this process, we ask that you please check, update or add an Alternate Emergency Contact for your family.  This person will be contacted should you be unavailable in case of an emergency.

Where there has been a family separation and parents now reside at different addresses, please be aware we can effectively manage separate contact details on our system without compromising communication regarding your son. In the case of separated families, it would be ideal to have an Emergency Contact listed for each parent.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you need help navigating any changes (including new family court orders or conditional communication) through the Parent Portal. Our Data Management Office, Katherine Hoffmann is available to support you in this area.

Email: hoffmannk@marash.qld.edu.au

Phone:  07 3858 4508