Principal

Stephen Watt

Stephen.Watt@education.wa.edu.au

Dear Parents/Carers, Families and College Community

This week I spent Monday and Tuesday at the South West Regional Principal’s Conference. The South West Region stretches from Jerramungup to Yarloop and covers just over 30,000 students in almost 100 schools. The Director of Education for our Region is Sue Cuneo and practically speaking, she is my line manager.

We covered a number of topics including analysing data across the region and I am pleased to say that our achievement and attendance rates were at high levels.

One of the guest speakers was Mrs Maggie Dent who would be well known to most as an educator, a parenting and resilience specialist who has written a number of books focused on raising boys. Maggie has a practical, no nonsense and engaging style and is amazingly knowledgeable about the developing adolescent… our target audience!

Despite being a father of two boys myself (now in their mid-twenties) and working with this age group for over 30 years, I always learn something I didn’t know or realise. I am always particularly interested to learn the physiology that sits behind behaviour. A few points that I noted are;

Suicide is now the number one killer of 12-25 year olds.
Young people are tending to find out about life through the internet and less so through parents and families.
In adolescence, 20% of the brain connections are pruned back to make way for new connections - this is why adolescents are forgetful, disorganised and less articulate.
Boys’ prefrontal lobe (where the executive functions reside) may not be fully formed until 30.
Capacity to self-regulate is lessened due to shifting hormone and chemical balances - this makes emotions far more intense.
Trauma reduces the brain’s ability to access prior learning.
Resilience is a balance between stressors and an individual’s protective factors - a significant protective factor is a close relationship with one or both parents.
Stressors are important to develop coping skills.
Young people need to be encouraged to identify the protective factors that work for them… hobbies, sport and engaging with nature.
Though it may not seem like it at the time, young people do grow out of adolescence.
As a parent you are not alone, your child is not the only one going through this.

I would encourage anyone dealing with adolescents to spend some time reading or listening to Maggie. One source is a series of podcasts called “Parental as Anything” and available via the ABC.

Open Day

We are looking forward to Open Day and the opportunity to showcase the College and our students. It is always a great opportunity to visit and see what we do. Please be patient and understanding of our need to accommodate COVID and social distancing. Remember to "grab" a ticket on Eventbrite before you attend.

Application to Attend the College in 2022

There has been exceptional interest in the program offered by the College and as a result this year’s selection process has once again been very competitive. We will interview around 150 prospective Year 10 and 11 students for 48 Year 10 positions and approximately 16 Year 11 positions in 2022.

We commenced interviews at the beginning of Term 1 and are fully booked out for the remainder of this term and into next term. At this time we are no longer making anymore interview bookings.

We are still accepting applications, but all applications will be placed on a waitlist. If an interview position becomes available, we will be in contact.

Have a great weekend.

Steve