JUNIOR SCHOOL NEWS

Adam Bond

Junior Sub-School Manager

Teamworking together

If your child has contacted you during the school day to inform you of an incident, I would ask that you have a discussion with your child to determine if this concern could have been raised with a teacher at school first (the discussion should also include the use of mobile phones during school time!). The initial person to contact could be the student’s Home Group teacher, a Year Level Coordinator, myself or any other staff member that they feel comfortable in approaching. Such a response not only assists the student to develop both resilience and problem-solving skills, but also allows the school to respond promptly. If your child comes home from school and informs you that something has occurred at school that is of concern, I ask you to approach this with an open mind. 

In most cases, we will ask a student to write a statement of what has occurred, or scribe this for them. We will also ask other students involved and often witnesses to also write 

statements and view any available footage to gain an understanding of what has occurred. From here, we will determine what the response from the school will be.

Often, we will find that a student has communicated an account of an event that has some form of misunderstanding or lacks some element of truth. For appropriate action to take place, we always attempt to gain a holistic understanding of what has occurred. We, here at school are in the unique position to put together most parts of the puzzle to determine what we are looking at. This can be difficult from a family member's perspective if you have only been given a handful of the pieces.

If you have genuine concerns, it is always best to express these in writing. This can be in the form of an email to the relevant staff member or Principal class depending on the severity of the concern. All staff members are contactable through the Compass school portal, and I encourage you to utilise this if the need arises. If you have been informed of an incident that is upsetting or makes you angry, I encourage you to take some time to de-escalate before responding.

Given the time of the year, I encourage you to keep an eye on your child’s learning tasks to ensure that they are up to date with completing any work. This can be done by accessing the Compass Portal. If you have any concerns, please email the relevant teacher. Can I also ask that you support the school in ensuring that your child is in the correct school uniform. Towards the end of the year, we tend to find that some students start pushing the boundaries with what is considered acceptable and unacceptable in accordance with school policies.