Pastoral Care & Wellbeing

We are in full swing for Term 2 with lots going on in the wellbeing space. We are well resourced and lucky to be able to supplement a strong academic focus with the wellbeing activities. 

Future Purpose Day

On 9 May, our Year 10 students made their futures the focus. A day facilitated by “Crazy Ideas College”, students were asked to think about who they are and what pathways might be their future focus. This was on the back of the St Patrick's College Careers Expo and the start of a significant focus on subject selection for Year 11 that will set up their VCE studies. During the afternoon, a panel of Old Collegians shared their personal journeys since leaving SPC with the students and I thank Brayden Allen, Ben Martin, Angus Martin, Will Corbett and Matt Dunne for joining us.

Year 9 Dance Lessons

On 6 May, we welcomed Year 9 students from Loreto College to join our Year 9 students in the first of 4 formal dance classes. This tradition has grown over the years and culminates with the Year 9 Social later this term, with semi-formal attire. We celebrate this wonderful opportunity for the schools to connect with the purpose of improving coordination and friendships.

Patrick Cronin Foundation

On 1 May, all Year 11 and 12 students assembled in the Performing Arts Centre to hear a presentation from the Pat Cronin Foundation that “Violence is Never Ok”. In a thought-provoking interactive presentation, students heard real and relatable stories about social violence exploring anger and aggression, choices and consequences, and strategies to refuse conflict. Pat’s story was shared to illustrate the worst possible outcome of social violence, and help students make wise choices. 

Channel 7 Spotlight: Sextortion

On Sunday, 28 April Channel 7 aired a story on their Sunday night Spotlight program of local family and former student Rohan Cosgriff. The focus of this special was to expose the frightening underbelly of social media – sextortion. Sextortion is a form of sexual exploitation in which abuse of power is the means of coercion, or threatened release of sexual images or information is the means of coercion. The main audience of this online scam is teenage boys. 

The episode investigates the criminals behind the social media scam and speaks to the impact on the parents of Rohan who was a victim of sextortion. I watched on the evening with my own family when it aired, and I am thankful for the courage and strength it would have taken for Anthony and Rebecca to speak about this topic in such a public way. Their strength allowed my family and many others to have some significant conversations with our children around this topic and social media in general. Their strength has made the world a little safer for our young people who are now better informed because of the information delivered in the episode.

As a school we will be using the content from this episode to continue to educate our boys within our Pastoral Care programs. Year 7 students this term in Health class will see parts of the footage as they explore online safety and mental health. There are plans across some of the other years as well to add this content to our lesson plans to ensure the wishes of Anthony and Rebecca of getting this important message out to as many young people as possible.

If you are interested in watching, please click on this link: Channel 7 Spotlight: Sextortion 

School TV: Gambling and Young People

The focus of School TV this week is on Gambling and Young People. Today’s generation of children and adolescents face a unique and concerning environment regarding gambling. They are growing up in a digital age characterised by constant connectivity, where the gambling industry has evolved significantly during their formative years. With smartphones and social media platforms at their fingertips, the line between gambling and entertainment has blurred, particularly within the realms of video games and social media.

The digital age has made gambling more accessible, and certain factors elevate the risk of problematic gambling among young individuals. Boys are at a higher risk of engaging with real-money gambling and developing future problems associated with this risk.

If, as a parent, you are looking for more information and support around this topic, please click on the link below for the special report on Gambling and Young People.