From the Dean of College
Mr Jon Cullerton
The Resilience Project - Parent Webinar
Last Wednesday night The Resilience Project hosted a parent information webinar for parents via zoom. The Webinar was very informative and provided information about the partnership with schools and how parents can use the same language around the home to complement what is happening at school.
If you missed the zoom session last week a video recording has been made available through the link below - this will be available until 29 March.
If you have viewed the presentation we would love some feedback via this form - thank you.
Attendance
At the start of each year I write about the importance of attendance and it might seem like overkill but year after year the data and research into school attendance points to one undeniable conclusion - School Achievement and Student Wellbeing improves with consistent and regular school attendance.
Last year we saw outstanding results from our year 12 students - the correlation between our highest performing students and high school attendance is very clear. It also reflects for our year 12 students the level of commitment required to achieve your best. Unfortunately at the other end of the scale we also see a strong correlation between poor attendance and poor student achievement.
Sydney Catholic Schools attendance policy is available through our website - like all schools across the diocese we aim to ensure students stay above 90% attendance. In the age of Covid, we fully understand if your child is sick the need for them to recover before returning to school. However, since covid we have seen a growing trend across all NSW schools of problematic absenteeism. To combat this our pastoral care staff will contact families when and if absent days need to be clarified, attendance levels are declining and families may need to attend attendance improvement meetings if the situation does not improve. School attendance is a joint legal responsibility of parents/carers and schools.
Through our resilience project youth survey we also found that those students with the highest attendance rates also reported feeling more content, more connected, and felt they were more able to cope with the stresses high school life posed to them. While students may avoid school because of these stresses, this ultimately is a self-defeating strategy and a strategy we call maladaptive - because it ends up harming the individual and increasing the stress and anxiety. Absent days can quickly add up and over time they can cause educational deficiencies and difficulties that can be very challenging to correct.
Winter Uniform
A reminder to all students and their families with the commencement of term 2 all students will return to school in full winter uniform. All year 7 and 11 students please see the diagram below for full uniform requirements. Please note that summer uniform shirts and shorts are not to be worn as part of the winter uniform. The blazer is a compulsory item of the winter uniform and should be worn to and from school.
For Year 12, all students should be wearing their school blazer to and from school and stockings or long pants are required for the female students. School jerseys may only be worn on Thursday and Friday.
Haircuts
A reminder to our students and their families about what is a suitable haircut for school. Please refer to the Uniform and Grooming Expectations distributed earlier this year. Of particular note are the requirements for hair listed below:
- Hair must be kept in a neat and tidy fashion at all times - hair is to be natural in colour. Untidy or extreme hairstyles, including rat tails, mullets or braided hair will not be tolerated. Boy’s hair needs to be in such a condition that it is off the collar and does not cover a student’s eyes.
- Girls’ hair must be tied up using either elastic or ribbon of colour navy, white, gold or black only
- Students may be sent home to correct their hair styles
School Counsellor
I would like to introduce our School Counsellor Olivia Dawson. Olivia is our full time school counsellor and works 4 days a week (all days except Thursdays) and I thank Mr Mahoney for prioritising student wellbeing and mental health by ensuring we have a full time school counsellor available to our students. Over the years working at a number of Catholic schools I have worked with a number of school counsellors and Olivia would rank amongst the very best.
Students who wish to make appointments with Olivia can do so by firstly seeing their Leader of Wellbeing. Students in year 7 will also need parent consent to engage with the school counsellor. Alternatively parents can also request a meeting for their son or daughter by emailing Olivia directly or contacting their Leader of Wellbeing.
A little bit about Olivia from herself - I have a Bachelor of Social Work and have been a School Counsellor for the past 3 years, working across St Aloysius College and St Aloysius Primary School. Prior to this, I was working with families in a child protection context. My favourite thing about being a school counsellor is being able to connect with our young people during the tougher moments and helping them to see their own potential.
Contacts
olivia.dawson001@syd.catholic.edu.au - Olivia Dawson - School Counselor
rebecca.hines001@syd.catholic.edu.au - Rebecca Hines - Year 7 Leader of Wellbeing
peter.robertson@syd.catholic.edu.au - Peter Roberston - Year 11 Leader of Wellbeing
rachel.oconnor@syd.catholic.edu.au - Rachel O’Connor - Year 12 Leader of Wellbeing
jon.cullerton@syd.catholic.edu.au - Jon Cullerton - Dean of College