Principal's Report

It has been a busy couple of weeks at the college with a lot to celebrate and some key things to look forward to on the horizon. There will be more detailed information provided in this newsletter about some of these including our production which ran last week and our Parent Teacher Interviews that were held yesterday. It was great to see so many parents and families turn out for these interviews and our attendance and bookings were up a whole 15% on last year which was quite amazing to see. If you could not make appointments due to other commitments but would like to know a little more bout how your young person (or people) are faring in their classes, I encourage you to reach out to their classroom teachers via Compass. If you do not know how to do this, please call our magnificent office staff who can guide you through this process. 

Recent events reported in the media involving members of the Sydney Swans have again brought conversations about respectful behaviour, relationships and personal responsibility into the public spotlight. Without seeking to comment on the circumstances or individuals involved, these events provide a timely reminder that the way we treat others matters, and that the choices we make – both publicly and privately – can have consequences for ourselves and for those around us.

For schools, this is an important conversation. Our role is not simply to respond when young people get things wrong, but to actively help them develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to build healthy relationships, make safe choices and recognise the impact their behaviour can have on others.

At Heathmont College, this work takes many different forms across a student's time with us. Across the past week or so, many of our cohorts have engaged with learning activities to support their development of healthy relationships. 

Our Year 10 students participate in Love Bites, a respectful relationships education program which supports young people to explore healthy and unhealthy relationships, consent, communication and respectful behaviour. At Year 9, our Party Safe program provides students with practical information and strategies to help them navigate social situations and make informed, safe choices. Our Year 11 students participate in Speak & Share, creating opportunities for important conversations about wellbeing, connection and supporting both ourselves and others.

While our Year 12 Elevate program has a somewhat different focus, supporting students with study skills and preparation for their final examinations, it is another part of the broader work we do to equip our young people with the skills they need as they move towards adulthood: independence, good decision-making, self-management and responsibility.

Importantly, these conversations do not begin in the senior years.

In the junior years, students engage with the Respectful Relationships lessons through their Health curriculum. 

We are currently undertaking some focused work with our Year 7 cohort around the ways students interact with one another and the culture they collectively create. As our youngest students establish new friendships and find their place within a secondary school community, there is enormous value in explicitly teaching and reinforcing what respectful relationships look, sound and feel like. Our Year 7 students will shortly participate in a workshop focused specifically on bullying, providing another opportunity to develop their understanding of how their words, actions and choices affect others.

This work is particularly timely as this week is Bullying No Way Week. The 2026 theme, Small Acts, Big Impact, is a simple but powerful one. Respectful school communities are not created through a single program, policy or assembly. They are created through the small choices each of us makes every day, including someone, checking in on a friend, speaking respectfully, choosing not to join in when someone is being targeted (upstander behaviour), or having the courage to speak up when something does not feel right.

Our Secondary School Nurse, Phillipa, has shared a number of resources with students and families through Compass over recent days, and I encourage families to take some time to look through these and use them as a starting point for conversations at home.

There are also some excellent resources available through Bullying No Way for parents and carers, including information about recognising and responding to bullying and supporting young people who may be experiencing it:

Bullying No Way – Support for Parents and Carers

As adults, we know that young people will not always get every interaction or decision right. Part of growing up is making mistakes, reflecting on them and learning to do things differently. Our responsibility as a school, working in partnership with families, is to set clear expectations while also giving our students the skills, support and opportunities they need to make better choices. Our engagement as a partner school for the Real Schools program supports us in this work, guiding us towards best practice when responding to student missteps so as to help them to develop the emotional intelligence they will need to negotiate their way in the world successfully. In addition, our entire staff will be engaging in professional learning in Term 4 with the Man Cave and through our Yearning circles to explore strategies and supports that we can use to help guide students to make good choices when it comes to their interactions with others. 

Ultimately, respectful relationships are about more than avoiding harmful behaviour. They are about empathy, kindness, consent, inclusion, responsibility and understanding that our actions have an impact on other people. These are skills our young people will carry far beyond the school gates, and they are an important part of the kind of young adults we hope our students will become.

If you are wanting support with any of the above topics or are worried about what you are seeing or hearing from your young people at home, please reach out and contact a member of our team. The first point of contact is the coordination team or principal class team and they will be able to direct you to other professionals and experts in our community for support as needed. 

Kerryn Sandford

Principal