Deputy Principal Staff and Students Report
Mass
As a Catholic community we are blessed to be able to celebrate the Holy Mass. Mass is celebrated weekly, in our College Chapel, and is a beautiful way to start the day. All students are invited to attend these Masses on Thursdays, from 8.10 am in the College Chapel.
Last week we celebrated, as a school, Mass for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and in a couple of weeks we will celebrate a Mass for our community, our Nazareth Day Mass. At Mass we give thanks to God, but also offer to God all that we are and all that we are living as a Community. We are blessed to be united with Jesus’ loving sacrifice and receive Him into our hearts to strengthen and nourish us. It is indeed an amazing gift as God comes to be with us and represents his offering for the salvation of the world.
We encourage all students to come to Mass any Thursday at 8.10 am and start the day by putting God at the center of our lives.
Digital Devices
The use of digital devices is something that brings an amazing amount of information to our fingertips, as well as an incredible ability to be able to communicate with people. As we know, communication in all forms can be life giving and build people up, but it can also be very hurtful and damage people and communities.
At the College, we deal regularly with student social issues which comes from social media use outside of the school day, but has an impact during school time. We have a very clear policy about mobile phones not being accessed between the first bell and last bell of the school day.
We encourage parents, carers and guardians to keep an eye on your child’s mobile phone use and speak with them about their use of their device. I would think a number of parents, carers and guardians may be quite surprised it they were aware of the nature of some of the conversations on social media and also the content of their conversations, pictures and searches on their child’s phone. I know some parents, carers and guardians do a great job of this, but I encourage all parents, carers and guardians to regularly check your child’s mobile phone, have clear boundaries around its use, and have designated times where it is not used and it not with them (eg, from 9.00 pm–8.00 am).
In the current times many students are suffering from addictions to mobile phones and we, as a school, are spending a lot of time supporting students and dealing with students with issues of concern because of mobile phone use.
As with all aspects of our students' learning and wellbeing, things work best when we are working as a united team. We desire to support you in your education of your child in and around social media and digital devices. If you have any questions or want to talk further about use of digital devices, please feel free to contact any member of the Child Safety Team (Jackie Kol, Arlene Diston, Casey Cilia and myself).
Key Dates
Looking ahead a few important dates for your planning:
- Thursday, 24 August 2023: Nazareth Day, all day at the College.
- Friday, 25 August 2023: Winter Sleep Out at the College.
- Thursday, 14 September 2023: Nazareth Whole School Mass and last day of Term 3, 2023 for students. All students finish at 1.30 pm.
- Thursday, 14 September 2023: 3.00pm-8.00pm Zoom Parent Progress meetings for students in Years 7-10, 2023.
- Friday, 15 September 2023: Staff Reflection Day, all day, (no students).
Please continue to contact the College if you have any concerns or any information about your child that will be appropriate for us to be aware of. This enables us to better educate and support their wellbeing. Thanks for your ongoing support.
God Bless
Mr Justin Duckett
Deputy Principal Staff and Students