Deputy Principal

National Child Protection Week

Last week was National Child Protection Week and the message for this year is “Every Child in Every Community Needs a Fair Go” with the theme for 2023 of “Where we Start Matters”. St Patrick’s College, Strathfield is committed to the safety and protection of all children and young people, and we believe that they have the right to grow up in environments that support them according to their needs, now and into the future. We acknowledge that best practice safeguarding is encouraging a culture of shared responsibility in building a safe community for all. 

I have always said that every child has the right to be happy and it is important in my role to try and ensure that the 1,510 students we have at the College feel safe, supported, and valued. To do that we need to call out behaviour that is not acceptable.

Recently we have had to talk to some students about homophobic and racist comments. It concerns me greatly that in 2023 these types of behaviours/comments still exist. We cannot pass off this type of behaviour as boys getting caught up in group mentality. It is up to everyone who is a member of our community whether staff, student, or parents/carers, to call out this type of behaviour. Our community does not discriminate on the colour of someone’s skin, their religion, or their sexuality.  It is important as adults we model behaviours of love and acceptance of everyone. I always tell my own children that we do not tolerate difference, we celebrate it. 

To that end, we need to continue to offer a liberating education that ensures that worldviews are considered and that the human dignity of everyone in our community is accounted. We strongly value being an inclusive community. We cannot choose when we want to be inclusive. EREA have their own Safe and Inclusive Learning Communities Statement which talks about inclusive learning environments for all students. Our Ideal Graduate which we launched last year talks about attributes that are guided by their faith, and challenges our students to be inclusive, be courageous and have a voice, be ethical, make meaningful contributions in a dynamic world as well as challenging them to understand cultural diversity.

These are all things that should be easy to achieve. I always write about the fact that we are stronger as a community if we work together. Regardless of a person’s faith, cultural background, colour of their skin or sexuality, we are all God’s children. Let’s all work together to ensure that we celebrate every member of our community and ensure the human dignity of every member of our community is maintained. We need to always remember that “Every Child in Every Community Needs a Fair Go.”

Adrian Byrne

Deputy Principal