From our Principal
Welcome to the 2026 School Year
Welcome back to the 2026 school year. I am honoured to have been appointed Acting Principal for the year and am very much looking forward to leading the St Peter’s College community.
This is my thirteenth year at the College. I spent my first six years as Head of the Cranbourne Campus, followed by six years as Deputy Principal – Learning & Teaching. Through these roles, I have developed a deep understanding of the College’s strategic vision, policies, and, most importantly, its people. With more than 2,200 students across two campuses, I am keenly aware that there is much work ahead in continuing to build strong relationships with our students, and this is something I am committed to prioritising.
I also look forward to meeting many of our parents, guardians and caregivers over the course of the year and listening to your hopes and aspirations for the young people entrusted to our care. It was encouraging to see such strong community engagement at the House Welcome Evening at Clyde North last week, and I am sure this will be repeated this week at Cranbourne.
Family involvement at St Peter’s College has grown significantly over time, and I strongly encourage this to continue. Families are always welcome at assemblies, Masses, special breakfasts and information evenings, and I particularly encourage attendance at Student Learning Conferences, where partnership between home and school is vital.
Social Media Restrictions for Students Under 16
Many families with children under the age of 16 have been impacted by the recent government restrictions on social media access. For some households, this has understandably created tension and disruption.
As a school, we support the government’s position on social media access for young people. Regardless of personal views about its implementation or effectiveness, St Peter’s College supports this restriction in the same way we support laws that prohibit the sale of alcohol, cigarettes and vapes to children.
For some families, this change may present real challenges. However, I am hopeful that it can also provide an opportunity to reset habits and redirect time and energy towards learning, face-to-face relationships, and healthier forms of leisure and communication.
Importantly, the so-called “social media ban” is not about punishing young people. It is about holding technology companies accountable for practices that exploit children through persuasive design, data harvesting and algorithmic manipulation.
Young people respond best when they are spoken to honestly and respectfully, not through fear-based cyber-safety messages, but by helping them understand the systems shaping their digital lives. Many of the harms experienced by students today, such as misogyny, body image distortion, outrage culture and misinformation, are not individual moral failings. They are engineered outcomes of what is often described as surveillance capitalism.
In simple terms, this means:
Human behaviour is treated as a resource.
A child watches a few funny videos before bed. The platform quietly records what makes them laugh, how long they pause, and when they rewatch clips, then uses that data to keep them scrolling longer tomorrow.
Algorithms are designed to influence, not just reflect, even if this distorts.
A parent notices their child’s feed slowly fills with more extreme fitness, beauty, or “success” content, not because the child searched for it, but because the system learned that comparison keeps them engaged.
Vulnerability is monetised.
A teenager feeling lonely clicks on one “relatable” video late at night. Within days, their feed is packed with content that amplifies insecurity or anger because those emotions reliably hold attention.
Responsibility is obscured.
A curious 13-year-old watches a joke video that mocks girls. The algorithm serves more of the same, then slightly harsher versions, gradually normalising attitudes the child would never express offline.
Harmful patterns are reinforced over time.
When a child becomes anxious or obsessed with likes, it looks like a confidence or discipline problem, while the role of the platform’s design including endless scroll, notifications, and reward loops, always remains hidden.
Australia is leading the way in prioritising the wellbeing of some of the most vulnerable members of our society, our children, and the world is watching this leadership closely.
Our students are not disengaged or desensitised; they are often overwhelmed. When they are given clear explanations and treated with intellectual respect, they demonstrate insight, empathy and leadership. However, meaningful change requires a sustained, whole-school and community approach to digital culture—one that is embedded, consistent and centred on human dignity, rather than reactive or one-off responses.
I encourage you to support the social media restrictions for children under 16. Despite the challenges this may bring for both parents and young people, I firmly believe they will be better for it in the long term.
Yours sincerely,
David Hansen
Acting Principal