Principal's Update

Despite the illness in our community, students have had some outstanding success this term both in the classroom and outside of the classroom. If you don’t already, please follow our Facebook page where you can see regular details on our students’ success.

Illness

We have been hit hard in the last month by COVID and other bugs. Technically, this seems like the worst year so far – I think in part because few people now test for COVID (now that families everyone has to pay for their own). I would like to encourage families to do everything they can to minimise the spread of bugs. Having staff out sick severely impacts on our ability to run the school program, and it causes pressure on the remaining staff. Unfortunately, we only have a small pool of emergency replacement teachers. If you haven’t already, get back to some of those COVID years hygiene habits – sanitise or wash your hands regularly, wear a mask if you feel unwell, and where possible, allow for plenty of fresh air!

Bus Travel

Bus travel is a service provided by the Department of Education. We receive minimal funds to run this program. It is not a program run by us, simply one coordinated by us. This means that we must follow rules and procedures dictated by other organisations. If a student would like to travel on a bus that is not their own, they must:

• Bring a note from home
• Receive a pass from the Bus Coordinator (Rachael Woodall in the office)
• Present said pass to the Bus Driver.

It is not a given that a student will receive a pass. Any abuse towards the bus driver will result in the privilege being permanently withdrawn. 

Our School Toilets

Recently a school assembly I spoke about our secret shame – poor behaviour and practices in the toilets and vandalism. We have a number of students who make this an unpleasant and unsafe place for the majority of students by:

• Vaping in the toilets (this is banned on all government grounds and illegal for anyone under 18)
• Eating in the toilets (this is not a sanitary practice and is guaranteed to spread germs from hand to mouth)
• Vandalism – the stalls are often broken off their hinges, taps damaged and holes put in walls
• Use of mobile phones (students access the toilets to check their phones which are also banned from the first bell to the last bell and should be switched off and placed in lockers). Phones make other students feel very unsafe, who wants to use the toilets with people who have their phones out?!
• Poor hygiene practices, faecal matter, urine, toilet paper etc in areas where they should not be.

I have spoken to students about this recently – how in many countries around the world, the leading cause of death in children is poor sanitation. A lot of countries do not have safe toilets or areas for people to toilet. In contrast, we are very lucky, yet we allow a small minority to ruin this for everyone. No one can give a good explanation or indeed any explanation as to why this is happening.

Over the last 18 months we have conducted several surveys with our students and introduced things like supervision at recess and lunch outside the toilets. We have increased CCTV coverage (not in the toilets of course) and repaired and tried to improve the toilet facilities repeatedly. As a consequence of the surveys, we have spoken to students who have been named as displaying some of the behaviours above, 18 months down the track, repeat offenders will now be confined to using specific toileting facilities away from the remainder of the school. Basically, enough is enough!

Over the holiday break, the boys’ toilets will be upgraded with new stalls at a cost of $20,000. We cannot continue to spend money on repairing our toilets. Any student caught vandalising or damaging our toilets will also be asked to use separate toilet facilities. At this stage, we intend to hire portable toilets.

Given that the vast majority of our students behave magnificently and are incredibly kind and thoughtful human beings, it is embarrassing that we have this issue and that I have to talk to the school community about this. However, I am confident with community support, we can make this aspect of our school much more pleasant for all students. 

Semester Two

There are some changes coming up for semester two – Work Ready is going to modify somewhat based on student feedback and we are currently looking at how we can make this program more engaging for students.

We have had our preliminary Student Attitudes to School Survey category and every category has shown improvement. We will show this data to students’ next term.

The last day of this term will be another Celebration Day. The plan from VOS is to run trivia, lunchtime activities, including a “Battle of the Bands,” and a BBQ. There will also be prizes and a raffle for students. (You have to be at school to get the prize!)

Vaya Dauphin

Principal

From Assistant Principal  

As promised, at our Week 7 School Council meeting this term, Ms Petra Hopkins – Senior School Leader, Ms Dauphin and I, presented some ‘minor’ changes to the wording and lay out of the MNSC STUDENT DRESS CODE  APPENDIX A – Uniform Items. This can be found under the policy section of our school website and has recently been updated to reflect the ratified changes from Council. 

Essentially, it clarifies some of the key issues we have seen reoccurring at school such as:  

What colour long sleeves may be worn under uniform items 

What type of black pants are suitable for school 

What footwear is acceptable 

The fact that NO HOODIES or DENIM of any colour is allowed as part of the school uniform. 

We want to make this policy as clear as possible, and have definitely tried to incorporate feedback from parents, carers, students & our current Voice of Students (VOS) team.  

Overall, I have been really pleased and impressed with the way our students wear the uniform as well as their willingness to change or remove ‘unnecessary’ items when asked to by myself or other teachers – so thank you 😊 

Please also be aware that the STATE SCHOOLS RELIEF  / financial support is directly available for students and families who may struggle with the cost of uniform items – including shoes. You can speak confidentially about this with Gail Lamb-Hale our Wellbeing Coordinator, Nic Ryan, Vaya Dauphin or myself and we can certainly help. 

Enjoy the long weekend – stay warm! 

Melissa Neill