Need to Know

Energy Drinks and Young People

We would like to remind families about the health risks associated with energy drink consumption in children and adolescents.

Energy drinks often contain high levels of caffeine, sugar and other stimulants. While they are marketed as products that boost energy and alertness, they can negatively affect young people's health and wellbeing.

Regular consumption has been linked to sleep disturbances, anxiety, irritability, difficulty concentrating and behavioural concerns. These effects can impact learning, emotional regulation and overall wellbeing.

One of the greatest concerns is the effect on sleep. Energy drinks consumed before school or later in the day can disrupt sleep patterns, leading to tiredness, reduced concentration and poorer academic performance.

Energy drinks are also not recommended before sport or physical activity. Unlike sports drinks, they contain stimulants that can place additional stress on the body. Water remains the best choice for hydration before, during and after exercise.

As a school, we encourage healthy choices that support students' learning, physical performance and wellbeing. We ask families to support this message by discouraging energy drink consumption and ensuring students bring water as their drink of choice throughout the school day.

Further Information:

For more information about caffeine and energy drinks, parents/carers may wish to visit:

Better Health Channel (Victorian Government): https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/caffeine[betterheal...vic.gov.au]
Healthdirect Australia: Caffeine | healthdirect[pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
Sydney Children's Hospitals Network: https://www.schn.health.nsw.gov.au/kids-health-hub/alcohol-and-substances/safety/energy-drinks-and-…

Second Hand Uniform

Donations of clean uniform in good repair would be gratefully accepted. Please drop at the General Office.

The second hand uniform shop is available by appointment. Contact our Business Manager, Angela Campbell via email at ac@sthelena.vic.edu.au to organise a time to access this resource.

Drop Off / Pick Up

Parents are urged to NOT use the front driveway. There is a combination of buses, pedestrians, bicycles and some staff cars during a very busy time of day, and when parents use the driveway for drop off the risk of an accident occurring is heightened.

Unless parents need to use the Disabled Parking spaces, please enter the school via the first driveway, use the drop off zone, circle the roundabout and exit via the same driveway. I accept there is a lot of traffic, and if you can't find the time to navigate the queue, consider dropping your child some small way from school and allow them to walk the last few minutes.

Parents are also reminded that the St Helena Kindergarten car park is reserved for Kindergarten families and staff and should not be used for student drop off or pick up. We appreciate your support in respecting this area and helping ensure safe access for the Kindergarten community throughout the day.

Excursion Policy

A lot of time and effort goes into organising school excursions, camps and internal activities. There are many legal accountabilities for the staff organising, including ensuring no child leaves the college without consent, we have current contact details for students, we have personalised first aid needs met with our kits, venues have the correct numbers and correct payment has been made, sufficient buses have been booked etc etc.

For this reason, once a Compass consent/payment deadline has passed, THE EVENT WILL NOT BE RE-OPENED FOR PAYMENT OR CONSENT unless there are exceptional compassionate circumstances, or the College is in error.

The closing date is made in order to give the organiser time to ensure they have met all their responsibilities.

Canteen Enquiries

A reminder to families that any queries regarding canteen orders should be directed to Bocca Foods via email at support@boccaonline.com.au. Please note that the Canteen Manager is not always on site to answer phone calls.