Assistant Principal 

This week Lalor Secondary College is celebrating R U OK day. R U OK is a suicide prevention charity in Australia, encouraging all of us to notice the signs of mental health struggle in friends, family, and colleagues. The theme this year for R U OK day is 'Lalor Stops So YOU Can Start', A message that has been delivered multiple times over a two-week period to ensure students understand that 'RUOK Day' is not about mental illness but rather mental health and wellbeing.  It is an opportunity for our community to pause and check in with one another. This week the school will be hosting its events on Thursday the 12th of September. 

There will be an opportunity for each year level to take a period of study off to engage in a range of activities. Students will attend a BBQ, as well as have the opportunity to listen to live music performed by our school bands and participate in a range of sports or active games. Students will also be given a conversation starter card that has a sentence/conversation prompt that will facilitate the positive discussions amongst students around mental health and building positive social relationships. 

The focus on mental health also continued within year level assemblies this week with presentations being provided by our wellbeing team. The focus of the assemblies was ‘Empowering Student to Thrive’. Students were re-acquainted with the wellbeing team, their roles and ways in which they can provide support. Students engaged in the themes of developing an awareness of mental health, and explored themes around mental health. Students discussed the differences between mental health and mental illness, as well as discussed common myths and facts surrounding each. The students explored support networks and strategies to manage their mental health. A huge thank you to the wellbeing team for their efforts in curating and presenting a wonderful and very valuable presentation to all our students. 

Finally, the SRC is running its second out of uniform day for the term on Thursday the 19th of September. The theme of the day is “Footy Colours Day”. Students are encouraged to wear a top of their favourite football team. Football can relate to any variety of the code (AFL, NRL, Soccer etc..). A gold coin donation is required. Please keep an eye on compass for details. 

Joshua Simpson

Assistant Principal