Principal's Page 

From Christian's desk....

RU OK?

Today is officially RU OK Day, a day set aside to remind us all to check in with each other’s mental health to make sure that people are ok and if they are not, direct them to the support that they need. The CHPS Wellbeing Team and staff have promoted this day all week and yesterday Cheyenne visited the Senior and Middle classes to do a short presentation. It is a great reminder that we all need to look out for and check in with one another, not just today, but every day! 

Stagestruck

Last night our school community celebrated the Performing Arts via Stagestruck, an opt-in event for selected students who audition to share their dance, drama and musical talents. The night was an absolute highlight for the year and a showcase of all that is special about Performing Arts at our school.  I congratulate the students who displayed great creativity, courage and excellence in their respective performances.

Thank you to teacher, Brodie Douma-King for organising the event and instilling a love of the Performing Arts in the students. Thank you also to David Tweedie, our instrumental music teacher and coordinator for the time and effort he puts into developing our Rock Band, and to the staff and community members who volunteered their time and energy to support the function of the evening. 

Mobile Devices 

Over the past fortnight the school has had conversations with a number of families pertinent to mobile devices including phones, smartwatches and iPads.

A reminder, and as per our Digital Learning Policy, all devices that have communication functions should either be handed to the office or disabled for the school day.  Moreover, parents are asked to resist contacting students throughout the day via their personal devices.  Not only is it an interruption to children’s learning, but it also creates confusion in home-school communication.  During the day, families are welcome to communicate with their children via the school office.

With regard to social media, we have had an increase in the number of issues that involve students in our school engaging in out-of-hours inappropriate connections via the various platforms. As such, I encourage our community to do a snap audit of our habits. Some considerations:

• Are children using platforms without parent permission?
• Are their behaviours consistent with normal behavioural and communication expectations?

With each advance in communications technology comes added responsibility for appropriate behaviour so that we and the people we communicate with are always OK - it seems we have now come full-circle this week.

Christian Holdsworth  -  Principal