From the Director of Students

Dear College community,

I hope everyone is keeping safe and healthy during these challenging times.

As we continue to navigate through online learning, it is important that we also continue to support student wellbeing. The College takes great care and attention in making sure staff, students and their families are always well informed of what is happening from an educational front but as importantly how are our students are holding up.

In the current atmosphere, student wellbeing is our biggest focus, again I ask students and parents to contact respective staff members if your son is feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or starting to show signs of fatigue and a lack of motivation.

To understand and support students further, the College sent out a wellbeing survey two weeks ago, which was completed by students in Years 7-12. The results clearly showed that staying motivated was the biggest challenge students faced during remote learning. Although most students indicated that they were ‘keeping up with online learning, there was a strong indication that students felt that upholding strong online work ethics and expectations were creating stress.

With all this said, the general well-being of our students is still very positive. 

Below is a rundown of staff who can be contacted if your son requires support:

• Homeroom teacher
• Classroom teacher
• Year Leader
• Academic Care Leader
• Leader of Learning
• Boarding Coordinator
• College Counsellors
• Members of the College Leadership Team.

WE ARE ALL HERE TO SUPPORT YOUR SON.

Merit System Update

During online learning, teachers have been encouraged to acknowledge student achievement by giving POSITIVE MERITS over the last 4 weeks.

It is very clear that our Year 7 students have been busy working hard at home.

We congratulate Tristan Chanthvong of Year 7 who leads the College this year with 128 points!

Wellbeing resources for families during online learning

Sydney Catholic Schools presents a new online parenting series with esteemed clinical psychologist and family therapist, Andrew Fuller.

Andrew has worked with more than 3,500 schools in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the UK, including establishing programs for the promotion of mental health in schools.

Join Andrew for one or both of his zoom presentations this month – and walk away equipped with the practical tools to better support your children in this increasingly complex world.

Each session will run for 60 minutes including Q&A time, with limited places for each session.

Topics of discussion will include:

• The active ingredients of resilience
• How parents can develop these in their children
• Friendship and relationship skills
• Neurochemistry and parenting
• Parenting tricky kids
• Creating happy kids
• Building self-esteem and dealing with setbacks

Please click on the link below for more details.

https://sydcatholicschools.nsw.edu.au/education-in-focus/andrewfuller

Best wishes,

Mr Baldino Vetrano

Director of Students