Clyde North Campus News

Term 1 2019 Student Reflections:

I thought the best way to review the term was to ask our students.

As Romero Captain this year, this term I have learnt new roles of leadership and how much influence I have over younger peers in my house. I have learnt new ways to deal with challenges faced through year 12 and how to strive and be the best I can be. Bradley Fielden (Yr 12)

Being a year 7 student at St Peters is a fun experience, the classes I enjoyed were music, sport, science, maths and French. Next term I’m looking forward to having twice as much fun and making new friends.

This term being new to the school I’ve loved peer support. I feel that it was a great way to get to know other people in year 7 (not in your class) to do fun activities to get introduced to the school.

This term has a great start to 2019. My opportunity as a Year 8 Forum Leader has made me a better person in improving my skills of leadership and confidence. My highlight of the term would be when we had the swimming carnival.

Throughout this term we have had some wonderful opportunities, we started off with a wonderful swimming carnival, where Augustine made it out first. We also had an amazing harmony day with mouth-watering cultural foods, beautiful cultural clothes and spectacular performances. Riteek Pillai (Yr 8)

This term we witnessed a great musical aspect added into St Peters. We got to see many performances and cultural dances. We have seen many bands and performers. It has been a great term. Wesley Pereira (Yr 8)

Going into Year 9 and into the Year 9 building I didn’t really know what to expect when it comes to all the rules and the new subjects. Once head start had come around it was actually quite exciting having our own building and seeing everything all the facilities and equipment that we have access to. Not only the building, but the teachers that are a part of the Year 9 program have been really encouraging and supportive of everything we are trying to do in relation to building up our 21st century skills. Bailey (Yr 9)

The first term of Year 10 so far is challenging. SAC’s and studying more was something new for me, as well as more levels and quantities of homework. This busy term should hopefully prepare for the upcoming future. Samuel Imperial (Yr 10)

Thank you to the students who willingly gave up their time to construct reflections that help inform us as a campus community on what we are doing well and how we can continue to improve and support our students.

Caring for our Environment

The House Environmental Sustainability shield is well under way. My sincere thanks to Mr Jean Paul Antione (Assisi House Leader) for developing and organising this important initiative. We are called to be servant leaders and an integral component of this is stewardship. How well are we serving and caring for our environment. The Clyde Campus is admired by parents, visitors and others schools for its innovative, modern and beautiful facilities. Yet do we truly care for our environment, our home?

The work that Mr Antoine and his team have put into this initiative last year and now this year is greatly appreciated and is starting to raise the level of awareness by all students that it is our collective responsibility to look after our school which includes both internal and external environments.

This ranking is yet to include our final week, so there is plenty of incentive for all Houses to strive for an improved outcome in the judging of each area on Thursday. Remember points towards the Rosemary Graham Shield are available throughout this competition.

STUDENT REGULATIONS – LATENESS & UNIFORM

It has been a pleasing improvement this year, to see the number of students who have made a greater effort to get to school and class on time. This has undoubtedly been in part due to the introduction of a 3-infringement system at the beginning of the year. While not popular with all students, we have received positive feedback from parents and staff who note that it is in line with our strategic goal to improve student academic growth. Students who are maximising their time at school and in class are meeting the College community’s third right and responsibility: “to learn and to contribute to effective learning of all in the classroom through positive and co-operative behaviour.”

Teachers have been very committed to ensuring that students are attending class punctually, however, there has been a degree of inconsistency in addressing lateness to school in Term 1. This systemic problem is now being addressed.

From the beginning of Term 2, any student who signs in late to school without authorisation from home will receive an automatic late infringement.

Authorisation is permission from a parent or guardian that includes a note, email, SMS, voicemail or phone call acknowledging that the student is running late. The school assumes that parents or guardians who do not notify the school of a student running late are either:

Not aware of the student’s lateness, or
Do not accept that the lateness was beyond the student's control and consequently support us in issuing an infringement.

Students who are late because of a late bus will not be issued with a late infringement. House Leaders will also exercise discretion in not issuing infringements for pastoral reasons.

Students who are late and choose not to sign in to avoid a late infringement will be given a Tuesday after school detention. Repeated failure to sign in will result in a Friday detention. It is important for your child’s safety and the school's duty of care that students sign in when late and sign out when leaving the school property. In the event of an evacuation or if staff or parents are seeking a student at school, we must know their whereabouts. This is meeting the College community’s second right and responsibility: “To feel safe and to behave in a manner that will protect and promote the safety of others.”

The College community’s fourth right & responsibility is “to benefit from the reputation of the College and to promote and uphold the good name of the College.” To this end, it is important to make the following points about our uniform and appearance policy.

During the first 2 weeks of Term 2 and the last 2 weeks of Term 3, students are allowed to wear either the summer uniform OR the winter uniform. This was in response to the Student Representative Council’s concerns last year about changing temperature trends throughout the year. It would certainly seem that this year, the warm weather is continuing longer than usual and some will undoubtedly welcome this change.
We remind parents of the importance of writing notes to authorise any uniform issues. It is not the responsibility of Learning Advisors or House Leaders to try and contact home to verify a student’s explanation for not following the College Uniform & Appearance Policy. It is the student’s responsibility to organise with parents/guardians a note explaining that there has been an unavoidable issue with uniform and therefore an enforcement of the policy’s consequences is not reasonable. Consequently, the student will be issued a uniform pass from the House Leader and avoid either an infringement or a “zero tolerance” response. In this latter situation, Year 7-10 students will be withdrawn from classes and Year 11-12 students may be sent home for a non-rectifiable uniform breach.
We have clarified the wearing of scarves for students. This item of clothing can be worn with the summer or winter uniform. However, ONLY the College scarf with the St Peter’s banding can be worn. The scarf is an optional item, but no other scarves, including burgundy and grey scarves are permitted.

Infringements for Term 2 have been reset to zero for all students and this practice will occur at the beginning of every term. This recognises students genuine attempts to do the right thing with respect to punctuality, uniform and chewing gum at school.

Parents and students are reminded that there are also rewards for students who demonstrate throughout the term perfect punctuality, wearing of the uniform and attendance. House points will be awarded to students in each of these three areas.

Thank you to all members of our College Campus for a wonderful and productive term.

I wish you all a very Happy and Holy Easter.

Julie Banda

Head of Campus - Clyde North