Principal's Report

It was with a tinge of sadness that we said farewell to the Year 12s on Wednesday morning. While they are no longer required to attend school as they have a week’s study time before their exams begin, their teachers are available for their usual class times until the exam has been held. We strongly encourage the students to continue to return to school for the teacher assistance and to make sure any final, outstanding work is completed and submitted.

The Year 12s held an entertaining assembly on Tuesday afternoon for the rest of the students to say goodbye and had a number of activities that staff and students could get involved in. They then decorated the school corridor at the end of the school day, before beginning an evening of activities with staff which formed part of an evaluation evening.

The ‘last hurrah’ took place on Wednesday morning, when the students returned for breakfast, the traditional water fight and slippery dip amongst themselves, before hot showers, the clean up and then an early morning tea to send them on their way. The students did a fantastic job on the clean up and had finished it early – a Year 12 record, due to clever decoration. I am sure that the whole school community are wishing the Year 12s every success over the next few weeks, if they are completing exams, and for their futures.

Vaping

Unfortunately, there still seems to be number of students that have taken to vaping and are finding ways to do this at school. Any students found vaping will face the normal school consequences, but it is disappointing to see that the marketing companies are still managing to attract children into forming bad habits. The effects of vaping are still not fully known, however the early research is showing that it is not any safer than smoking cigarettes. Please talk to your child about the effects and risks of smoking and vaping.

• E-cigarettes and vapes are not safer than cigarettes
• there are no quality or safety standards for e-cigarettes or vapes
• vaping liquids can contain nicotine, heavy metals and cancer causing chemicals
• vaping can cause vomiting nausea, shortness of breath, mouth irritation and asthma
• long term use can cause lung damage, heart disease and cancers
• nicotine harms the brain development of children and teenagers
• young people who vape are more than 3 times likely to move to smoking cigarettes, which is often a precursor to other drug use
• it is illegal to sell e-cigarettes and the liquid to under 18s.