From the Principal 

It's been a dynamic recent few weeks with plenty on the calendar for our students. I would like to acknowledge all the time, energy and hard work our dedicated staff put into organising events such as (this term alone), Special Dinners, Bibbulmun Track Expedition, Trades Tours, Wheatbelt Fever Cup, Follow the Dream Leadership Camp, Road Safety Workshops, Cultural Appreciation and Wellbeing Day, Tomorrow Man/Tomorrow Woman workshops, Bilya Koort Boodja Cultural Centre Tour, White Card course, Lamb Survival course, Skid Steer and Loader tickets, AutoCad training and of course, Country Week followed by North West Tour early next term! 

All of these opportunities assist our students to develop into well-rounded, independent and capable individuals - however, the impact of having time out of the regular programs should not be underestimated and I urge all our students to keep on top of their general course studies and reach out for support when necessary.

Industry Engagement

We place importance on linking in with Industry and ensuring we have partnerships that provide opportunities for our students to work with people with a variety of knowledge and experiences. Next term, we will again be hosting the WA Competition Shearing Association Training Day here at the College, open to students and general members of the public and hosting a GRDC Harvester Set Up Forum on the last day of Term 3. We are also, actively seeking feedback from industry groups on our Certificate II and III Agriculture courses and reviewing our Farm Strategic and Operational Plans with support from our Agricultural Advisory Committee. I look forward to sharing the Farm Strategic Plan with our wider community later this term.

Vaping

Today, I reminded all students about the severity of providing or selling vapes to school-aged students (which are an illegal product without a prescription) and the possible implications both from a school perspective and from a law/criminal perspective. Any students found to be supplying vapes to others at school or in boarding, will have their Residential Boarding Contract reviewed and the matter referred to police.

I appreciate that vaping is a current scourge on society and that young people are overly represented in the statistics which is why it is important they have a voice in the matter. The Commissioner for Children and Young People invites WA young people aged 12–18 years to have a say on e-cigarettes, or ‘vapes’.

The Commissioner’s anonymous online survey is now open, asking young people what they think about e-cigarettes, including what makes these products appealing to young people, whether it is easy to access these products, and what advice or support they would like from adults on vaping. The survey is open until Monday, 5 June.

The responses will be collated and the Commissioner will release a summary report later in 2023.

To access the survey click here or use the QR code in poster above.

To those who are seeding, wishing you an event-free few weeks ahead as you get the seed in the ground!

Matt Dowell

Principal