Director of Students

Dear College community,

Week 5 saw the full return of our Senior School student cohort, this was certainly a very welcomed return to face to face teaching and learning. It became very clear that students felt happy to see their classmates and teachers again after a long absence. 

With students back in class, our pastoral care program has reignited, and we have restructured our program to cater for important post COVID-19 themes.

Year 11 Driver Safety 

In lieu of missing the U Turn the Wheel  program this year, Year 11 have recently participated in two mornings of driver safety and awareness sessions.

On Friday 22 May, Mr Ivancic and Mr Stefanski each ran a presentation for the students looking at different aspects of driver safety. Mr Stefanski spoke about his passion for cars and showed photos of the projects he has worked on in the past. He spoke about how his love for cars does not mean he is a ‘hoon’ on the road. One thing that resonated with the boys, was the golden rule Mr Stefanski shared: ‘Treat every other car or driver as if they are out to kill you. If you do this, you will become more aware of your surroundings and naturally develop defensive driving techniques.

Mr Ivancic took a different approach in his presentation, looking at how a car can be considered a weapon. He spoke of a personal story where he lost a fellow classmate to a car accident when he was in Year 11 and about the need to make the right choices when behind the wheel.  The students were engaged and participated well in both sessions.

On Wednesday 27 May, we conducted a follow-up session in Homerooms looking at the effects of alcohol and drugs on driving skills. The boys watched some informative videos and answered some questions, they also performed some calculations on a person’s Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) given different scenarios and approximately how long it takes for the BAC to return to zero. The students then researched some statistics on their own and created some posters presenting this information.

Driver safety is a pressing issue for Year 11 students as most are at the age when they will be getting their licence. It is something we will revisit regularly over the next year to encourage our students to be safe on the road.

Remember to always make the right choice and to drive safely Gentlemen.

Mrs Trudy Sawyer

Year 11 Coordinator 

Student Positive Merits

The College is working hard this year to improve in the area of positive psychology and education. There have been significant changes in our student merit system to support the social- emotional learning of students.

Positive Merits were introduced this year to identify students who have been working to a high standard and classroom teachers have had the opportunity to acknowledge these students weekly.

During our remote learning period, Positive Merits became the front-runner as greens stamps were not being used. Moving forward, once a week, teachers will submit their Positive Merits to respective students, the student will then receive an email notification of their achievement.

I am very excited to announce that further changes to the ‘College Merit System’ will be happening soon.  The College Merit System is at the core of how we manage student behaviour in the classroom. The system was developed to keep students engaged in their academic and social- emotional learning. 

The time has come to update the College Merit System. The impending changes intend to keep most elements of the current system while introducing new and innovative options to best support ALL students at St Gregory’s College.

Mr Baldino Vetrano

Director of Students