Message from the Head of Teaching and Learning

Technology – Servant Not Master

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter Break. I hope you had an opportunity to spend quality time with your family; talking to each other and enjoying shared meal times as a wonderful social opportunity and time to connect.

I hope that you did not have to wrestle a smartphone or tablet from your child’s clutches.

I hope that you did not have to endure silent mealtimes as your child sulked because you had dared to suggest that it might be nice to spend quality time together chatting or - dare I be so bold to suggest - playing a board game. Perhaps going for a walk?

Technology is a wonderful thing and it has been embraced by business, industry and education. Your child requires a device for school – for educational purposes. However, please be assured, it is simply a tool to facilitate some types of learning. It is not a life force – however much your child seems to suggest it is. It is not healthy and it is certainly not expected that your child should be ‘glued’ to their screen for hours on end.

As parents, you have control over the way in which your child engages with their device at home. You have every right to limit the amount of time that your child spends engaging with their device if you believe they are using it inappropriately and to the exclusion and detriment of family and social time. I have had a number of conversations with parents who have said that they would like to confiscate their child’s school iPad because of the amount of time they are using it to access social media or gaming yet they feel that they cannot because their child tells them that they need it for school and homework.

Please be clear – the school will support you.

If you feel that you need to confiscate your child’s school device and your child explodes into apoplexy, screaming that they need it for an assessment task – even though they have not been using it for that but rather scrolling endlessly through their social media – just inform their teacher that you have confiscated the device temporarily. Your child will have to find another way of completing the task, or they will have to hand the task in late and incur a penalty. This is part of developing ‘Grit’. Our children have to learn to take responsibility. They own their own behaviour and must learn to discipline themselves. That said, we need to help them in that endeavour. We need to have clear rules about when and where our children are able to use their devices.

The school’s new Phone and Smartwatch Policy has been implemented to help support our students with their learning. Phones/smartwatches and devices are a distraction. Many students have recorded that they love the new policy because they found it really difficult to discipline themselves in ignoring the pings, buzzes and vibrations during class. Now they can just get on with class tasks, without disruption.

For our Boarding students in Years 8 – 12, access to phones and laptops/devices is very strictly monitored:

Between 3.30 and 5.30 – access to phones and devices.
Dinner between 5.30 and 6.30 – no phones are allowed in the Dining Hall. Mealtimes are social times.
During Prep Time, phones are locked away in device charging towers. Laptops/iPads may be used if required for study. This is also monitored.
Later evening, students have access to their phones so that they are able to call home if they choose.
During bedtime, all devices are locked away until the rooms are checked the following day.

This is not punitive – it is necessary and it is appreciated by the students who recognise that they need help to use their devices appropriately.

If you have not had a chance to listen to it already, I would like to guide you towards David Gillespie’s Interview on ABC, ‘How the iPhone Rewrote the Teenage Brain.’ As both a parent and teacher, I found it to be simultaneously enlightening and terrifying.

https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/david-gillespie-2019/10986686

Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master. It is very easy for us all to be seduced by it. In our endeavour to enhance ‘grit’ and resilience in our children, we need to help them navigate the pitfalls – especially when they do not recognise them as such.

Mrs Serena Lewis

Head of Teaching and Learning