Deputy Principals' Reports

Deputy Principal - Year 7, 9 and 11

Ms Kerry Doyle

School Planning Update

The school executive met for an extended planning and professional learning session on Sunday the 25th of October. Our Principal, Ms Pretlove, gave a detailed presentation on the role school leadership teams play in ensuring ongoing student growth and attainment. We were able to reaffirm our shared beliefs around what good teaching and learning 'looks like' and how we ensure that we continue to provide outstanding opportunities for our full range of learners. 

Examination period

We have just started our examination period and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the students for their engagement in the process. I would also like to thank Ms Marasinghe for all her amazing organisation. Remember, if a student misses an examination or assessment task due to illness or misadventure, it is essential that an Illness/Misadventure Form is completed. In the case of illness, a doctor’s certificate must also be included and the equivalent supporting documents for misadventure. The illness and misadventure form is available in the student assessment hand books which students received a paper copy of at the beginning of the year. There is also a digital version on their English Google Classrooms.

Homework Centre

Homework Centre will reopen from Week 5 Wednesday and be available for the rest of term on a Monday and Wednesday afternoon. Please see the library for a permission slip to access this great resource to receive assistance with homework, assignments, course work and study tips.

Vaping

Lately we have been experiencing a rise in the number of student’s vaping, buying, swapping and selling vapes. Vapes, or electronic cigarettes, are battery-operated devices that heat a liquid to produce a vapour that is inhaled. The devices are designed to deliver the aerosol directly to the lungs. Some look like cigarettes while others look like everyday items such as pens, highlighters or USB memory sticks. Because the vapes look like everyday items that we would expect to see in a student’s personal belongings they are not easily identified – by teachers or by parents. 

Currently, the most common vape is referred to as a ‘stig’. It contains high doses of nicotine, it is addictive and can be very dangerous to the health of users. Emerging evidence is strongly suggesting a link between vaping and lung disease requiring intensive care for users.

At many high schools across NSW, we are seeing young people who don’t smoke cigarettes and who wouldn't normally try 'real' cigarettes being attracted by vaping. Young people are probably trying vaping for the same reasons that young people have tried cigarettes in the past – peer pressure, to look cool, a false belief that smoking reduces stress and so on. The added attraction with vaping is that the innocent sounding names: Gummi Bear, Pineapple Crush, Cherry Blossom and so on, encourage the false belief that vaping is not dangerous. These are being marketed on social media, particularly Snapchat and Instagram, thus furthering their appeal and making them dangerously attractive to adolescents who do not understand the health risks.

How are we handling vaping when it occurs at school? 

At Evans High School, we are managing each instance of vaping based on its individual circumstances. The age and the specific actions of students are taken into account when we determine a consequence. If your child is caught vaping you will be contacted and your child will be issued with a school detention as a minimum. During the detention (which will usually occur under the supervision of a Deputy Principal) your child will be required to complete some activities on vaping and its inherent dangers. All students who have completed these activities have expressed surprise at the discovery that e-cigarettes are unregulated, untested and very dangerous. Students who are repeat offenders or who have been previously warned in relation to these or other behaviours will receive more serious consequences. 

You may find this links helpful in assisting you to talk with your children about Vaping.

https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/e-cigarettes-vaping

This very short video about vaping would also be helpful to watch together.

Mobile Phones

It is requested that mobile phones are kept in student bags during all lessons with notifications turned off. Students who repeatedly fail to follow this are given a mobile phone contract. This requires them to hand in their mobile to a member of the School Senior Exec which is then placed in lockers for the day, for a period of one week. 

Staff members have identified that mobile phones cause a minimum of three minutes (and often considerably more) of lost learning time in each lesson due to instructing students to put phones away. We are looking into strategies to further limit the use of mobile phones at school. All students are given reminders of mobile phone expectations and all learning spaces have Chromebooks to ensure that students do not need to access phones as a learning device at school. 

100% attendance

The following students in my year groups should be congratulated on their exemplary attendance for 2020.