Assistant Principal

Student Wellbeing

Doug Belton

Assistant Principal | Student Wellbeing

It has been good to have all students back with us after many weeks of online learning. From my perspective, students have transitioned back into on campus learning quite well – of course, I measure this with the instances of behaviours requiring my attention. Our directed foot traffic safety measure has probably been the biggest change for students to cope with, but most have learnt to navigate this (pun intended) effectively. In a teenage environment with shortcuts in plain view, we obviously need to redirect students, with some areas causing more concern than others, but we are coping.

I recently communicated, via email, to parents/carers driving children to school, to consider dropping their children off further away from the College to ease congestion at the stop drop and go in front of St Gerard Majella School. On the mornings I have been out there, it looks like the least congested and most traffic friendly environment I have seen. I acknowledge that I’m not out there all the time and maybe I’m just picking the best days, but I thank all who have adjusted their practices to help, it has made a big difference. The changes in student drop offs by St Gerard Majella parents are obviously a major contributing factor as well.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the young boy from St Augustine’s who recently took his own life. I know of some friendship connections to students in St Mary’s and we hope to provide support where we can. If your child is impacted by this in any way, I encourage you to speak openly about the matter and seek help where you need. Our counsellors can offer support.