Assistant Principal - Learning and Wellbeing - Happening Events

This Friday is a mufti day. This means students may wear clothes other than their school uniform. This privilege requires a gold coin donation. All money raised will be forwarded to the Lismore Diocese Flood Appeal. The devastation of that natural disaster has impacted our community with friends and family in the Northern Rivers needing to rebuild their lives. Holy Trinity College which 1400 students attend may never recover. Feel free to donate more than a gold coin to what is an important relief campaign.

No doubt that their efforts are recognised in more detail elsewhere in the newsletter but the College is very proud of our Agricultural Program. Sure, there is success, ribbons and the like but more importantly is the sense of service and community that our students learn, develop and share. Thank you Mrs Price for providing opportunities and experiences that enrich the lives of our students.

If you read all the reports in this newsletter you will know that there is a lot going on at the College. Last week we presented our swimming champions with their medals and many of these athletes experienced success at the Diocesan Carnival including Lily Lorimer who was the age champion. At present we have some of the strongest swimmers we have ever had at O'Connor and we wish them all the best at upcoming events. Also last week marked the beginning of Lent. Mass was celebrated and ashes distributed here at school and we had a presence at the Cathedral with our Year 11 students joining St Mary's in the congregation. Thanks to Mrs Roach and our Youth Ministers for all their work in that space.

It is important to be aware of the benefits of a really good attendance at school. At O'Connor we often look at statistics to give data on our students. Presumably 90% attendance at school would appear to be a high rate. In reality in a 10 week term that equates to a full week of a student not  receiving the benefit of having expert tuition face to face. Over a whole year or 4 terms that equates to a month without a teacher. There is much research linking strong attendance at school with better life outcomes in a whole variety of areas including well being, income, relationships and health. A real barrier to this is consensual absenteeism. All school experiences are valuable in some way. Giving children permission to not attend school without a good reason such as illness does them no favours and sets them up for difficulty later in life in honouring commitments. This includes when there is an athletic carnival, a Mass, a charity day or even a day that is predicted to be difficult. A mindset of getting organised and getting to school each day builds responsibility, resilience and better learning outcomes. Make getting to school a real priority.

Mr Damian Roff 

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