Especean

Wellbeing 

Founder’s Day 2021

We would like to remind parents/carers and students that Friday 11 June marks the annual celebration of Founder’s Day. Please note the following:

  • Compulsory attendance by all boys in full College winter uniform is expected. Boys will be expected to be in attendance for the Founder’s Day Mass, Concert and Waterford Mile.
     
  • Boys who are absent on the day will be required to obtain a medical certificate and present it to their Homeroom teacher on their first day back.
     
  • Boys are required to attend school at the normal time and they will be dismissed at 2:00 p.m. Younger boys will be escorted to Strathfield Station by members of the College’s Student Leadership Team.
     
  • Canteen facilities will be closed on the day. 
     
  • Boys will receive a muffin and packet of chips at Recess and a packaged lunch, can of soft drink and chocolate at Lunch.
     
  • Boys will not be required to bring bags/belongings to school on this day.  The exception to this may be students who wish to bring additional food for recess and competitors in the annual Waterford Mile who can store any clothes in their lockers.

Parents are advised of the following arrangements for the collection of students from the College at 2:00 p.m. on Friday 11 June. Parents should note that they must not park in Hydebrae Street or in the 407 bus zone as it is a regular service and it will still be operating. 

  • Fraser Street Kiss and Drop: Berg, Coghlan and Crichton Houses. Parents should approach from Shortland Avenue.
     
  • Francis Street Bus Bay: Hanrahan, Hickey and Rice Houses. Parents should approach from Merley Road.

There will be no supervision of students after 2:20 p.m.

 

Thank you also to those parents who have volunteered their time to assist with the division and distribution of food items on the day.

Year 7 Cyber Safety and Consent

With the recent media focus on cyber safety and consent, our Year 7 boys were fortunate to have officers from the local Auburn LAC present on these topics at yesterday’s PCP. Detective Choubineh and Senior Constable Tambasco spoke to the cohort about what consent is and what it is not. The ramifications of committing acts without someone’s consent, including in person and over social media applications, were discussed and the boys were given clear advice on how to avoid getting themselves into such situations. 

 

The strong message for the boys to take home was to always have respect for themselves and others, and always communicate with parents/carers or a trusted adult if they are not sure about a situation they may find themselves in. Finally, they were reminded to be careful with their online presence, as it is something which will stay with them for the rest of their lives, which we all want to be positive and successful.

 

Felicity Warsop

Year 7 Coordinator

Absences

Parents/carers are reminded that if their son is late to school, an absence note is required so it can be recorded as an ‘Explained’ partial absence. This includes when a student arrives after 8:50 a.m. due to transport issues.

 

For both full day and partial absences, a note explaining the absence needs to be provided to your son’s homeroom/class teacher within five school days. After this period, the absence will be recorded as both 'Unexplained' and 'Unjustified' on their official Record of Attendance.

 

If an explanatory note is provided after five school days, the notation will be amended by the College to indicate that the absence has been 'Explained' but will still be recorded as 'Unjustified'.  This is in keeping with the procedures required from the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA).

 

Notification of Absences via Parent Portal

Parents/carers are reminded that they have the option of providing a note, electronically, through the Parent Portal, which the College will accept as an ‘absence note’.  In these instances, these notes cannot be printed and attached to the student file, but they are held electronically on the College database and the information transferred electronically to the student’s attendance record. 

 

Procedures:

  1. Parents/carers enter the absence message on the Parent Portal. The message is recorded as a ‘Future Absence Request’ on the College’s SENTRAL database awaiting action by a member of staff during the day.
     
  2. The College has the option to ‘Approve’, request ‘Further Action’ or ‘Reject’ the absence message.
     
  3. Once a message is approved, it will move the information provided by the parent to the ‘Attendance’ screen as an explained absence with the relevant information relating to the absence.
     
  4. If a message from a parent/carer is insufficient, or not acceptable, a ‘Requires Action’ message will be sent back to the parent/carer to complete.  The entry in 'Attendance' remains ‘Unexplained’ until a satisfactory explanation is received, and the message will then be ‘Approved’.

Note:

  • Parents/carers cannot amend the 'Attendance' screens at all.  They can only send a message through the Portal which will be actioned by the College.
     
  • If the parent/carer chooses to provide a Parent Portal explanation, this still needs to be actioned within the specified five school day period.  Electronic records are held on the College database.
     
  • Parents are unable to request periods of Leave or Exemption from Attendance from the Parent Portal. The student’s Year Coordinator should be contacted, or the relevant application form submitted to the Director of Wellbeing in accordance with current procedures.

Robert Simpson

Director of Wellbeing

Secondary Student Leadership Program

On Wednesday 19 May, we had the opportunity to travel into the city with student leaders from Catholic, public, and private schools from all over New South Wales to engage in a leadership day with some of the important leaders within our state government.

 

Our day began at State Parliament House, where we listened to politicians from across different parties, electorates, and chambers of parliament regarding their leadership experiences, the challenges they have faced, and how we as leaders could overcome similar challenges. This evolved into a Question-and-Answer session, allowing for students to engage with those elected to represent us, and revealing a more human side to our politicians, away from the cameras and political debates. The sight of politicians from across the spectrum coming together to share experiences with young people was one filled with hope and relief.

 

We then toured both houses of parliament, sitting in the chambers, learning the history of the home of our democracy, and engaging in a mini re-enactment of the legislative process. We then broke for lunch where we were able to engage with students from other schools, allowing for an important exchange of the ideas which flowed from the morning sessions.

 

Our final session saw us travel a short 10-minute walk away to NSW Government House, where we had the opportunity to meet Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC. With such a title, you are naturally taken back by the occasion, especially after just touring through the grand halls and ballrooms of Government House. Her Excellency is the 39th Governor of our state, and the viceregal representative of the Australian Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II in New South Wales. 

 

We had the opportunity to branch off into smaller school groups as we engaged in an insightful discussion with Her Excellency. After recently listening to many different politicians speak, it was refreshing and surprising to hear Her Excellency engage in a deep train of thought that often did not stick to the regular ‘political’ tracks. As a group of young leaders, we were initially taken aback by the question, “Who believes that multiculturalism is a positive aspect of Australia?” Naturally, there is only one right answer to this question, and so, we all raised our hands. The following discussion was truly insightful and thought provoking. Her Excellency never fully disagreed with us; however, she did explain that she believed multiculturalism to be more or less a label, a label that can too easily mask the context underneath. 

 

Specifically, the Governor believed that the word ‘multicultural’ was often used to refer to new migrant communities, neglecting our First Australians. Her Excellency proposed that instead, we are a nation of stories that date back over 65,000 years. We all have our own stories, and the power within these should never be underestimated.   

 

Darcy Patterson                                                                      James Herberstein

College Captain                                                                    Co-Curricular (Cultural) Prefect