Dear Parents and Carers,

On Thursday 15th September, we will be having the first of our Year Six fundraisers for the year. Arthur and Toby have chosen BackTrack as the organisation they wish to support on this day. BackTrack is an organisation that engages young people who are in need of a support network to help them find their place and belonging in society. Toby and Arthur wanted to share a clip that highlights the great work that Bernie Shakeshaft and the BackTrack team are doing to support Australia’s youth. Hopefully this provides everyone with an understanding of why the boys want to raise money for this organisation. Congratulations to Arthur and Toby for their communication and effort with this fundraiser - it should be a great day!

Please click this link for more information: BackTrack Overview

Public Speaking

Congratulations to Alice, Braxton, Laura, Taylor, Fred, Culley, Arthur and Toby who travelled to Batlow on Tuesday to participate in the Adelong Batlow Public Speaking competition on Tuesday - several of our students were selected to compete in the Western Region Public Speaking competition on the 16th September. Congratulations to all students who spoke and represented the school. 

Father’s Day BBQ

A reminder that our Father’s Day barbeque commences tomorrow at 7.30am. Feel free to come and grab a bite to eat, a tea/coffee and a shot of the basketball before students start lessons. Students are more than welcome to grab a bite to eat as well. We hope that this is a positive way to acknowledge our Dad’s, Grandad’s and special men in the lives of our students.

R U OK Day?

Next Thursday, Mrs Clay will be supporting staff with some activities relating to R U OK Day. Students are encouraged to wear something yellow as a way of supporting this day and acknowledging the importance of asking our community that simple question “are you ok?”

eSafety

The eSafety commissioner is an Australian Government organisation that supports schools, families and young people in dealing with the ‘often tricky’ issues relating to devices and the internet. This week, I am sharing the eSafety Commissioner ‘parents link’ to highlight the informative and quite specific information that can be found on this website. Over the coming weeks, I’d like to continue to highlight some links and useful information to support parents with the inevitable challenges that come with children, the internet and device use. Further to this, as part of gaining more information from families, I will be getingt some parent feedback on:

(i) their needs in regards to information on device use and the internet (whether it be school or home) and;

(ii) their experience of BYOD and the current use of devices at school.

This is not necessarily the precursor to any change to our policy and implementation of BYOD, but just to acknowledge the importance of our families’ opinions in best meeting the needs of the students in our care.

Please find the attached link to the eSafety Commissioner: eSafety Commissioner Parents Link 

Catholic Education Commissioners

​From time to time the Catholic Education Commission seeks new members to cover any gaps or to fill vacancies.  It has been asked that schools promote the Expression of Interest for new commissioners for the Commission. Members of school communities can express their interest in joining the Commission. As the Catholic Education Commission explore the practical meanings of Synodality – they are one of the instruments through which members of the Archdiocese can cooperate with the Archbishop in their evangelising ministry. Please let me know if you are interested and I will forward on any necessary information.

Enjoy the remainder of the week,

Ryan Forsyth

Acting Principal