Director of Students Report

By Director of Students, Mr Mike Silcock

The education of our students is one in which we work in partnership with the student and their family. It is our way to listen to our families when they provide invaluable feedback on the educational journey of their son. This past week, we held a series of Year Level assemblies. The purpose of these were varied, however there was one consistent message. In order to respect the learning and experience of all within our community there exists a series of expectations and we ask all within our community to respect these for the betterment of all.

Actions of any student that demonstrate an ignorance or ambivalence to our expectations will not be tolerated. Within the framework of ensuring our students do meet these expectations is an educational program that instils the core pillars of respect, trust, honesty and integrity. That said, consequences for poor behaviours or behaviours that show a disregard for our expectations will be administered. Most in our community will be familiar with our behavioural pyramid that provides all with an understanding of the degree of seriousness of an incident and a potential consequence. Incidents (or behaviours) are classified into ‘Levels’. In the past, a Level One incident would be recorded on our system, however it would not necessarily be communicated to families. Level Two or Three would obviously involve a phone call to families, given the potential seriousness of the behaviour. This though led to many families unaware of their son’s potential, accumulative nature of Level One incidents that, if there were many, could lead to a more significant consequence.

Acknowledging this we have introduced an automated system that allows families to receive a generic notification when their son is tracked for a Level One incident or issued a Thursday after school detention. These will be categorised, but not provide all the details of the incident. The purpose of this is to invite our families to have a conversation with their son, in the partnership earlier referred to, around the indiscretion. If the family wishes to call the College for a fuller explanation or to discuss the Level One tracking then this would of course be welcomed and should initially be through your son’s Pastoral Care Tutor and/or Year Level Coordinator.

We do hope that this new system will provide greater transparency to our wellbeing program and bring our families on the journey with us.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me: Mike Silcock, Director of Students, (03) 5322 4408, msilcock@stpats.vic.edu.au.