Junior School Report

By Mr Gavin Webb, Director of the Junior School

“Attitudes are infectious…Is yours worth catching?”

Over the last week I have heard many people say, “I can’t believe this, back in lockdown again, how terrible”, whilst I have heard other people say, “it could be worse, we’ll get through this, we did longer stints last year”. This made me reflect and consider how I really feel about this and what attitude I would take into the lockdown, both personally and professionally? As tough as this latest lockdown has been we all have no choice but to persist, support each other, be adaptable, do our best and remember that we have the chance to influence the lives of young people every day.

From a student’s point of view, all we can ask for is that the boys punctually log on, listen, ask questions and attempt the work. Yes, there will be work missed and we will need to catch up when we return. Yes, the boys will be missing the social interaction of being at school each day but all we can focus on is what is in our control. The boys are still learning each day and the skills learnt over the past 18 months will hold them in good stead as they progress through secondary college and into future employment or tertiary education. Encourage your students/son to reach out to their mates and stay connected as much as possible, exercise each day and contribute around the house to ease the load on everyone in the family.

I wish to congratulate the boys, families and staff for the way you have all entered into Remote Learning 5.0. With relative ease and at extremely short notice, staff were able to plan, organise and deliver lessons online, whilst the vast majority of boys have maturely logged on and focused on the job at hand, despite the challenging circumstances. We now eagerly await the announcements on when schools and many other parts of our lives will open up and return to normal.

Parent/Student/Teacher Interviews

The college’s PSTI’s will be conducted via MS Teams on Tuesday, July 27 from 4:00 – 8:30pm. This is a great opportunity to continue to understand how your son is going at school, learn more about what is going on in each subject, successes had and what your son needs to do to continue to improve. Please ensure you have booked a time, if for whatever reason you are not able to be present on the night please don’t hesitate to make contact with staff via email.

Year 8 Camps

The annual two-night camp to Amberley, in Lower Plenty, is in the calendar for week four and five of this term. The arrangements potentially will change as more information comes to hand around the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. As soon as we know, informed decisions will be made, and we will communicate these details to you. Thank you for your continued understanding. Please see the planned groupings, staffing and dates below (at this stage!). Thank you to Leigh McKee and Brianah Walsh for all their work in organising the camp thus far.

Camp	Dates	Pastoral Group	Staff
1	2nd – 4th Aug	8A 8B	B. McCarthy B. Walsh A. Romeo G. Webb
2	4th – 6th Aug	8C 8D ½ 8H	L. McKee C. Procaccino T. Delaney M.Holland
3	9th – 11th  Aug	8E 8F	B. Walsh R. Cocomazzo G.Willis G. Webb
4	11th – 13th  Aug	8G 8I ½ 8H	L. McKee M. Cameron N. Bamford M.Holland

 

Academic Assembly

The College’s Academic Assembly (Chris Nolan awards), initially scheduled for Tuesday, July 27, has been postponed to Tuesday, August 17. As a College, we place great importance on recognising those students whose results have placed them in the top 15% of their respective year level from semester one.

A new initiative this year is the “endeavour awards”, these have been decided from compiling the “work habits” data from Semester One reports. This reinforces the value of effort and not just the result, a great life lesson. Depending on what restrictions are in place, it is our hope that parents will be able to attend. More information to come.

Closing remarks

So, attitudes are infectious, is yours worth catching? At times like this it is vital to remember the influence you are having on a wide variety of people. Your own children, students, colleagues, extended family members, neighbours or strangers in the street all feed off your attitude in every interaction you have, I implore you to make it a positive one and one that is worth catching.

Regards

Mr Gavin Webb

Director of Junior School