Pastoral Care Report – May 24, 2018

Year 7 Mother Son Evening

This week, the Year 7 Mother Son evening was a huge success for all involved. We had over 250 guests attend the evening, which involved group discussions and sharing of wisdom and appreciation between mothers or mentors and their sons. Thank you all parents and students who attended.

Keeping Safe: Information for- Parents

As part of St Patrick’s College mission to create a safe and secure learning environment for our students, it is crucial that our broader community of parents are well-informed with the latest information and research available, so we can work as partners to keep our students safe.- This week’s focus is to define -‘bullying’ and -‘harassment’.-

Children and young people have a fundamental right to learn in a safe, supportive environment and to be treated with respect. Bullying and harassment are behaviours related to the group or social context at the time.- Putting others down can be a shared experience to reinforce belonging to a group. It can also be a basis for humour. It is therefore possible for bullying and harassment to develop in a wide range of situations and for anyone to be tempted to bully others or to end up being the target.-

Bullying is repeated verbal, physical or social behaviour that is harmful and involves the misuse of power by an individual or group towards one or more persons. Conflict or fights between equals and single incidents are not regarded as bullying.- Bullying in any form or for any reason can have long-term effects on those involved, including bystanders.

Harassment is behaviour that offends, humiliates, intimidates or creates a hostile environment and targets an individual or group due to their identity, race, culture or ethnic origin; religion; physical characteristics; gender; sexual orientation; marital, parenting or economic status; age; and/or ability or disability. Harassment may be an ongoing pattern of behaviour, or it may be a single act.-

The Keeping Safe curriculum includes strategies to help students to recognise the characteristics of bullying behaviour, to understand their rights, and to know the actions they can take.- As parents, if you suspect your son may have experienced bullying at school, it is vital to maintain an open dialogue with your son’s pastoral care tutor and year level coordinators.-

There are a number of whole-year-level wellbeing programs happening this year. Please take note of the following dates:

Key event dates for 2018 wellbeing calendar:

Year 7:

Brainstorm Productions

Student Workshop (During the day) – July 30

Link: http://brainstormproductions.edu.au/

Year 8:

Brainstorm Productions

Student Workshop (During the day) – July 30

Link: http://brainstormproductions.edu.au/

Year 10:

The Resilience Project

Student workshop #3 (during the day) -“ November 26

Parent information evening -“ registration required -“ November 26

Link: http://theresilienceproject.com.au

Year 11:

Carmen Road Safety

Student workshop (during the day) -“ August 6

Link: https://motivationalspeakeraus.com.au/carmen

For more information on our Pastoral Care program, please visit:

https://www.stpats.vic.edu.au/en/st-patricks-college/pastoral-care/

I would encourage all students and parents to fully engage and participate in all of our wellbeing programs on offer, as they are an integral element of our broader mission to educate the whole person.

Kind regards,

Bradley Murray

Pastoral Care Coordinator