Wellbeing Report – June 8, 2017

Travelling to and from St Patrick’s College

Parents, please ensure that your son is aware of his responsibilities as a commuter and the need to adhere to the code of conduct fair and reasonably expected of all commuters regardless of whether they are a student of St Patrick’s College.-

How a student travels to and from the College is a personal decision made by each family depending on the location of their primary place of residence, access to public transport, parents working commitments and, in the case of year 12 students, whether the boys themselves have access to a car and hold a driver’s license. The College respects each parent’s decision and their right to choose how their son will travel to and from the College.

Students driving to the College are expected to adhere to all road traffic laws. Should your son be using public transport in the form of a bus or train it follows then that they are bound by the code of behaviour expected of any citizen using these forms of transport. Pay the fare, not infringe on of the rights of other travellers, not damage the train or bus and not put their lives and the lives of other commuters at risk.

The College does not own or have control over Vic Rail or any of the bus companies which provide a service to College students and their families. Accordingly, if students continually breach the code of behaviour expected by commuters it is within the right of Vic Rail or the bus company to cancel the service and or ban certain students from accessing their service.

Kind regards

Mrs Elizabeth Ryan

Acting Assistant Deputy Headmaster – Staff and Student Wellbeing

Introduction of the Wellbeing Team –

It has been a busy start to the year for the St Patrick’s College Wellbeing Team with staff changes, exciting initiatives and plenty of individualised support.

Gerard Sullivan, Eric Hayes and I have been working hard to develop and maintain positive relationships with boys, their families and staff. –

Gerard comes to us with a wealth of knowledge and experience in the areas of Positive Behaviour Support and Restorative Practices which he is currently putting to good use with both individuals and groups of boys.

Eric has been a well-respected counsellor at the College for the past 6 years and offers valuable assistance to boys with emotional and behavioural issues as well as relationship problems.

I have joined the team this year as a Provisional Psychologist and I am passionate about working with students, parents and staff to assist young people to reach their personal and academic potential.

We hope the boys go well in their upcoming exams and are looking forward to a well-earned break over the holidays. Take this time to relax, have some fun and spend time with loved ones.

Rebecca Petrie

Provisional Psychologist

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Pastoral Care Update – by Bradley Murray Pastoral Care Coordinator

Earlier this year, all Year 11 students attended an all-day seminar with Glenn A. Gerreyn.- Glenn presented two programs; Men of Honour and A Day of Hope.- This two-part seminar focused on our young men working towards becoming great men, and developing the capacity to live hope-filled life.- This seminar forms part of a targeted Year 11 wellbeing program called -Men of Honour-.- Students were to commence working through a booklet with their Pastoral Care Tutor in extended Pastoral Care classes after the seminar occurred.- Unfortunately, the organisers of the program had significant delays in production, and consequently, the student booklets and teacher resources only arrived last week.- Year 11 students have been learning about the concept of resilience in the interim.- I am very excited to announce that all Year 11 students will finally have the opportunity to commence -Men of Honour- next term.

As core part of our Pastoral Care program is the Keeping Safe curriculum.- St Patrick’s College is running this program this year as a pilot program on behalf of the Catholic Education Office, Ballarat, at the request of Bishop Paul Bird.- This ground-breaking program teaches students to recognise abuse, understand appropriate behaviour and to develop protective strategies.- The curriculum has been developed by child protection experts and experienced educators from South Australian schools.- During term two, Keeping Safe has been delivered to all junior school students on a weekly basis.- Junior students have been learning about rights and responsibilities in relationships, power in relationships, and bullying as an abuse of power.- Next term will see Year 7 students explicitly study -‘bullying’ during extended pastoral care classes, whilst Year 8 students will take part in the Building Respectful Relationships program, which has recently been mandated to be delivered in all government secondary schools in Victoria, which teaches students about the importance of respectful relationships, in particular, with women.- Moreover, this term has seen our Year 12 students undertake lessons from the Keeping Safe program.- This has included discussions on rights and responsibilities in relationships and developing protective strategies.-

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 online grooming.- Online grooming is where an adult predator tries to lower a young person’s inhibitions, or heighten their curiosity, with the aim of eventually meeting them in person.- The process may start with sending inappropriate images to normalise the predators intentions, and then move to requests for images from the young person, or to engage in inappropriate online behaviours.- This can take place via all forms of digital technologies,- including social media, games and gaming sites, email, instant messaging programs, forums and chat rooms.- For more information, please click the link below, an online resource from the Bully Stoppers program.- Please note the action you can take as parents and the warning signs listed on the second page of the PDF document.- I would also recommend having a discussion with your son about this issue, as being well-informed is the first step to managing and preventing online grooming in our community.

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/programs/bullystoppers/smgrooming.pdf

There are a number of whole-year-level wellbeing programs happening in term three, which will all occur during the regular school day.- Please take note of the following dates:

• Monday17^th July -“ Brainstorm Productions: -The Hurt Game- -“ All Year 7 & 8 students (Year 7: 12pm -“ 1pm, Year 8: 2pm-3pm)

• Monday 7^th August -“ Carmen Road Safety -“ All Year 11 students (9am -“ 10.30am)

• Tuesday 15^th August -“ You The Man -“ Building Respectful Relationships -“ All Year 10 students (9am -“ 10.55am)

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