I saw during last week that the CEOs of the major Social Media groups were hauled before the United States Congress and were grilled by unusually united politicians over the really traumatic damage done to so many young people by use of social media. Particularly in the United States, it was so rare to see both sides of politics united on any topic. I’m sure some will argue that the ‘right to free speech’ protects those who do harm. I hope that won’t be the case. I don’t believe that people should be able to knowingly spread lies or to deliberately harm others in word or action. Most of the students at Shalom have access to Social Media. I know how difficult it is for a parent to monitor all of that.

Regrettably, I regularly see the damage that poor use of social media can bring. ‘Snapchat’, amongst others is just awful. Young people (or old people) can make foul comments or post awful things and it just disappears. I cannot, for the life of me, see any positive use for an App like this. Social Media is not going away. I want to encourage parents to, as regularly as possible, have conversations with your children about what Social Media they are using and why. Where possible, monitor their activity. In other areas, parents would have no problem making sure their teenage child was safe in a car or at a beach or in a crowd. Social Media can be just as dangerous – if not more so. One of the benefits that I have noticed already this year now that we require students to hand in their phones at the start of each lesson, is that young people are not receiving vibrating notifications, constantly, via their phone during class time.

Shalom Business Owners – we’d love to hear from any of our Shalom families who might wish to take up any of the two remaining sponsorships still available for the Catholic Schools Race Day on Saturday 16 March. Great day out for your employees or friends. Please email me if you would like more information.

Camps begin this week with our first Year 8 classes heading to Chaverim. Shalom is in a privileged position to offer Camps to students in Yr 7,8, 10 & 11. The cost of these events, along with transport, is contained in our inclusive school fees. These are wonderful opportunities for our students. I would take a moment to remind parents that it is an expectation of the College that your child participates in the Camp program. These are not optional extras. Should there be a really good reason why your child might not be able to participate in an allotted camp, please have an early conversation with your child’s Head of House.

Mr Dan McMahon
Principal
mcmahond@shalomcollege.com