Shalom College eNewsletter

Principal's Reflection

Wayne Bennet, the legendary Rugby League coach, once shared his insight after years of working with young men, ‘that nothing good happens after midnight’. There are all sorts of reasons why that wisdom is still pertinent. Whilst I am not in Wayne’s category as a coach or mentor, could I suggest that ‘nothing good ever happens on SnapChat!’ There would be a few weeks in the year where time is invested by Shalom staff following up one or more child’s regrettable post on SnapChat or Instagram or TikTok. Those take up school time and, almost always, the poor choices by the young people in question, took place at home whilst the young person was in the care of parents.

I know what I am about to suggest to every parent is not easy but, if you do not have access to the passwords that would enable you to see what your child posts and what their contacts post to your child, you are seriously abdicating parental responsibility. You would not allow your child to come to school or store in their room a weapon, but so many parents let their child loose on the world with SnapChat. It is not an invasion of their privacy that you see what their on-line interactions are. Hopefully, they are doing nothing there of which they would be ashamed.

The internet is constantly expanding. AI is exploding and we all need to do our best to stay abreast of developments. It is easy to see and read about the dangers of AI. We should not ignore the time saving and useful benefits of AI either. I know at Shalom that teachers are working hard to implement good uses of AI in classrooms. It is a wonderful tool in assisting the creation of great lessons and the structure of Units of Work – amongst other things.

Some teachers are using AI to reduce the hundreds of hours spent in marking. Used well by teachers, AI can give richer and very relevant feedback on student work. This needs to be moderated by teachers but if this tool can save hours of work, we should use it well. Young people need to learn to use AI well and with integrity. But, this is the world in which we all now live and we need to use technology, that constantly changes, well.

Thursday and Friday of this week is our annual Interhouse Athletics Carnival. This is one of our ‘Special Days’ and is compulsory attendance for students. Absence from the Carnival days can have a serious impact on attendance rates and a student’s eligibility to participate in other College activities. It’s always a fun couple of days and participation is the focus of the days.

Mr Dan McMahon
Principal
Daniel_McMahon@rok.catholic.edu.au