Important News for Year 11

On Tuesday November 8, we welcome our newest members to Shalom – the Year 7s 2023. On this afternoon, the Year 7s 2023 will meet their House Coordinator and their buddy – two people who will be a constant in their first year of high school.

So, it is vital that the Year 11 buddies are present for this afternoon otherwise we will have a Year 7 2023 at the Orientation afternoon with no buddy.

If they have part-time work, they will need to ask for this afternoon off or inform their employer that they can work from 6:00pm onwards. Their absence would not be acceptable.

We talk at length with the Year 11s about service leadership and this is one of those times where they need to put this into practice – to do something for the benefit of others rather than themselves.

The date is in the College calendar.

I do appreciate the important work that these young people will do over the coming school year.

 Absences and Punctuality

It has been a goal for this year to have our student attendance rate at 95%. In Term 3 the rate of attendance was 92%. It is very important for a child’s education to be at school and in classes. If not, they risk falling behind academically.

Punctuality, particularly on a Monday morning, continues to be a concern. Students are expected to be at school by 8:30am. Unfortunately, the same students are late, including some student drivers. If a student is late, and this does happen occasionally, we ask that a parent writes a note; does not have to go into detail and if you have more than one student, one note between your children is sufficient. Thank you very much for the increasing number of parents who write a note of explanation. If a student does not present a note, the lateness goes on their report card as an unexplained absence.

 Acts of Kindness

This was an initiative of McCormack House. Students were asked to write notes of kindness for someone who had been kind to them – could be another student or a teacher, office staff etc. They wrote the notes on strips of coloured paper – the colours matching their House.

Once this was completed the strips were assembled on a wall in the junior eating area. I have included photos of students who were reading the notes and then I gathered others together to show off the display.

Well done McCormack House.

Year 12 Picnic Lunch

To finish the year, the Year 12 gathered in Chisholm block for a picnic lunch. They organised food to share within their friendship group, picnic rugs and all. We had a band – Rafe, Liam and Max – playing. Running on a continuous loop were photos of the Year 12s along with their Year 7 photos (or their first photo at the school if they joined us later). A few Formal photos also appeared.

I have included a few photos of our picnic.

Wishing all the Year 12s the best for their exams.

 Mrs Elizabeth Austin-Campbell 
Deputy Principal 
acampbelle@shalomcollege.com