From the Deputy Head of College, Patrick Brennan
The start of the year has been a truly positive one amongst staff and students. It was great to welcome our new Year 5 and 7 students as well as their parents, and celebrate the return of the entire student body.
At a Welcome College Assembly last Thursday, the boys were reminded of the importance of following fair and reasonable requests. These are always linked to their learning and wellbeing. Should a student wish to contest a classroom request that has been made of them, I encourage them to sleep on it, and see me the following day if they still think the request was not fair and reasonable.
This year we introduced the functionality to report bulling via an online portal. The boys are comfortable reporting in an ‘online’ space. This is just another opportunity we as a College say ‘No’ to bullying. We continue to build resilience in our students through the wellbeing system, as well as within the PDHPE curriculum in Stages 3-4.
On 24 February, the Parents and Friends Association will once again host their Welcome Cocktail Party. Last year just over 800 parents got together to renew old acquaintances and meet new parents. As a College community, we celebrate the start of another College Year and welcome new parents to the community. I look forward to seeing many of you there.
Finally, I would like to thank parents for the way their sons resumed school last week, the uniform standard was excellent and so too was their behaviour and presentation.
Parents please be aware of the following policies
Student haircuts
- Hair should be neatly cut, combed and maintained.
- Hair should be shorter than the collar.
- Long hair or outlandish styles are not acceptable.
- Undercut styles, dramatic layering, tracks, mohawks, overuse of product, tinting, colouring, dreadlocks, strands of hair, buns, braids or lines are not acceptable.
- A number 2 cut is the shortest acceptable cut.
If students do not comply with a request to address any breaches by their Head of House, they will then have three options:
- Go immediately to the barber at Charing Cross and have the inappropriate haircut rectified.
- Rectify the inappropriate haircut themselves with the College clippers.
- Return home until such time as the inappropriate haircut is rectified.
When students email a staff member, all proper language conventions are expected to be used.
- Please start the email with Dear Mr or Ms.
- Please make sure the tone of the email is positive.
- Manners go a long way (‘please’, ‘may I’, ‘thank you’, etc.).
- Email is the only electronic medium that students should use to interact with staff. No social media is to be used as a communication method between students and staff.
Parents are requested to always keep their contact details up to date by informing the Registrar whenever there is a change.
Behaviour at Sport
As we commence the second half of the CAS summer season I would encourage all students to keep up the ‘Bin the Red’ campaign that our seniors established in 2016 that resulted in a significant reduction in Sports Tribunal hearings.
The students have been encouraged to play hard but play fair whilst representing the College. We want our students to develop good team skills and learn how to respond well when things do not go their way. We have encouraged them to be gracious in accepting the umpire’s decision even if they think they are right.
