New Deputy, Parent Feedback & RUOK?

From the Head of College, Graham Leddie

Appointment of Deputy Head of College

Below is a message for the College Community from the executive Director of EREA Dr Wayne Tinsey regarding the appointment of the Deputy Head of College;

Dear College Community,

It is with much pleasure that I announce that Mr Patrick Brennan has been appointed to the position of Deputy Head of Waverley College.

Patrick has over twenty years teaching experience in schools in Australia and the United Kingdom. Patrick is well known to the Waverley community and is currently the Acting Deputy Head of College. Prior to this, he has held the positions of Director of Co-Curricular and Head of PDHPE. Previously, Patrick worked in the United Kingdom where he was Program Coordinator for the Lewisham Education Authority and before this he had the role of Sports Coordinator at Bossley Park High School.

Patrick complements his leadership experience with a sound academic record having a Masters of Education and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Wollongong. He also has strong ties to the Edmund Rice network, being an old boy of Edmund Rice College, Wollongong. Patrick and his family are active members of the St Francis of Assisi Parish in Paddington.

Patrick is currently preparing to leave with other EREA staff for the ‘Ireland to India Pilgrimage’. On behalf of all members of the Edmund Rice Education Australia community, I warmly congratulate Patrick on this significant appointment.

With every best wish.

Yours sincerely

Wayne Tinsey

Executive Director

Edmund Rice Education Australia

 

RUOK? Day

Thank you to all the families and businesses that donated cakes and biscuits to the College’s RUOK bake sale. A big thank you must go to Ms Donna Drew-Morris for coordinating this event and Ms Marg Morton, Ms Louise Mattick and Ms Hayley O’Sullivan for their assistance.

Raising funds for this community organisation that helps and supports young people is valuable work for us all. The numbers of depressed young people or young people taking their own lives in this country is way too high and we can all play a key part in encouraging each other to embrace the RUOK? theme for this year, ‘You’ve got what it takes’. At assembly this week the College heard from RUOK? ambassador Simon Gillard author of Life Sentence which examines a police officer’s battle with PTSD. Simon encouraged the students to look after each other, to be alert for changes in behaviour and seek assistance and support for their mates when there is a problem.

CAS Athletics

Good luck to our representatives at the 88th CAS Track and Field Championships being held today. The students and coaches have put in many long hours of preparation for the event. Unfortunately, we have been hit with a few injuries and recent sickness, but I am sure our boys will do us proud both on the track and in the stands at Homebush.

Managing sickness

Thank you for your support in following the guidelines set by NSW Health for keeping your sons at home for 48 hours after experiencing an episode of vomiting or flu-like symptoms. Following these guidelines benefits all of our students and staff, preventing the spread of these highly contagious illnesses.

 

Parent Feedback

At the last Parent Association Committee meeting on Wednesday 30 August, I received both positive feedback and suggestions for improvement from Year Parents and Committee Members, on behalf of the entire parent body. Feedback is vital to encouraging open communication and working together for  school improvement. There are many great things about Waverley, but there are areas we can work on to improve outcomes for the students in our care. Feedback included:

What’s working well:

• wellbeing focus at the school
• new student wellbeing structures and activities
• Year group social events
• professional and dedicated teachers and staff
• new Duke of Edinburgh program
• Social Justice programs
• communication is good and frequent enough across website, newsletter, skoolbag app, team apps, emails
• mentoring of younger boys by older boys
• instilling of a positive attitude towards learning
• movement of lockers into House areas
• parent inclusion and regular forums eg; Parent information nights
• mew Literacy focus across the College
• the Junior School
• school Discipline

Areas for improvement/consideration:

• dominant usage of computers across the school, has this gone too far?
• information for parents about about student use of laptops and teaching techniques
• updated contact list/directions of who to contact at school
• uniform and grooming (has improved, but more needed)
• feedback to parents about academic performance, homework and assignments
• uniform approach for homework
• monitoring of group work
• more pro-active feedback during the year, not waiting for parent evenings
• summer uniform
• more emphasis on career education / getting a job
• standard of writing skills (new programs sound promising).

Parents also came up with a broad range of ideas for future improvements at the College. This feedback will flow into the development of our new College Strategic Plan, along with the EREA school renewal process that takes place in early November 2017 and the national school improvement agenda documents. In addition, the College is planning a whole school survey of parents, students and staff for 2018; this will be a great opportunity for the entire community to have input into every aspect of school life. The last full school survey was conducted in 2012 and provided enormously valuable information to the Executive.