A New School Year...
Monday 30 January 2012
Our staff who commenced last week are at this stage preparing for their form groups, their class groups and of course each individual student.
Our Year 12's will be concluding their brief introductory camp and tomorrow we welcome our Year 7’s and other new students. We also have the great pleasure of meeting our boarding parents in a formal way at 5.00pm in Illawarra, this is always an extremely pleasant evening. Following this we have our Year 7 Parent Information Night. Once again we look forward to meeting our parents and involving them in many of the important aspects relating to the commencement of Senior School and the wider School Community.
Our induction assembly for our Year 12's, will be held as part of our first Senior School assembly on Wednesday at 10.30am, thereafter normal classes will commence for all students.
So much can happen in a day and sometimes it seems as if history is made during a week. We have all been saddened by the death of a young student enjoying time away from University with his friends in Laos.
As a consequence of this, a great deal more is emerging about mid and late teens and the twin needs that exist. For them to be their own decision makers, and also for common sense and care for themselves and each other to prevail. Bruce Guthrie whose daughter Susannah was our School Captain in 2009, has written an excellent article entitled, ‘Whose keeping tabs on the young and restless’, this was published in the Weekend Age. He looks at issues both from the individual families point of view and also in a more general way where the role of parents and friends as well as the teenager and his or her groups to instil within themselves the need for personal and general responsibility and care is great.
As we begin this year we will have many opportunities to celebrate the growing independence and responsibility of youth and also to work with them in many aspects of their journey.