Perfect Attendance Term 4 2016

Congratulations to all students for the great start with attendance. In particular we are seeing less students coming in late.

Below are the students that had Perfect Attendance in Term 4 of 2016. Your certificates will be coming soon and handed out at your Year Meetings.

Perfect Attendance 2016 School Year

Congratulations to the following students who had Perfect Attendance for the 2016 school year. A certificate will be presented at a future College assembly.

Attendance Reminders

Students must ensure they supply a note or doctor certificate within seven days of their absence otherwise it will automatically be recorded as an unexplained absence.

Considering taking Leave

A reminder to parents in regards to the legal requirements when it comes to taking leave during school/term time and the importance of appropriate amounts of sleep time.

Meningococcal Vaccinations for Years 11 and 12 Students

NSW will be implementing a meningococcal ACWY school-based vaccination program targeting Year 11 and 12 students in secondary schools from Term 2 2017 that will provide protection against meningococcal serogroups A, C and Y as well as W. This is in response to the emergence of meningococcal W as a significant cause of invasive meningococcal disease in Australia in 2016. Evidence suggests that this strain of the disease is more severe than other types.

Further information regarding the date(s) of the vaccinations at our College will be released as soon as it becomes available.

Parenting Tips – Teenagers and mobile phones

Adapted from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/apologies-freud/201201/why-adolescents-overuse-technology-and-what-we-can-do-about-it Stephanie Newman Ph.D

• Even well-intentioned parents can find it difficult to figure out if an adolescent’s mobile phone use spells trouble

• Consider the warning signs:
  • a closed bedroom door
  • a reduction in hours spent socialising or engaging in sports or hobbies
  • a decline in school results are all indicators that a teenager might be overusing technology

• Serious risks to health can also occur when texting goes unregulated day after day. “Problems with posture, potential for eye strain and obesity, as well as the possibility of serious social problems can result,” says Dr. Alicia Rieger, a pediatrician “If it is always machine-to- machine, adolescents may lose the ability to have a conversation, interact in traditional ways, or maintain eye contact.”

What can parents do? 

Talk to your teen: if you notice changes in mood, school performance, differences in time spent socialising, or problems with friendships, or if you see anything else that is of concern, step in and have a conversation with them.

• Constant texting can be a way of avoiding real life interactions.
• Sometimes an adolescent who is anxious or uncomfortable in certain situations will hide behind a hand-held to avoid someone or to put off having to face a group or circumstance that engenders negative feelings.
• Pay attention to when the texting occurs (is it constant? Does it usually happen during a family dinner?)
• Sometimes e-talk can be used to avoid a tense or uncomfortable situation, and the feelings that arise in connection with it.
• If you do notice texting going on at a particular time of day or in a particular type of situation, talk about it.
• Does your teen feel angry at a family member or is she having difficulty with a friend? Is there a subject in school that he or she is avoiding?
• Overuse of screen time can be a cover-up for an underlying emotional problem. Once the dialogue has been started, listen. Your adolescent’s answers might well offer a key to what is going on emotionally–and might even surprise you.
• parents should not be shy about setting limits, particularly at nighttime.
• If your daughter break the rules, take away the phone.
• If chatting is interfering with homework, remove the mobile from the bedroom.
• As a general rule, adolescents should not be allowed to keep phones on during the night.
• Many have reported waking up to check the imessages; and then being unable to fall back to sleep after reading upsetting messages.
• Best to find a neutral storage location like the dining room table–or anywhere that is not the bedroom during late night hours.

This week I leave you with two things to consider.

1. A reminder of the Growth Mindset approach at our College and what parents can do to assist this mindset in their daughters:

2. Being the liturgical season of Lent:

May we continue in our partnership of “Forming young women called to life to make a difference in the world.”

Mr Pablo Grana, Assistant Principal