Pastoral Care Term 3 Update 

As we begin a busy Term 3, the Pastoral Care Team at Shore has been actively engaged in various significant activities, embracing both celebration and farewell as we start to plan our final weeks with our Year 12 students. Alongside these, we have continued to focus on essential topics during tutorial and House sessions, fostering a supportive and respectful environment. 

One of the highlights of this term is focused on NAIDOC Week, where we dedicated tutorial sessions to learning more about our indigenous community.  

Furthermore, the boys have been actively participating in our Building Good Men initiative, with Year 11 students mentoring younger students and delivering lessons on respect, gratitude, service, and leadership. Tutorial sessions will also include opportunities for debriefing on important themes like respect and appropriate online behaviour, to follow on from seminars last term from ySafe. 

This week, Year 9 students had a seminar from external speaker Brent Sanders. In an open and honest dialogue, Brent addressed crucial issues surrounding consent, intimate exchange, respect, sexual and indecent assault, and appropriate online behaviour. Engaging in conversations on such sensitive topics is immensely valuable for our students, and we will continue discussing and unpacking these subjects in depth during Year group and tutorial sessions. 

Brent Sanders’ presentation shed light on the legal definition of consent, emphasising that it must be given freely. He underscored the importance of focusing on actions rather than mere verbal expressions of consent. True consent is an active decision, expressed without any form of coercion, manipulation, force, or threat of violence. Our students gained valuable insights into the importance of ensuring mutual respect and understanding in all interactions. 

The engagement of our students was evident as several boys stayed back to ask Brent insightful questions on these sensitive topics.  

For parents who wish to learn more about Brent Sanders’ seminar and message, his talks and podcasts can be found on various podcast platforms and social media sites. One noteworthy podcast is Consent & Consequences with Brent Sanders on Spotify. 

Top image: Brent Sanders.