It is lovely to welcome you all to our last term for the year. I do find that once daylight savings starts there seems to be a downhill run towards end of year events making the final term feel like it runs at a different pace.

We have had a very positive start with the HSC beginning last week and our students all focusing hard on exams. There is also a lot of change in the College with the building works continuing. I realise that this has had an impact on Senior School, in particular, and I really appreciate your patience and understanding as we continue to improve facilities for everyone. The quad area is being redeveloped to open up more space for student seating and to assist with foot traffic around the College.

We have announced and congratulated our new College Captains and leaders from the class of 2025. They are an impressive group of young people who will be excellent role models and representatives for the College. We have also sent our Year 5 and 6 students to camp programs and met the new Year 7 students for 2025.

Recently, you will have heard much in the media about the dangers of smart technology and phones on the developing brains of young children and adolescence. I know that it is difficult to monitor and manage the influx of change in this area but I really want to encourage you to be vigilant. Our children are precious. They are also vulnerable no matter how grown up they appear. The recommendations coming out of research is that children should not have access to social media before they are 16 years old. There is good information available at the eSafety Commissioner website – HERE

I have also been doing some research about reading. There is so much benefit for our children if they can invest in reading regularly each day. The impact on learning and success at school is very much connected to how often and for how long our children read each day. According to research students need to read for 15+ minutes per day to see a real improvement in achievement across multiple areas.

My takeaway for this edition of The Way – please limit social media and smart phone access while increasing time spent reading. Why? Because our children deserve the best we can all provide for them and their education.

Proverbs 22:6: "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it."