From the Assistant Principal – Students

Attendance

All schools in the Diocese have been set an attendance target of 94%. This means that during the school year, all students are expected to attend the College as much as possible to take advantage of all learning opportunities. It is expected that there will be times when some students will be sick and cannot attend school. An acceptable absence rate for a term will be around 3 days.

Parents will be contacted by their child’s learning advisor if the number of absent days exceeds this target rate.

Attendance Rate

There is a lot of potential damage to a student’s learning and progress the more time they take off from school. It is important that each student is at school as much as possible to take advantage of every learning opportunity.

A reminder to families: if your child is late or absent, they must provide a note written by the parent/guardian and signed by the parent/guardian or enter the details on the Compass App. You have 7 days to provide the note or Compass entry, or the absence or lateness will be recorded as unexplained. Please enter all absences on the Compass App.

If you have a planned absence, a written application must be submitted to the Principal before you are absent from school. With a change in legislation, there is more paperwork that must be completed for absences. Families are discouraged from having family holidays during term time; however, we are aware that there may be a few exceptions.

If there is a problem with attendance, the College will contact each family to develop an attendance plan to ensure classes are not being missed.

Lateness

As with absence, lateness to school has the potential to cause significant harm to the student’s learning. Parents are asked to ensure their children are at school on time every day. There will be times when lateness is unavoidable, but if a pattern of lateness becomes evident, the family will be asked to attend a lateness meeting to address the problem.

Uniform

Just a reminder about the College uniform. St Andrews has high expectations about the way each student wears the uniform. It is expected that each student is dressed according to the College's Uniform Policy (which is in the student’s planner).

The College uniform expectations were developed by the College community and represent what the parents, students, and College expect to see in a St Andrews student. I ask all families to work with their Learning Advisors and Leaders of Learning Wellbeing to maintain the standards set for the College uniform.

Each male student is expected to be clean-shaven every day. If facial hair is noticeable, they will be asked to shave it at school.

No male students are allowed to have earrings of any type, including clear plastic ones. Females are allowed to have 1 set of earrings in their lobes, which must be simple gold or silver sleepers or studs with a small jewel in them. All other earrings will need to be removed. No nose rings, tongue rings, or any other piercings are acceptable.

Hair should be one natural color and neat and tidy. Girls are to have their hair tied back at school. Boys are to have short hair according to the College policy (this is available in the planner). If a student’s hair is not acceptable, families will be contacted to have it rectified. No fad or extreme haircuts are acceptable (e.g., no mullets or Mohawks).

Communication

The first way to communicate with the College is through Compass and the College Student Planner. Teachers will use the Planner to communicate small concerns or praise. If you have any concerns, you can contact the student’s Learning Advisor, who oversees a small group of students during the year, or the class teacher of different subjects. If the matter is a major concern, you can call the College to speak to your child’s Leader of Learning – Wellbeing or Leader of Learning – KLA. Please feel free to contact your child’s teacher if you have any concerns about your child’s progress in class.

The College will be using the Compass App for all its notes and notifications.

What Is Bullying?

Bullying consists of behaviors intended to deliberately hurt, threaten, frighten, or exclude someone by physical and non-physical means over extended periods of time. An individual or group may direct these behaviors towards another individual or group.

Someone is bullying another person when:

• They repeatedly verbally abuse a person or group by calling them unpleasant names, writing them nasty notes and/or messages, or using unpleasant gestures.
• They repeatedly physically harm a person or group or physically intimidate them by threatening physical harm or by destroying/taking their belongings without permission.
• They repeatedly encourage their friends or people they know to verbally or physically threaten a person or group or ask them to harass, embarrass, ignore, or exclude that person or group from activities.

Bullying may take one, two, or all of these forms. "Repeatedly" means they do these things to that person or group the majority of the time they talk about them, see them, or spend time around them.

Research has shown that bullying has negative, long-term consequences for all involved.

Such consequences include:

• For victims: constant feelings of rejection, low self-regard, fear, an inability to solve problems with others in acceptable ways, relationship difficulties, and problems with achieving their full potential academically and socially.
• For bullies: an increased risk of criminal behavior.

As such, bullying behaviors have no place at this College.

What do we do if it happens to you or someone you know?

If you are being bullied at school or online, or you know of someone who is being bullied, you must make a positive move to stop the bullying. St Andrews has a zero-tolerance rule for bullying, but if you don’t tell us, we cannot help.

Step 1: Talk to someone about what is happening. If you know the person and you are comfortable, approach them and ask them to stop.

Step 2: Approach your parents or the school to help you sort out the issue. You have your Learning Advisor or your Leaders of Learning who are there to support you. They might give you strategies to help deal with the situation, or they might intervene; this is up to you.

Step 3: If you are able to sort things out and move forward in a positive way, that's great! If not, speak to another person or approach someone you trust to help you. At the end of the day, we want all students to be safe and learning, so we will assist any student to make that happen. Don’t be afraid to come and see a teacher; it is our job to assist you.

St Andrews has a zero-tolerance policy on bullying. If you have any concerns, please see your Learning Advisor, your teachers, your Leader of Wellbeing, or myself. The quicker you see us, the quicker it will be resolved.

What’s in the Student Planner this week?

Over the last two weeks, students have been focusing on understanding their strength profile and what it means. Students have completed the VIA Character Strength test to identify their strengths and then learn how to use them.

Make an effort to use your strengths to set some goals. Write them down and make a plan to achieve them. Thinking about goals is not always enough; put your plan into action.

Ways to change from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset:

• Focus on what is working – We need to understand and work with our strengths. When we identify our strengths, we start to understand the areas we need help with.
• Set realistic goals – Setting goals helps us focus on moving forward in a positive way. Setting goals based on our strengths is easy, and if we use similar goals and strategies for our weaker areas, we will see success.
• Be patient – All success takes time. We might see improvement in our areas of strength, but sometimes, other areas take more time. Be patient, and it will happen.
• Have grit – Be persistent in your work, and don’t give up when it gets hard. The work is meant to be hard so you grow, and your weaknesses become strengths.
• Always use your resources – All students have resources to help them succeed: your families, your teachers, staff at the College, and other people who have expertise in learning. Never be afraid to ask for help; this is a sign of strength.
• Take action – As Nike says, “Just do it.” Don’t procrastinate; set your goals and take action.
• Never use the term “I can’t do it”; use the term “I can’t do it yet.” Change the way you think; be positive and solution-focused.

Mr. Nick Thrum
Assistant Principal - Students