Nil Sed Optima – Nothing but the Best

Firstly, let me introduce myself. My name is Jason Cross and I am the Acting Principal of Junior Secondary whilst Ms Sgalippa is on leave. It has been great to lead your students over the past fortnight and to see them in action not only in the classroom but at our numerous school events.

2022 Student Leadership Opportunities

Next year is shaping up to be an exciting year at PBC, with one of our school priorities focussed around enhancing student agency. In doing so, we are developing a Year 7-10 student leadership program. Applications are due on Friday 29 October. I look forward to leading these students in 2022.

Junior School Assembly

On Friday 22 October, I held a Junior School assembly to convey the following messages to all of our junior students. 

Vaping

I reinforced the message sent to all parents from our Executive Principal and conveyed to students previously regarding our school’s consequences for selling, distributing, possessing and/or using a Vape:

• Selling and or Distributing e-cigarettes/Vapes
• First offence: 20-day suspension pending exclusion with the likelihood of an exclusion from the school.
• In Possession and using a Vape
• First offence: 10-day suspension.
• In Possession of a Vape
• First offence: 10-day suspension.

Mobile Phones

I reinforced our school’s mobile phone policy which can be found in our Student Code of Conduct.

Throwing Food

Recently we have seen an increase in the number of students choosing to throw food items at lunch. This is a dangerous practice and as a result, please note that if a student is caught throwing food, the teacher will report the student to administration and they will be sent home.

Attendance

The PBC attendance target is 92%. Congratulations to our Junior Secondary students who in spite of the setbacks thrown at them this year are tracking reasonably well:

• Year 7 - 90.4%     
• Year 8 - 87.1%    
• Year 9 – 85.3%

All student attendance is monitored daily and parent/caregivers will receive attendance letters for any child that has had 5 or more unexplained absences. An unacceptable attendance record may lead to disciplinary actions as per the Parent Compulsory Schooling Obligation – Failure to attend 178(2) of the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006.

Social Media

Parents and caregivers play an important role in helping children to develop digital intelligence — the social, emotional and practical skills needed to successfully navigate the digital world. 

Is your child spending too much time online? On average young people in Australia make use of 5 different social media services. That can add up to a lot of time spent online or checking their phone. Social media services also send notifications all the time, which are designed to bring your child back online and use the service.

E-safety Tips

• Turn off notifications for your social media apps
• Monitor or limit your phone use
• When do you check your child’s phone?
• https://www.esafety.gov.au/report/cyberbullying

We thank parent/caregivers for your support to ensure that our students exit our gates as respected citizens.

For our Year 9 cohort, this is the final term with us in Junior Secondary as they progress into Senior Secondary next year. I’d like to take this opportunity to wish our Year 9’s all the very best for the remainder of the year. 

Term 4 is always an exciting time, with end of year celebrations and summer holidays to look forward to! Before we get there however students must finalise assessment and exams and continue to be their best in terms of effort, attendance and behaviour. 

Congratulations to all Junir Secondary students who participated in Dance Night and Under the Lights! These nights are a fabulous showcase of our talented dance and music students. If you missed this year, I encourage you all to come along and support our very busy Creative Arts Department in the various events that happen in 2022. Thank you to our Junior Secondary Arts teachers for supporting and mentoring our students in their creative pursuits!!

Reporting

By now you will have received your child’s Interim Report for Term 3. Should you have any particular concerns, do make contact with your child’s teacher through the PBC website; all teacher emails are listed in the Contacts List.  Students do not see nor are they sent a separate copy of their report. So please take an opportunity to show your child their report, celebrate their successes and set goals for this final term to finish the year strongly. Teachers are working hard to ensure students have the best possible learning outcomes by the end of the year and welcome your involvement in student improvement. If an expected report has not arrived by email, do check your junk mail. Following that, please contact the school Administration to rectify the issue.

Uniform

Please continue to send students to school in the correct uniform. Experience shows that when the ‘little things’ start to slip, then larger non-compliance also happens. We understand that shoes are wearing out and uniforms are getting smaller as your child continues to grow. Our expectations are, however, that students will abide by the uniform policy until their last day of schooling this year. If there are issues with affording new shoes, etc, please don’t hesitate to contact the Junior Secondary office to advise.  

Jason Cross
Acting Principal Junior Secondary