Digital Engagement

This week I learnt that as a College, we received more than 900,000 emails last week. It is a huge number but more startling is that this was during the school holidays and does not take into account any social media interactions. The figure serves as a reminder that filtering, monitoring and being critical of what we receive and engage with online is such an important aspect of our lives as businesses, as families and as individuals. This week we held our Living Safely with Social Media information sessions presented by ySafe for both students and parents and they once again were timely and very well received. Three important messages from the student sessions that might be great conversation start points with your son were:

• Be aware of your digital footprint. Be aware of what you leave behind in terms of commentary and images and that deleting does not necessarily mean it is gone.
• Be aware of your amount of leisure time screen time - this includes gaming time, with the recommendation for early adolescent boys being up to two hours a day.
• Online bullying – how to respond to being bullied, or observing bullying behaviour and what you can do.

The Winter Term calendar will highlight that despite the absence of our Inter House Athletics Carnival, we still have a busy, engaging, fulfilling term ahead of us. Of significant importance are the Student Led Conferences coming up in Week 3. We are very keen to run these conferences in an online format using Microsoft Teams to determine the worthiness and efficacy of this manner of delivery. I realise that face-to-face is a preferable context, however I would be grateful for your support as we trial this. For the students this is an exercise in reflection, thinking, goal setting and action planning. I believe you will be impressed with how your son responds to the process. More details on the booking aspect for this event will follow this week.

NAIDOC Week

Scotch College is celebrating NAIDOC Week this week and our Year 7 & 8 Indigenous boys will be working with the Kindergarten and Junior School students on dance and art workshops. All Middle School boys will be the beneficiaries of a free BBQ on Wednesday with the chance to try emu or kangaroo sausages. The Year 7 & 8 Indigenous boys will also join with me as we view the Smoking Ceremony conducted by Noongar Elder Neville Collard prior to Senior School Marching and Assembly this Friday morning.