Last Friday night the College hosted the 10^th annual Father Daughter Dinner Dance. Once again it was a very festive event with dads, grandfathers, uncles and older brothers escorting the girls. With over 200 participants on the night, all had a wonderful time dancing and enjoying each other’s company. It can be difficult for these men to sometimes find time with their growing daughter and this evening offers an opportunity for all to reconnect. We cannot underestimate the significance a father or father figure can have on the development of a young girl. He offers her an insight into the mind of an adolescent boy and supports her as she grows into a young woman. Thank you to the P&F for their hard work, Jeff Pollard (president) did a fabulous job on the night and thanks to Julian Nash and Deb Renshaw for all their efforts as well.

You may have read recently in the newspapers an article by Dr John Collier, Principal at St Andrew's College, about the bullying and harassment his staff have been subjected to by a small number of their parents. In his article he outlines how he has had to protect his staff from the approaches of these parents as he maintains a work place for them that is safe and supportive. All schools will have situations arise where staff are inappropriately spoken to or approached by parents. Whilst these are not the norm, it is a phenomenon that can and does happen at times. The danger is when a parent sends an email whilst they are angry or unhappy about a situation prior to gaining all the information at hand. Whilst we are not in a situation that I feel I would need to send a message to our community as Mr Collier has had to do, I do believe it is worth sharing with you as a cautionary note when sending an email to anyone. An angry email is a weapon that cannot be retracted and causes much pain and damage to relationships and opportunities to resolve and clear misunderstandings and judgement that may have been made in error.

I am delighted to share with you the new student leadership team. We are currently changing the leadership team model, and this is a transition model. The new model was discussed at the parent forum and comes out of 12 months' research and development. The successful girls are listed below. Congratulations to those girls who are incoming and thank you to Natalie M and the leaders of 2017-2018. They have been wonderful ambassadors of the College and can now be confident the new girls will carry on the baton.

Recently we received the recommendations of the Royal Commission into institutional responses to sexual abuse relevant to Good Samaritan schools. The recommendations are particularly clustered in recommendation 6.6. There are a number of standards that schools need to comply with. We are working through these and ensuring we have evidence in our practices and policies that meet these standards. It is essential that all students are safe in our College and that should there be any situation that impacts on a student safety, they have the support to report the situation and the College has the procedures and policies in place to act on this. The standards are:

1. Child safety is embedded in institutional leadership, governance and culture
2. Children participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously
3. Families and communities are informed and involved
4. Equity is upheld, and diverse needs are taken into account
5. People working with children are suitable and supported
6. Processes to respond to complaints of child sexual abuse are child focussed
7. Staff are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children safe through continual education and training
8. Physical and online environments minimise the opportunity for abuse to occur
9. Implementation of the Child safe Standards is continuously reviewed and improved
10. Policies and procedures document how the institution is child safe

If you have any concerns with any of this material or a situation at the College, please contact the College so we can respond and act.

There are a few changes for term 4 this year. Mr Chris Power will be leaving at the end of the term to begin a position at another school. We thank him for his work as a Year Coordinator and an English teacher and wish him the best in the future. With a number of staff taking leave, the following acting positions will be in place. Mrs East will be acting HSIE Coordinator and Mr Bacca will be acting Year 8 Coordinator. Mr Ashkar will be acting AP Students and Ms Boulatsakos will be acting Year 11 Coordinator. Mrs Wright will be acting Principal for the term, as I am on Long Service Leave and Mr East will be acting eLearning Coordinator. Mr Combes will be acting Mission Coordinator and Mrs Tannous will be acting CAPA Coordinator. We are very fortunate to have such experienced and qualified staff who are keen to have the opportunity to try positions of greater responsibility. I thank them for their support.

Finally we were approached by Madonna King’s publicist who asked if we would be happy to host the launch of her new book "Fathers and Daughters". This will be on Tuesday 20 November at the College. Whilst we already have Maggie Dent in a few weeks (24 September) and would only have one presenter per year, the opportunity to host Madonna’s launch was a great opportunity for our community so please keep the night free.

In keeping with this theme, I will finish with a quote for all the fathers and father figures who are present in the lives of the girls.

“To a father growing old nothing is dearer than a daughter.” –Euripides

Blessings

Sue Lennox - Principal 

2019 Student College Leadership Team

College Captain – Stephanie E
Vice Captain – Liturgy – Kate R
Vice Captain – Communications – Payton I
Social Justice Captain – Abby M
Sports Captain – Amy S
Environment Captain – Rhiannon K
Performing Arts Captain – Sierra M
Chisholm House Captain – Amelia A
Gilmore House Captain – Natalie S
Kenny House Captain – Julia P
Lyons House Captain – Nicole D
Middle School Councillor – Samantha J
Senior School Councillor – Jasmin H