Head of Senior School - Edition 11 - 2020

Student Photos

Last week a large number of the co-curricular photos were taken along with the Senior School House photos. Sibling photos will be taken on Tuesday 25 August. Following this, we will have a final 'catch-up” day for additional co-curricular photos on Thursday 3 September. Students who are away at camp for the sibling photo day will also be able to have their photos taken on the catch-up day. This will mean that around the start of Term 4, individual student photos and House photos will be sent to families who have ordered a set.

Term 3 Events

By the end of this week, we will have completed four weeks of interschool competition and it has been pleasing to see a large number of students participating in a variety of sports and other activities. I have also been impressed with the high level of spectator support that is being shown by the students towards each other at games and the respect being shown towards social distancing recommendations.

This week saw the first of a number of performing arts events this term with ‘Sing, Sing, Sing’ performed on Wednesday evening to a limited audience due to COVID-19. This will be followed over the next few weeks with more music as well as Dance and Drama productions. I would encourage families to check the Westminster Calendar and ensure they book tickets via TryBooking, as we need to keep control of the number of people attending each performance.

The amount of time and effort invested by staff and students to put on each production is considerable and made even more difficult by the time that was missed during Term 2. I look forward to seeing the talents of the performing arts students during the remainder of this term.

Wellbeing

Our Wellbeing Team has been very busy this term supporting students who are displaying various levels of anxiety. There can be a range of causes for anxiety for students including academic workload, friendship concerns, family and, this year, uncertainty due to the current situation that Australia and the world is facing with COVID-19. I came across two online resources which may assist families to develop strategies to help their children through what they are currently feeling. Of course, families are welcome to make contact with the Wellbeing Team by emailing or calling our Head of Wellbeing, Liz Collins via Email, or your child’s Head of House who can provide advice on the help that is available.

The links to the two resources are Raising Children.net and Reachout.com

David Wallage
Head of Senior School