Dear Parents and Community Members,
Working Bee Thank You
Thank you to Dennis Murphy (Grounds person), David Monti (Year 5 Teacher) , Catia Frasca (Deputy Principal) and her husband Tony Frasca, Josie Minorchio (APRIM), Hayley Silby (Payroll Officer), Ian Twigden (Leroy’s dad) , David Ramm (Isabel & Oliver’s dad), Jaime Sadler (Khaleesi’s dad) and Ezra Desta (Adam & Wudase’s mum) who joined me in completing a 3-hour working bee Saturday morning 24th of May.
We achieved a lot as we emptied the 2 storage containers, which have now been taken away, into the shed at the back of 28 Ranelagh St, moved concert items from Tenison building to our new concert items shed and further emptied the Tenison Building as it is planned to be demolished in the September/October term break.
Building Respectful Relationships
Over the last 7 years as a Principal of Whitefriars Catholic School, my general observation is that we have high levels of respect and kindness amongst children, and I thank all families for their continued efforts to speak to your children about both the need to always be respectful and kind.
Although it may occur less in our school, no school is immune to bullying and, together, as a school community we continue to work hard to deal with matters bullying, harassment, and discrimination by maintaining good communication between students, parents and teachers.
This week I have added the school’s anti-bullying policy. Anti-Bullying Policy 2025 v1.0.pdf
In this policy it guides parents to identify what is bullying, what is harassment and what is discrimination. Sometimes, however, it is none of the above as it could be about children arguing to get what they want or disagreeing over rules. As you would be aware, with sibling rivalry, it is a natural part of navigating through childhood development as they learn to negotiate with other children and learn to get along with others.
It is important that parents and teachers continue to educate our children to identify different situations of bullying, harassment and discrimination and know how to respond and how to report it. Simultaneously, if a child is the person causing the bullying, harassment or discrimination parents and teachers, need to educate the children on how their actions and words may be negatively impacting on the well-being and safety of others and how it is negatively impacting on their friendships, connection and overall, their own future well-being.
I believe that whatever emotions the child feels, we as parents feel it ten times more. On most occasions, parents encourage their child to develop independence by guiding their child to speak to the teacher, at times, a parent may support the child to speak to the teacher together or email the teacher. This enables the school to begin investigating what may be occurring and often teachers are in the best place to get a broader perspective of course of events.
On a handful of occasions each year, a parent’s emotions can reach sky high, and they decide to speak directly to what they believe is the offending child. As outlined in the ‘Resolution Procedure for Parents and Caregivers’ this is never acceptable as it is all our responsibility to create a safe village for all children and role model respectful relationships. A parent may hear their child’s version of events, but teachers are in a better position to get a fuller picture of what may be occurring.
Resolution Procedure for Parents and Caregivers v1.pdf
In the end, it is all about education, guiding our children to understand the importance of respectful relationships. This is a lifetime skill, as skill that continues to develop as their pre-frontal lobe continues to develop through to their mid-twenties. It is a long and important life journey we have all chosen to embark.
Kind Regards
Frank Congedi
